ISI IN THE SERVICE OF LOCAL BODIES THROUGH STANDARDIZATION AND QUALITY CONTROL For the guidance of manufacturers and consumers Indian Standards Institution has published about 3000 Indian Standards for raw materials, codes of practice, methods of tests, glossaries of terms, etc. Among others, Indian Standards on the following subjects of interest to local bodies • Conductors and Cables Doors and Windows • Fire Fighting Equipment • Fuses and Switches Illumination Engineering * Lime * Masonary Pipos * Reinforcement * Sieves and Wire Gauzes Stones Tar & Bitumen * Tiles Timber • Water-Proofing & Damp-Proofing The following goods used by local bodies are available with Bitumen Felts for Water proofing & Damp proofing ★Conductors and Cables Sluice Valves for Water Purposes Water Meters Switches and Fuses purchase To ensure quality, follow Indian Standards for your requirments and construction work, and buy goods bearing Mark of Certification. INDIAN STANDARDS INSTITUTION Manak Bhavan, 9 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-1 EDITORIAL URBAN MISGOVERNMENT There are many things that divide North from the South in India. There are also many things they share in common. Inefficiency of civic administrations is one such commonly shared feature and also probably uniting factor. Newspapers in the South and the North bewail with equal vigour the shortcomings of the Municipal Corporations, but they seldom find an echo in any State Legislature. A few years ago, the then Union Home Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant had complimented Madras Corporation councillors on being members of one of the most well disciplined and efficient civic bodies in the country. Only recently the Madras State Assembly had to pass a measure vesting in the Government the right to supersede the Madras Corporation. The reason for this is said to be the falling standard of civic administration in that city. Reports of citizen indifference and ignorance and mismanagement of municipal affairs in all parts of the country have a common theme. The present system of city administration seems to have failed, and precious little seems to be being done by anyone to think of what needs to be done to set things right. The government was never urban oriented. After 1947 Ministries tried to turn their backs on the urban areas. But urbanisation has been even swifter in the last two decades than ever before because of the relentless forces released by the governmental emphasis on development. Urban areas have increased in numbers and their populations in density. But their administration continues to be run by agencies that became obsolete a long time ago, and which are now manned and staffed by persons of extremely poor calibre. Scarcities of all kind afflict the cities. In the semi-federal structure of the Indian Union, the cities have no position of their own. The elected councillors and the staff of the Municipal Councils have little capacity for the jobs they are called upon to perform. There is a competition between the Union Government and the State Government as to who cares less for the problems of urban growth. While the Union Government by its development planning creates bigger urban areas and bigger problems in the urban areas, the State Governments do not at all seem concerned at what is happening and hardly seem aware of their responsibilities in the matter. Vesting in the State Governments the power of superseding Municipal Councils is but a negative approach. Positive thinking and actions are needed, and should be taken if the urbanisation of the country is not to lead to unnecessarily chaotic and |