The Governance Category under the Institutional Pillar considers seven core indicators and one supporting indicator to calculate the category Index. It looks at Citizen Participation, ICT Enabled Government Services and IT Connectivity.

A total of 8 parameters have been considered for determining the Governance Index. These have been explained below. Kindly click each parameter for detailed description and tentative sources of information.

No. Name Unit Benchmark
1.1 Percentage of citizen services available online   Percentage 100%
Description:
The extent to which, various citizen services can be accessed by citizens remotely, through online portals, phone applications, e-kiosks etc. Citizen services will include various online payments of taxes and charges, applications and approvals, grievance management, issue of documents like birth and death certificates etc.
Expressed as:
Number of services integrated through singular operations centre
X 100 = ___%
Total number of Citizen Services Provided by the ULB
Methodology / Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Mapping of various city services being provided in the city by the ULB and other service providers should be done in the following categories:
    • Taxes (e.g. property tax, professional tax),
    • User Charges (e.g. water charges),
    • Challans and fines (e.g. traffic violations),
    • Service connections (e.g. water supply connection)
    • Certificates/ Licenses (e.g. birth and death certificates)
    • Approvals (e.g. building plan sanctions),
    • Tenders (for various works) across various departments/ utilities
    • Grievance management (tracking of complaints),
    • Tickets and passes (e.g. public transport, cultural events), and
    • Disclosure of documents (e.g. budgets, plans, RTI requests).
  • A matrix should be prepared to map each of these citizen services in terms of aspects such as online registration, availability of online information, bill generation, payment, application for various services, tracking of progress, online delivery of certificates etc.
  • Example, Property Tax portal should include aspects like (i) process related information (ii) user registration (iii) self-assessment tool (iv) bill generation (v) payment. A city should provide all 5 aspects to score 100%
  • Example, Water Supply portal should include aspects like (i) process related information (ii) user registration (iii) application for connection (iv) grievance (v) tracking of progress (vi) bill generation (vii) payment. A city should provide all 7 aspects to score 100%
  • The final score should be an average percentage of the number of aspects available online for each type of citizen service.
  • Record of ULB/ public utilities and other service providers (like DISCOMs), and from the operator/systems integrator responsible for online systems
1.2 Percentage of services integrated through Command Centre   Percentage 100%
Description:
The extent to which, various city services like water supply, sewerage, waste management, e-governance, urban transport etc. have been integrated through singular Operations or Command and Control Centres. such integration can facilitate better data management and horizontal integration across various services, leading to overall efficiency in service provision and optimal use of resources.
Expressed as:
Number of services integrated through singular operations centre
X 100 = ___%
Total number of services provided by the ULB
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Mapping of various city services being provided in the city by the ULB and other service providers should be done in the following categories:
    • Water Supply,
    • Sewerage and/or Septage,
    • Storm Water Drainage,
    • City Transport,
    • Solid Waste Management,
    • E-governance (including permissions, e-payments etc.),
    • Surveillance Systems,
    • Lighting of streets and public places,
    • Disaster and Emergency Response Management,
    • Disaster and Emergency Response Management,
    • >Health and Education,
    • Smart Homes and Buildings,
    • Entertainment and city events,
    • Wired/Wireless Connectivity.
  • Such a list must also include sub-services. For example, City Transport should include public transport, intermediate public transport (IPT) or para-transit, traffic management, parking management etc. and Waste Management should include collection, transportation, disposal and recovery.
  • >Data on actual number of such city services being integrated through Command Centre should be mapped to form the numerator.
  • Data on various services can be obtained from ULB/ public utilities and other service providers (like DISCOMs), and from operator/ systems integrator responsible for the Singular Operations Centre or Command and Control Centre
1.3 Percentage of citizens using online services   Percentage 100%
Description:
The extent to which citizens have started using the online portals and phone-based smart applications for accessing various citizen services that are being provided online
Expressed as:
Average for all citizen services Number of registered users using online services in a month
X 100 = ___%
Total number of households
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Average should be taken for usage records available for various citizen services (as defined in Indicator 1.1) being provided online
  • Data should be collected across different media such as ULB website, websites of other providers like DISCOMs and various phone-based apps for accessing citizen services
  • An instance of login from a unique ID during a month should be counted only once for the month, irrespective of the number of times that ID is used during the month. Similarly, if a unique ID has logged in from more than one media i.e. website, phone app, e-kiosks etc. the same should be counted only once for the month.
  • Data on instances of login by registered users can be obtained from operator/ systems integrator responsible for website/app backend management
  • Data for households should be based on the decennial Census of India. Past census figures should be used as base, and annual growth rate should then be used to arrive at current population
1.4 Average delay in grievance redressal [Average redressal period for a service - Committed redressal period for the service]   No. of Days <7 days for all, other than specified for which it would < 1 month
Description:
This denotes the efficiency achieved in addressing complaints/issues raised by citizens regarding the various services being provided by the ULB. Most cities have committed grievance redressal timelines as part of their Citizen Charters. the Guidelines on national Mission Mode Project on e-Governance in Municipalities of the MoUD provide the guidelines and benchmarks for grievance acknowledgement and redressal.
Expressed as:
Average of all services [Average redressal period for a service - Committed redressal period for the service]
= ___
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Committed grievance redressal timelines for the following services will be mapped:
    • water supply,
    • solid waste management,
    • drainage,
    • sewerage/septage,
    • roads,
    • street lights,
    • open spaces,
    • public transport services like ticketing,
    • power supply,
    • taxes and user charges, and
    • various other online services.
  • Where such commitments are not available, the benchmark given below will be treated as committed period for grievance redressal.
  • Average time taken for successful redressal, identified separately for each service, should be calculated on the basis of historical data available for a reasonable period of time (separately for each service)
  • Average redressal time can be obtained from the records of ULB/ public utilities and other service providers (like DISCOMs), or logs maintained by agencies responsible for online systems (wherever applicable)
  • The final score on the indicator will be the average of values mapped for each type of service
1.5 Tax collected as percentage of tax billed   Percentage 90%
Description:
This denotes the efficiency achieved by a city in collecting property taxes against the tax demand raised in a given year. implementation of smart solutions in cities will be expected to improve systemic efficiencies in issuance of regular and timely demand notices, and facilitate ease of payment (online, m-applications etc.), thereby leading to improvement in collection of taxes and ULB revenues.
Expressed as:
Total tax collected in a year
= X 100
Total demand raised for the year
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Data for tax demand raised by the ULB and collection efficiency against demand, should be collected for previous financial year. For example, if data is being collected in June 2017, data on total property tax demand and collection for 2016-17 must be obtained.
  • Data can be obtained from the revenue departments of ULBs
1.6 Extent of cost recovery (O&M) in water supply services   Percentage 100%
Description:
The extent to which O&M expenditure on provision of water supply services is being recovered by city administrations through user charges. O&M cost can be reduced through the implementation of monitoring systems like sCADA, installation of smart meters and reduction in nRW. this coupled with adoption of telescopic and volume based tariffs, and efficient billing and collection systems can result in better recovery of costs.
Expressed as:
Total capital expenditure during a year
X 100 =
Total expenditure (revenue and capital accounts) in the same yea
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Data for water charges collected by the ULB and O&M costs for providing water supply services, should be obtained for previous financial year. For example, if data is being collected in June 2017, data on water charges and O&M costs for 2016-17 must be obtained.
  • Data can be obtained from the records of the ULB/ Water Utility
1.7 Capital spending as percentage of total expenditure   Percentage City with the highest performance (amongst cities in the same city-size classification as given in this document) will be treated as a benchmark
Description:
The extent to which, a ULB is able to re-invest its revenues into creation of capital (infrastructure and assets), after taking care of annual establishment and O&M costs. this is a strong measure of the financial health of cities and a higher percentage indicates that the city is proactively improving its services and facilities.
Expressed as:
Total capital expenditure during a year
X 100 =
Total expenditure (revenue and capital accounts) in the same year
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Data should be collected for previous financial year. For example, if data is being collected in June 2017, data on capital expenditure and total expenditure for 2016-17 must be obtained.
  • Data can be obtained from the Accounts department of the ULB
1.8 Percentage of population covered under Ward Committees/ Area Sabhas   Percentage City with the highest performance (amongst cities in the same city-size classification as given in this document) will be treated as a benchmark
Description:
The participation of citizens in matters of governance, planning and development is critical for ensuring inclusive and participatory growth of cities. this indicator determines the extent of institutionalization of citizen participation, through implementation of the provisions of the Community Participation Law.
Expressed as:
Population covered under ward committees/ area sabhas
X 100 =
Total population of the city
Methodology/ Interpretation and Sources of Data:
  • Data should be calculated as the sum of population covered under operational ward committees/ area sabhas.
  • Operational ward committees/ area sabhas will mean those that hold meetings regularly, and participate actively in ward-level budgeting and prioritization of works.
  • Data on formation of ward committees/ area sabhas and the meetings conducted by such committees will be available from the records maintained by the ULB
  • Data for city population should be based on the decennial Census of India. Past census figures should be used as base, and annual growth rate should then be used to arrive at current population