Local Government in Asia and the Pacific: A Comparative Study

Country paper: Bangladesh

  Description of the Country
  Evolution of Local Government
  Local Government Categories
  Local Government Functions
  Local Government Finances
  Personnel Systems
  Central-Local Links
  Public Participation
  The Way Ahead
  References

Brief Description of the Country and its National/State Government Structure

Demography

Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation state in 1971. Although a new state, Bangladesh is an old country with a long recorded history of several thousand years. In its recent past it was part of Pakistan (1947-1971) and was known as East Pakistan. Prior to this, different parts of the present Bangladesh territory were under the British India (1765-1947), the Mughals and other Muslim rulers and before them under Buddhist and Hindu rulers.

Bangladesh lies in the northeastern part of South Asia between 20 34' and 26 38' north latitude and 88 01' and 92 41' east longitude. The country is bounded by India in the west, north, northeast and east, by Myanmar in the southeast and by the Bay of Bengal in the south. The area of the country is 56,977 square miles or 147,570 square kilometres. The limits of territorial waters of Bangladesh are 12 nautical miles; the area of the high seas extending to 200 nautical miles measured from the base lines constitutes the economic zone of the country. Climatically, the country belongs to the humid tropics and it is vulnerable to a number of natural hazards like cyclones, floods and riverbank erosion, which almost regularly displaces a large number of people. Physiographically, Bangladesh is predominantly a delta plain of one of the largest river systems of the world. Only a part in the southeastern area is hilly. In spite of the apparent physical homogeneity and small territorial size of the country, Bangladesh does show regional variations in physical infrastructural and socio-economic development. Since its Independence, the development planners of Bangladesh have given consideration to the importance of regional balance for integrated national development. And yet, regional imbalances do exist. These imbalances are among macro-regions, meso-regions, micro regions and urban and rural regions (Islam 1997).

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted the third decennial population census in March 1991. The population stood at 111.4 million in 1991 (BBS 1993). The percentage of the urban population was 20.1 while that of the rural population was 79.9. The intercensal growth rate of population estimated by using the adjusted population of 1991 census was 2.1 per annum. Assuming a medium variant of declining fertility and mortality, Bangladesh is expected to reach a population of 141 million by the year 2000 and 185 million by the year 2015. The density of population was approximately 647 per square kilometres in 1981. It has increased to 755 per square kilometres in 1991. The sex ratio of the population was 106 males per 100 females and is comparatively higher in urban areas.

Table 1. Population Projection Dhaka Megacity Area (DMA) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC)

Source: DMDP July 1994, p. 2-9 and present study for DCC

Estimates that have been made for Dhaka city apply respectively to the years 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 as these are census or mid-census years. According to the 1990-1991 LFS, the total civilian labour force of the country was estimated at 51.2 million; 31.1 million males and 20.1 million females. The urban population of Bangladesh has experienced rapid growth since the late 1940s, after the withdrawal of the colonial British rule and more so since the early seventies, after the Independence of the country in 1971. The current rate of urban growth (approximately 5 per cent) is one of the highest in Asia. Dhaka, the capital and also primate city of the country, grows at nearly 6 per cent annually, its present population amounting to about 9 million. According to official statistics, there are currently 522 urban areas in the country according. Only 138 of these have been given municipal status. The pattern of spacing of these municipal towns and cities is fairly balanced in the country.

Table 2. Number of Urban Centres by Size (1961-1991)

Source: Islam, 1997

The literacy rate of the country obtained from the 1991 census was 32.4 per cent for the population of 7 years and older. Literacy rate in urban areas is over 40 per cent. While 38.9 per cent of males are literate, the rate of literacy for females is only 25.5 per cent. The percentage of Muslim population was 88.3 while that of Hindu, Buddhist and Christian was respectively 10.5, 0.6 and 0.3. There were 19.4 million households in the country distributed over 59,990 Mauzas (revenue villages). The economy of Bangladesh is dominated by agriculture, which contributes nearly 35 per cent of GDP and over 65 per cent of the employment. Industries play an important role but contribute less than 15 per cent to the GDP. Trade, commerce and services are the other major contributors to the national economy.

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries of the world in terms of GNP per capita (which was about 270 US dollars in 1997) it ranks among the lowest 10. However, in terms of the Human Development Index it fares somewhat better and is placed above 25 countries in the 160-country list of UNDP's Human Development Report. During the past decade there has been some improvement in the poverty situation of the country. Yet, according to the nationally defined poverty level, 48 per cent of the rural population and 44 per cent of the urban population in Bangladesh were found to be poor in 1988-89 (BBS 1993 p. 319). Nearly half of these populations were hard-core poor. The magnitude of poverty is easily felt in both rural and urban areas. Poverty is particularly visible in Dhaka, the Capital. The difference in levels of poverty in urban and rural area party explains the large scale rural to urban migration of the population.

National governmental and political structure

Bangladesh has a unitary form of government. For the convenience of administration, the country is divided into six Administrative Divisions: Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet. Each Division is placed under a Divisional Commissioner and is further subdivided into Districts with a District Commissioner (DC) as the Chief Administrator. After the administrative reorganization carried out in 1982, the country was divided into 64 Districts. 20 of these Districts existed for a very long period while the rest are the ones upgraded from former Sub-Divisions. The 20 old Districts are now popularly known as Greater Districts. Below the district level there are the Thanas which number 490 in the country. During 1982-1990, 460 of the Thanas were upgraded to Upazilas or Sub-Districts. With the abolition of the Upazila system in 1991, the Upazila Regional Administrative System reverted to the earlier Thana structure. All Divisions and district headquarters and most of the Thana headquarters are urban centres. Below the level of Thana, there are rural micro areas known as Unions (4,451 in number) and Grams or Villages (more or less 80,000).

The divisional level is the highest tier of administration, after the national level. The Divisional Commissioner (popularly known as the Commissioner) is the head of the divisional administration. He only plays a supervisory role over all the departments and agencies in the Division because the divisional office of each department is directly linked to its national office. He also coordinates the functions of the district administration in the Division. The Divisional Commissioner became involved in development functions only since the establishment of the Regional (Divisional) Development Boards in 1976. The Regional Development Boards is responsible for those projects of the District Boards which the latter cannot finance or does not have expertise to look after. The Regional Development Boards are somewhat less active at present. The District has been the focal point in the administrative system of Bangladesh. The head of the district administration is known as the Deputy Commissioner (or more popularly the DC). In addition to the administrative offices at district level which (linked to their respective higher echelon) the office of the Deputy Commissioner is divided into a number of Divisions and sections. Within its planning and implementation section the Annual and Midterm Plans are prepared. The physical infrastructure section is responsible for the construction of physical infrastructure throughout the district unless it is of very small nature. In that case it falls under the jurisdiction of the Thana administration. The rural development section administers the rural development programmes. The administrative head of the Thana is known the Thana Nirbahi Officer.

The District and Thana executives are assisted by a large number of officials as well as professional and technical personnel appointed by the central government. Local government in urban and rural areas is entrusted to bodies elected by the people. Such bodies are called Municipalities or Pourashavas (numbering 138) in urban areas and Union Parishads or Union Councils (numbering 4,451) in rural areas (BBS, 1993). With the passage of the Gram Parishad Bill and the Union Parishad on 4 September 1997 in Parliament, local government structure is to be implemented at the grass-roots level. Four of the largest Municipalities, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi, have been given metropolitan status and are known as City Corporations. For many years these City or Municipal Corporations were run and headed by nominated rather than elected Mayors, although members of the City Corporation Council (Ward Commissioners) have been elected from the respective wards. Once again, in March 1994, the four metropolitan areas had their Mayors elected directly by the people.

Evolution of Local Government, its Legal and Political Background

The story of the evolution of the local government system in Bangladesh is in many ways similar to that of India and Pakistan as all three countries share a common history. Local governments in one form or another have been in existence in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Two varieties of self-government institutions, i.e. the headman and Panchayats appear to be operational in rural areas since early times. The headman was not an elected official but came from the most dominant family in the village. His importance was due to two factors: all contacts, be it political or administrative, between the villager and authorities had to be routed through him and he was involved in collection of taxes from the village. The Panchayat was an elected body with executive and judicial functions. But often the headman controlled the Panchayat (Siddiqui 1992:15). During the Mughal rule of India, the Panchayat system disappeared altogether.

Mughal contribution to the development of urban local government was remarkable as Mughals gave considerable importance to towns. Each town included a number of wards or Mohallas. A Mir Mahalla was appointed to act as a spokesman for each Mahalla. The Kotwal, or Chief Executive Officer of the town, wielded wide-ranging powers including magisterial, police, fiscal and municipal power. He was assisted in performing his duties by two officials: a Kazi who was a judicial officer and a Mahatasib who was assigned to prevent illegal practices, (Siddiqui 1992: 17-18). The Mughal system with all its novelties lacked mechanisms for participation by the citizens. It was nothing more than a top-down hierarchical administrative system that was intended to be an extension of the central authority into the local areas.

During almost two hundred years of British rule (1765-1947) over the Indian subcontinent, a number of experiments were made with the local government system. All the experiments were intended to devise a system that would serve their imperial interest. The major objective of the British in India was twofold: maximization of land revenue collection and maintenance of law and order. Naturally, the British as an imperial power had little understanding of and interest in indigenous local self-governing institutions. Though in 1870 the Village Chowkidari Act in Bengal established union Panchayats to collect tax to maintain Chowkidars (village police), Lord Ripon's Resolution on local self-government laid the foundation of local self-government in rural India. This resolution of May 18 1882 was important for two reasons: it set out general principles for development of local institutions in the future and provided the rationale behind functions of local bodies. The Rippon resolution was passed in 1885 as the Bengal Local Self-Government Act III of 1885.

In the arena of urban local government, British policy resulted in setting-up a municipal administration in the Presidencies and giving responsibilities to municipal committees for a number of civic amenities. But until the 1870s, officials or their designated representatives ran urban local government bodies. Gradually Municipalities became representative bodies with the promulgation of a number of acts between 1870 and 1947. These acts, among other things, introduced election as a mode of choosing one's representative and subsequently extended its coverage. But Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Municipalities continued to be elected indirectly by the popularly elected commissioners. One of the acts, the Bengal Municipal Act of 1932, strengthened the powers of Municipalities in levying rates and taxes and in the utilization of funds (Siddiqui 1994:47). But the same act provided considerable powers, to the government and local officials to inspect, supervise and control Municipalities and negated the powers of taxation of local level bodies to a large degree.

Union boards consisted of two-thirds elected members while the rest were nominated. The Chairman was elected among members of the union boards. The boards were given a number of specific responsibilities including the authority to levy taxes. By the end of the 1920s district boards were functioning under the stewardship of non-official chairmen. During the formative years of Pakistan's existence as an independent nation until 1971, the provincial government of East Pakistan initiated some important changes. General Ayub Khan, who seized power in 1958, introduced a system of local government known as Basic Democracy. But the concept of Basic Democracy, a four-tier system, lacked novelty and innovation. It bore a clear resemblance of two layers, the union councils and municipal committees of the British days (Khan 1997). Since Independence in 1971, a number of attempts have been made to tinker with the local government system in Bangladesh. Changes have been made from time to time in terms of the nomenclature of tiers of local government, but almost nothing was done to strengthen local governments. Therefore, the structure of the local government system has remained more or less unchanged.

Immediately after Independence in 1971, the name of the Union Council was changed to Union Panchayat and an administrator was appointed to manage the affairs of the Panchayat. The name of Thana Council was changed to Thana Development Committee while the District Council was named Zila Board or District Board. Again in 1973, Union Panchayat's name reverted to Union Parishad. A more significant change in the local government system was brought about in 1976 through the Local Government Ordinance. This ordinance provided for a Union Parishad for a union, a Thana Parishad for a Thana and a Zila Parishad for a district. The Union Parishad comprised one elected Chairman and 9 elected members, two nominated women members and two peasant representative members. The Thana Parishad consisted of the Sub-Divisional Officer being the ex-officio Chairman, the Circle Officer and a Union Parishad Chairman. The Zila (District) Parishad was to consist of elected members, official members and women members whose numbers were determined by the government. Its term of office was five years. However, no elections were held and government officials ran the Parishad.

In 1980, as a result of an amendment of the Local Government Ordinance, the Swanirvar Gram Sarker (self-reliant village government) was introduced at the village level, but was abolished by a Martial Law Order in July 1982. A major change was initiated in the local government system through the introduction of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad and Upazila Administration Reorganization) Ordinance in 1982. This Ordinance was followed by the Local Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance in 1983, the Local Government (Zila Parishad) Act in 1988 and the three Hill Districts Acts and Palli Act in 1989. The Upazila Parishad Ordinance (1982) was particularly significant as this was supposed to help implementation of the decentralization programme of the government. In the Upazila System (as it came to be known), the (directly) elected Chairman would have the principal authority in running the affairs of the Upazila, his tenure being five years. The Upazila Nirbahi Officer would be subservient to the Chairman. After nine years of reasonably effective implementation, the Government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who came to power through a fair election, abolished the Upazila system in 1991. During its five-year tenure, the government could not provide an alternative democratic form of local government. When after another free and fair election in 1996 the Bangladesh Awami League came to power, they constituted a Local Government Commission and came up with a Report on Local Government Institutions Strengthening in May 1997. The Commission has recommended a four-tier local government structure including Gram/Palli (Village) Parishad, Union Parishad, Thana/Upazila Parishad and Zila (District) Parishad.

All these tiers are concerned with rural/regional administration, while urban local governments remain outside the Commission's purview. The two major tiers of urban local government's, Pourashava (for smaller Municipalities) and City Corporation (for four of the largest cities) are in order.

Local Government Categories and Hierarchies

The rural/regional local government as proposed by the latest commission on local government would have four tiers:

• Gram (Village) Parishad, (40,000);
• Union Parishads (4403);
• Thana/Upazila Parishads (460);
• Zila (District) Parishads (64).

Urban areas have a separate set of local governments. The Bangladesh Census Commission recognized 522 urban areas in 1991 (with a population of about 5000 or more) but only about 138 of the larger urban areas among these have urban local governments. The four largest cities have a City Corporation status, while the rest are known as Pourashavas or Municipalities, which again are classified according to financial strength.

Table 3. Hierarchy of Urban Local Governments

In addition, there are also some urban centres that are under military Cantonment Boards. As the City Corporation and Pourashavas (Municipalities) are true urban local governments, their function, administration and financial structure will be further elaborated on below. The large number of small urban centres are administered under the Union Parishad system of (rural) local government. Some urban centres have a fairly large population but have not yet been declared a Municipality and therefore also remain under Union Parishad management.

Local Government Functions

Rural and urban local government bodies are entrusted with a large number of functions and responsibilities relating to civic and community welfare as well as local development. The functions of the Gram Parishads, Union Parishad, Thana/Upazila Parishads and Zila (district) Parishads are elaborate and include amongst other optional functions. The present government in its recent Local Government Institutional Strengthening Report, written by the Local Government Commission in May 1997, has laid down the responsibilities of the various rural and rural/regional local bodies. The Gram Parishad and Union Parishad Bills have been approved on 4 September 1997, while Thana Upazila/Zila Parishad Bills will be placed in Parliament soon.

Rural local government functions

The Gram Parishad functions are as follows:

• Conducting socio-economic surveys of households, every five years to be used for development plan preparation;
• Maintain vital statistics like registration of births-deaths, marriage etc.;
• Make plans for natural resource management and development;
• Supervise management of primary educational institutes; motivate parents to send their children to school and create better awareness for adult and female literacy;
• Create awareness for better primary health care;
• Maintain law and order and control terrorism, violence against women etc.;
• Ensure participation in local and central government development planning;
• Encourage co-operatives and NGOs;
• Initiate participatory development of local roads, bridges, culverts etc.;
• Support various development activities related to agriculture;
• Encourage and initiate tree plantation programmes;
• Assist various organizations in their development efforts.

Union Parishads have also been assigned functions quite similar to Gram Parishad functions. In addition, Union Parishads have been assigned with the adoption and implementation of poverty alleviation programmes directly by themselves and through NGOs and co-operatives. The Thana/Upazila Parishads are entrusted with functions similar to Gram Parishads and Union Parishads. In addition, they have the responsibility of making integrated 5-year development plans for the Thana/Upazila on the basis of plans submitted by the Union Parishads. Zila (District) Parishads are responsible for monitoring activities of the Thana/Upazila Parishads, implementing district level economic, social and cultural development programmes and preparing project proposals for road, bridges and culverts.

Urban local government functions

Pourashavas (Municipalities) and City Corporations constitute the two types of urban local governments. The four largest cities of Bangladesh (Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi) are City Corporations. The functions of Pourashavas and City Corporations are basically similar with one important difference: the 1997 Pourashavas Ordinance categorized the functions of Pourahsavas as compulsory and optional. This categorization does not apply to City Corporations. However, for both Pourashavas and City Corporations functions continue to be seen as compulsory and optional.

Mandatory functions

• Construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and culverts;
• Removal, collection and disposal of refuse;
• Provision and maintenance of street lighting;
• Maintenance of public streets, provision of street watering;
• Provision and regulation of water supply;
• Establishment and maintenance of public markets;
• Plantation of trees on road sides;
• Regulation of insanitary buildings and prevention of infectious diseases and epidemics;
• Registration of births, deaths and marriages;
• Provision and maintenance of slaughter houses;
• Provision and maintenance of drainage;
• Control over the contruction and reconstruction of buildings;
• Provision and maintenance of graveyards and burning places;
• Control over traffic and public vehicles.

Optional functions

• Checking adulteration of food products;
• Control over private markets;
• Maintenance of educational institutions and provision of stipends to meritorious students;
• Provision of flood and famine relief;
• Provision and maintenance of parks and gardens;
• Establishment of welfare homes, orphanages, prevention of begging and organization of voluntary social welfare services;
• Establishment of public dispensaries, provision of public urinals and latrines;
• Establishment of veterinary hospitals, registration of cattle sale and improvement of livestock;
• Celebration of national holidays;
• Reception of distinguished visitors;
• Establishment of public libraries and reading rooms;
• Promotion of community development schemes; and
• Naming of roads and numbering of houses.

The Pourashavas/City Corporations are empowered to perform a variety of socio-economic and civic functions, as described above. In practice, however, they cannot perform all these functions owing to the acute paucity of funds caused by poor and irregular collection of taxes, non-realization of taxes from government, semi-government and autonomous organizations for years together and insufficient government grants. The functions actually performed are:

• Construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and culverts;
• Removal, collection and disposal of refuse;
• Provision and maintenance of street lighting;
• Provision of water supply;
• Establishment and maintenance of public markets;
• Provision, maintenance and regulation of graveyards and burning places;
• Registrations of birth, deaths and marriages;
• Maintenance of slaughter houses;
• Control over private markets;
• Provision and maintenance of parks and gardens;
• Naming of roads and numbering of houses;
• Provision of nominal stipends to primary education institutions; and
• Slum improvement.

Apart form the formal functions described above, the Pourashavas/City Corporations perform some additional functions such as issuance of certificates and settlement of petty disputes (over ownership/control of land, houses and markets) through discussions with concerned parties and with the help of commissioners and other functionaries. Some of the more important certificates are character, nationality, birth, death and succession certificates. Character and nationality certificates are required for job applications and admission to educational institutions. Birth, death and succession certificates are issued to the legal heirs on request and are also necessary for mutation of land ownership.

During the past decade, 20 Pourashavas and the four City Corporations have also been carrying out an additional function (on project basis) of slum improvement. The funding for this came from UNICEF. Dhaka City Corporation has even made the slum improvement an integral part of activities with its own funding and tries to rehabilitate slum dwellers and street hawkers. Besides, Dhaka recently has started to maintain a City Museum and has begun construction of a large theater for dramatic performance. Some of the Municipalities maintain public libraries.

The Pourashava (Municipal) Parishads and City Corporation Parishads are elected directly by the people. Each Poura Parishad is supposed to have a Chairman and a Commissioner for each Ward, while a City Corporation is supposed to have a Mayor as head of the Parishad (Council) and a Commissioner for each Ward. The number of Wards depends on the size of the city. Although women can contest for direct election, there are also reserved seats for them. These are filled through election of the Chairman/Mayor and Commissioners only. The tenure of an elected urban local government is five years. The latest City Corporation elections were held in March 1994.

Local Government Finances

Local bodies in Bangladesh are in constant shortage of funds. The sources of their income are generally taxes, rates, fees and charges levied by the local body as well as rents and profits accruing from properties of the local body and sums received through its services. Contribution from individuals and institutions, government grants, profits from investments, receipts accruing from the trusts placed with the local bodies, loans raised by the local body and proceeds from such services are another source of income governments may direct to be placed at the disposal of a local body. Holding taxes is the most important source of own income of local bodies. Loans and voluntary contributions are rare. Non-tax revenues are of two kinds: fees and tolls and rents and profits on properties of the local bodies. Urban local bodies raise between 55-75 per cent of the revenue from their own source while a significant proportion comes from government grants. Nowadays, foreign or international project funds also contribute a significant share of a corporation's budget.

Table 4. Sources of Municipal Revenue

Source: Chowdhury, 1997

The tax management of Municipalities is weak, resulting in poor collection (Chowdhury 1997). There are many reasons for this, including a poor assessment system, lack of efficient manpower and legal issues (e.g. more than 50 per cent of property assessments are appealed with proceedings taking time and judgment generally going against the Municipalities). Corruption is another major reason for low collection of taxes. Municipal expenditures are mainly geared towards physical infrastructure (equaling 30 to 40 per cent of total expenditures). Public Health in turn accounts for 15 to 20 per cent and administrative expenditure average between 7 to 16 per cent. Expenditures on social sectors are negligible (Chowdhury 1997 p. 42).

Table 5. Revenues and Expenditure of City Corporations and Pourashava (1982-1983)

Source: Chowdhury, 1996

Table 6. Pattern of Expenditure of Dhaka City Corporation (in %)

Source: DCC budget statements of different years

In the case of Dhaka loan repayment is increasingly becoming a major item. The existing system of financial management fails to provide appropriate financial information to allow activities to be planned and controls are not being applied in the most efficient and effective manner. The annual statement of accounts of a local body is to be prepared after the closing of every financial year (June-July). Then the statement is to be forwarded to the prescribed authority by the thirty first of December of the following year. There is also a provision for public inspection of the accounts. The accounts of every local body are to be audited in a specified manner, by different level authorities for different levels of local bodies. However, the following auditing procedures are common to all bodies:

• The audit authority can examine all the books and documents and also the elected and non-elected functionaries of the body;
  
• After completion of the audit, the audit party is to submit an audit report of the respective authorities. However, Siddiqui notes that: "In practice, local government auditing is lax and irregular and amounts to mere paper audit" (Siddiqui 1992 p. 174).

Personnel Systems in Local Government

Local government bodies in Bangladesh are managed by a combination of elected people and appointed personnel. The Chairman and members of the Zila Parishads, including women, are all elected by direct vote. In addition, elected Chairmen of Upazilas and Municipalities would also become members of the Parishads, without voting rights. The District Commissioner (or Chief Civil Administrator) would serve as Executive Officer of the Parishad while the MPs elected for the Zila would be available as Advisers to the Parishad. In the case of the appointed people, for such levels as the Thana/Upazila Parishad, Zila Parishads and urban local governments (Pourashavas and City Corporation), there is both staff directly recruited by the local body as well as some sent on deputation (i.e. secondment) from the central government. Appointments at Gram and Union Parishads are all locally done and the people selected are also generally from within the locality.

In the proposed new system, Union Parishad would have a full time Secretary, 9 Mahalladars (Neighbourhood Workers) and 1 (Caretaker). There would also be a Tax Collector and an Assistant Secretary, who would also work as an accountant. The Chairman of the Union Parishad is the Chief Executive. In the proposed new system, the Thana/Upazila Parishad would represent officers and employees of all central government administrative and development agencies. As long as they work at the Thana/Upazila Parishad, they serve as seconded officers and employees, (except for the police and judiciary). The Parishad's own staff includes a secretary, an assistant secretary, one accountant, a security guard and one sweeper. The Chairman has a three member personal staff. All officials are answerable to the Chairman. In case of the Zila Parishad; the secretary is a deputed (seconded) official from the government. All other officials such as the administrative officer and others are employees of the Zila Parishad. In respect of Hill Tract District Local Government Parishads, the Deputy Commissioners work as ex-officio Secretaries of the Parishad.

Pourashavas and City Corporation have their own personnel set-up determined by the government. Each of the four City Corporations and a number of Pourashavas has a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) seconded from the central civil service. Under such situation all other officials, whether directly recruited by the Pourahsavas or City Corporation, or coming on secondment, are directly under the CEO. He assists the Chairman or Mayor in the affairs of the Pourahsava or Corporation. He is the custodian of all Pourashava/Corporation records and may also exercise magisterial powers. In the case of Dhaka City Corporation, exception is seen in the fact that all senior level appointments in its services are made by the Mayor. He is also the supreme chief executive of the Corporation making all major negotiations and signing and contracts. For other City Corporations the CEO makes appointments.

Except the Union Parishads, all other local government bodies have officials on secondment, which belong to their respective cadre services. Their parent department indicates their service conditions. On the other hand officials and employees directly recruited by the Union Parishad, Thana/Upazila Parishad and Zila Parishad are guided by the Local Council Service Rules. In the case of Pourashavas and Corporations, these are guided by their respective service rules. The Special Affairs Division under the Prime Minister's Secretariat is responsible for employees of Hill District Local Government Parishads. The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives is the central personnel agency for the management of Local Council Service and Pourahsava and Corporation service.

In the rural and urban local government system, a few of the officials and employees are recruited through election, while others are appointed. The employees in most cases outnumber the elected executives. The local governments recruit the general staff through a set procedure. Government does not earmark any officers exclusively for the local government bodies. Government, however, places some civil servants and technical personnel (e.g. engineers, doctors etc.) with the local government bodies on 'deputation' (secondment) for a specified period (normally 3 years) from its central pool. Such employees or officials are officially barred from belonging to any political party or support any political ideology. There is as of yet no such cadre as the Local Government Service Cadre. Any local government body may appoint temporary class IV (lowest level) employees on a work charge basis to meet urgent requirements.

Training

Training of local government officials and employees is generally limited to the officers and conducted at the National Institute of Local Government (NILG), located at Dhaka. Elected representatives as well as appointed and nominated personnel are provided training at NILG. Some are even sent abroad for short term training. Lower level technical or general staff are rarely given any training or chance to improve their skills.

Service conditions

The salary scale and service conditions are more or less similar to other government services in the country. In addition to basic salary certain fringe benefits such as house rent allowance, medical allowance, contributory provident fund, gratuity benefits, festival bonus etc. are enjoyed by local body employees. Normal retirement age is 57. Class III and Class IV in large corporations and Municipalities also form unions to uphold their rights and privileges.

Discipline

The Bangladesh Local Council Servants Rules (1968) guide the disciplinary conduct of employees of local bodies. These rules contain grounds for penalization, which include inefficiency, misconduct, corruption and subversion. Enforcement of disciplinary action often becomes difficult due to union pressure.

Central-Local Links

In the existing system, local government bodies are subject to strong control from higher level authorities, specially the central government. In case of Union Parishad, there used to be a dual control and supervision exercised by both Upzila Parishad and the central government in various matters. In the recently approved system however, control would only come from the central government, e.g. in auditing income expenditures. In case of Upazila/Thana Parishad and Zila Parishad, similar control will prevail from central government. Upazila/Thana and Zila Parishads would also be subject to internal auditing. The present Awami League government (in power on a five-year term since June 1996) has taken steps to give importance to the empowerment of local governments, beginning at the Gram (Village) Parishad to the Zila (District) Parishad. To this end, a Commission was set up and a report has been prepared. The Gram Parishad Bill and the Union Parishad Bill have already been approved. Upazila/Thana Parishad and Zila Parishad Bills are yet to be placed in the Parliament. But it already appears that the Cabinet is not enthusiastic about the recommendation to transfer or devolve some 26 Departments of the central government at the Upazila and Zila levels. However, the debate is ongoing and a positive outcome is expected.

The autonomy of urban local governments is yet to be discussed. This issue was not included within the Terms of Reference of the Commission. At present, local governments are subject to control in various matters, such as:

• The National Government exacts legislation on local bodies and formulates detailed rules relating to conduct of election, business, powers and duties of chairmen, assessment of taxes, preparation of budget, making of contracts, appointment and service matters of local government employment, accounts and audit and many other important areas. Even when local governments make regulations, these are to be approved by the central government;
• The Central Government has the final authority in the determination of the size and boundaries of the local body's territory;
• The Central Government has the power to decide on the structure and composition of the local bodies;
• The Central Government substantially controls the personnel system of local bodies, particularly the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer in City Corporations and Pourashavas as well as other officials;
• The Central Government controls the functional jurisdiction of local bodies. Besides, designated functions (as in ordinance), the government can assign any other function to a local body;
• Inter-institutional disputes within local body areas are to be settled by the Central Government;
• In the large cities there are multiple agencies offering services to the citizens. Often there is serious lack of coordination amongst them and between the local government body and service delivering central government agencies. This recently assumed a critical situation in Dhaka, as a reaction to which the Mayor of Dhaka proposed a Metropolitan Government for Dhaka. In response, the Central Government formed a Coordination Committee in October 1996 headed by the Minister for Local Government, rather than by the Mayor. Central Government control over even the largest urban local government was thus increased rather than relaxed;
• In the field of finance, government supervision and control is wide and strict. In addition to financial control in general, the central government can wield power by reducing or enhancing Grant-in-aid to local bodies, even to city authorities like Dhaka;
• The Central Government asserts control and supervision over general administration of local bodies, including of large City Corporations. The central government may order an inquiry into the affairs of a local body generally or into any particular affair either on its own initiative or on an application made by any person to the government; and
• The Central Government has the power to dissolve a local body on charge of gross inefficiency, abuse of power, or inability to meet financial obligations. However, instances of such action in Bangladesh have been rare in recent time.

The present system of local government in Bangladesh is under heavy control of the central government. It is hoped however, that the ongoing process of empowering local governments by the present regime will be able to bring about significant change in the structure. Even if it is a partial success, this would be some gain in favour of local body autonomy.

Extent of Public Participation

The Constitution of Bangladesh framed and approved in 1972, within a year of the country's Independence, categorically emphasizes the need for establishing local government with a representative character (Chapter 3, Article 59). It also implies direct participation of the people in constituting the local body and in managing the affairs of such bodies. However, in the years following the adoption of the Constitution, the spirit of people's participation in local bodies was not always adequately maintained. Frequent changes in the local government structure are partly responsible for this. The extent and quality of people's participation have also been variable. The best participation was the opportunity of casting votes during the election of local bodies. But elections were not held at regular intervals. For urban local bodies however, the record is satisfactory for the first time since the 1994 election in the four City Corporations, when people elected their Mayors directly. The election of women representatives so far has been indirect. The present government's Local Government Commission has recommended election of women representatives (unreserved seats) directly by the people at all levels of local government. The bills for Gram Parishad and Union Parishads have already approved this. The first election of the Union Parishad with such representation of women was held in 1998.

The Local Government Commission has also recommended participation of various categories of disadvantaged groups in local body activities, through nomination in committees. At village level, people's participation is very much in practice in all NGO led programmes, as well as in many government programmes. As for the urban areas, local level (i.e. Ward level) participation has been sought, but with limited success so far. The four City Corporations and 20 Pourashavas with Slum Improvement Projects have over 300 slums where community members, especially women, participate in local government led programmes quite effectively. Some City Corporations and Municipalities with Healthy City Projects (e.g. Chittagong, Rajshahi, Cox's Bazar and Sylhet) with local government leadership have been able to ensure participation of the people in urban development activities. However, it should be categorically mentioned that public participation in purely local government led programme is still limited. In fact, local governments are as slow in initiating good programmes or in devising innovative actions. As a reactive measure, civil society groups are now coming forward to begin action and invite/encourage local governments to participate with them.

The Way Ahead

Local government as a political institution to ensure public participation in development activities is yet to take proper shape in Bangladesh. Since Independence in 1971, successive governments have tried to use the local government system for their own political interest. The party or regime in power wanted to make the local government representatives their power base and manipulated the system to this end. In a recent paper Dhaka University Professor of public administration notes that: "The existing administrative structure and elected local bodies do reach the grass-roots level and have almost all the features necessary for participatory decentralized administration. But, this structure has failed so far to perform efficiently for two reasons. Despite the strong support for local government enshrined in the Constitution, the central government has compromised these advantages by exercising control over local government and starving these agencies of resources. Most administrative decisions still remain to be taken centrally. Frequently they involve top-level officials in the secretariat, even some ministers depending on the subject. Several abortive attempts have been made at decentralisation, but the system has remained highly centralized. As of such, local bodies are characterized by weak administrative capacity, a limited financial and human resource base and little public participation" (Ahmed 1997).

Aware of the above problems, the present Awami League Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up a high powered Reform Commission. The objective was formulated as follows: "Establishing truly representative democratic local bodies entrusted with administrative and financial powers with a view to expediting Decentralized development process and ensuring spontaneous people's participation in planning and management of local level development" (Ahmed 1997). The intention of the Government is clear and straightforward. It has already shown sufficient commitment, but it still has to prove whether the intention can be transformed into reality. In that respect, the December 1997 election at the 4503 Union Parishads under the new local government provisions was a big test case. It made the Government start realizing it should think of carrying out reforms for the urban local governments, ensuring direct election of women members and that participation of other disadvantaged groups in municipal or urban development needs to be considered seriously as well. In addition, the power of Municipalities and corporations needs to be enhanced, in both political-administrative terms as well as economic terms. Higher degrees of self-reliance on the part of the urban local bodies would be necessary for their autonomous existence and reduction of central control.

References

Ahmed, S.G., Local Government System in Bangladesh: Empowerment, Participation and Development, Round Table on Local Government Reform, TSC, Parliamentary System Council, Dhaka University, October 1997

BBS, Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1996

BBS, Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1993

BBS, Census of Population 1991, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1993

Chowdhury, A. I., Nazrul Islam and M.M. Khan Resource Mobilization and Urban Governance in Bangladesh, Dhaka: Centre for Urban Studies, 1997

Government of Bangladesh and Local Government Commission, Local Government Institutions Strengthening Report, Dhaka, May 1997

Islam, N., ed. M. Chatterjee and Y. Kaizong, Mc. Millan, Urban and Regional Development in Bangladesh: Past Trends and Future Prospects, Regional Science in Developing Countries, London, 1997

Khan, M. M., Urban Local Governance in Bangladesh: an Overview, Urban Governance in Bangladesh, Dhaka Centre for Urban Studies, 1997

Noor, A., Local Government in Bangladesh: Problems and Issues, Journal of Local Government NILG, Volume 15 No. 1, pp. 15-28, Dhaka, 1996

Siddiqui, K. (ed.), Local Government in South Asia: a Comparative Study on Bangladesh, UPL, Dhaka, 1992

Siddiqui, K. (ed.), Local Government in Bangladesh, 2nd edition, NILG, Dhaka, 1994

UNDP, Human Development Report, 1992