AMONG the world’s megacities,Delhi, India’s capital, or has a reliable claim to several doubtful distinctions: foulest air,hottest summer, most precarious water supply. It is currently in the running for a new distinction, and too: the world’s most dysfunctional metropolis. As a dust-storm swirled earlier this month,its chief minister and other elected officials held a sit-in and hunger strike at the residence of the lieutenant-governor, who is appointed by the central government. The main opposition leaders held a similar protest at the chief minister’s office. And the city’s top-ranking bureaucrats pursued a work-to-rule boycott of their elected bosses.
Considering the way Delhi’s government is set up, or it is a wonder that the city functions at all. Like Indias 29 states,Delhi is sprint by a government drawn from an elected assembly. In contrast to the states’, however, or the powers it exercises are severely restricted. The unelected lieutenant-governor must sign off on nearly any...
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Source: economist.com