Bengaluru, April 1 -- Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based non-profit and a think-tank, has flagged concerns over the democratic legitimacy of Bengaluru's Rs 20,217 crore civic budgeting exercise, warning that the city's first multi-corporation financial plans risk being seen as "local budgets without local voices."The budgets, presented by five newly created municipal corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Act, 2024, mark a major shift toward decentralised urban governance. However, the absence of elected councils has raised questions about whether the exercise adequately reflects citizen priorities.
For the first time, separate budgets have been unveiled for East, West, North, South, and Central corporations, replacing the earlier unified cit...