The Government of Karnataka is set to bifurcate the Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalike (BBMP) into smaller corporations and an apex body, the Greater Bengaluru Authority. The rationale for splitting the city into smaller parts is better administration. This proposal draws comparison with the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Delhi which was split into 3 corporations in 2012 for better administration.

The de-merger was undone when the South Delhi, North Delhi and East Delhi municipal corporation was unified in 2022. The unification was prompted by a disparate share of resources- only South Delhi MC had enough financial resources while North and East Delhi MC could not even pay the staff salaries. North and East Delhi MCs could not survive as independent entities.

On the other hand, The Tamilnadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 was amended last year to allow any local body with 2 lakh population and Rs. 20 crore income to be declared a municipal corporation. Earlier the criteria to qualify as a municipal corporation was a minimum population of 3 lakh and an income of Rs. 30 crore.

Is an income of Rs. 20 crores sufficient to undertake even basic civic services? India has more than 4700 urban local bodies of which 250 are municipal corporations. The rest are smaller municipalities and nagar panchayats. Between 'too big to be managed' and 'too many to administer', there needs to be a balance, based on administrative and financial wisdom.