Municipal Corporations in India

In India, Municipal Corporations or City Corporation or Mahanagar Palika or Mahanagar Nigam are urban local government that works for the development of a city, which has a population of more than one million (ten lakh). The growing population and urbanization in various cities of India were in need of a local governing body that can work for providing necessary community services like health care, educational institution, housing, transport etc. by collecting property tax and fixed grant from the State Government.

The 74th amendment made the provisions relating to Urban Local Governments (Nagarpalikas).

Three Tier Structure:

Terms used for Municipal Corporation in India

In India a Municipal Corporation is called by different names which varies from state to state(oweing to the official language of the state or due to other regional language variations) all of which are translated to "Municipal Corporation" in English, these names including Nagar Nigam(in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana), Mahanagar Palika(in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka), Pouro Nigom(in West Bengal), etc. The term Nagar Palika Nigam is used in Madhya Pradesh for Municipal Corporation. In Tripura, the sole Municipal Corporation of the city of Agartala is called Agartala Pur Porishod in Bengali. Also, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation is typically called by the name "Vadodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan". The detailed structure of these urban bodies varies from state to state, as per the laws passed by the state legislature(Vidhan Sabha) but the basic structure and function is almost the same. Under the panchayati raj system, it interacts directly with the state government, though it is administratively part of the district it is located in.