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Institutionalising Youth Participation in RWAs: A Reform Whose Time Has Come

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Institutionalising Youth Participation in RWAs: A Reform Whose Time Has Come By Gaurav Malik, President, Mission 7374 Foundation India is one of the youngest nations in the world. Nearly 65% of our population is below the age of 35. Yet, when we look at the smallest and most immediate unit of urban governance — the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) — we see a striking disconnect. Our RWAs are overwhelmingly managed by senior citizens and middle-aged residents, while young adults between 18 and 25 remain largely absent from structured decision-making. This is not a criticism of existing leadership. In fact, RWAs across the country are sustained by committed, experienced citizens who dedicate their time and energy to maintaining civic order in their neighbourhoods. However, the question before us is simple: Can we afford to exclude young citizens from grassroots governance in a country that prides itself on its demographic dividend? At Mission 7374 Foundation, we believe the answer is n...
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Councillor Emergency Fund: A Major Step Toward Strengthening Local Democracy

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  Congratulations to the Citizens, Congratulations to the Councillors By Gaurav Malik President, Mission 7374 Foundation On 2 March 2026, in his Budget speech, the Chief Minister of Haryana announced the creation of the “Councillor Emergency Fund.” Under this decision, councillors of Municipal Corporations will receive ₹6 lakh annually, councillors of Municipal Councils ₹3 lakh annually, and councillors of Municipal Committees ₹1.5 lakh annually. This is not merely an administrative announcement; it represents an important structural shift toward strengthening local democracy. Last year, on 2 November 2025, Mission 7374 Foundation organized the Reimagining Gurugram Conference, followed by the release of the Reimagining Gurugram Declaration 2025 on 15 November 2025. The Declaration clearly stated that one of the biggest problems facing our cities is the imbalance between authority and accountability. Councillors are answerable to the people, yet they often lack adequate control over...
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Gurugram Needs a Metropolitan Planning Committee — Not Another Agency

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  Gurugram Needs a Metropolitan Planning Committee — Not Another Agency By Gaurav Malik President, Mission 7374 Foundation Gurugram is no longer a peripheral city. It is a metropolitan region in its own right — economically powerful, demographically complex, and spatially expanding at extraordinary speed. Yet, despite this transformation, its governance architecture remains fragmented and structurally incomplete. The Constitution of India anticipated this very situation. Under Article 243ZE — inserted through the 74th Constitutional Amendment — every metropolitan area with a population exceeding one million must constitute a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). Gurugram clearly meets this threshold. However, to date, it does not have a functioning MPC. This absence is not a technical oversight. It is a structural gap. The Current Governance Landscape of Gurugram To understand why an MPC is necessary, we must first understand how Gurugram is presently governed. Infrastructure resp...
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Reform Capital: Replacing Rent-Seeking with Innovation-Led Urban Governance

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Reform Capital: Replacing Rent-Seeking with Innovation-Led Urban Governance By Gaurav Malik, President, Mission 7374 Foundation India’s cities are standing at a historic crossroads. One path continues the familiar model of rent-seeking urbanization—where political finance is sustained through liquor vends, real estate speculation, opaque contracts, and regulatory discretion. The other path leads toward what I call Reform Capital: a new political and economic ecosystem where clean money, transparent institutions, and citizen-driven innovation become the primary fuel of governance. Today, the uncomfortable truth is that a large part of political funding is generated from the rent economy—liquor auctions, sand mining, waste management contracts, parking tenders, advertising rights, and manipulated land-use changes. These flows shape city priorities. Roads, drains, parks, and stormwater projects are often designed not for outcomes, but for extraction. Open tenders are delayed, contracts re...
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