Planning and Development Research

1.1 Background The Pourashavas are one tiers of urban local government in Bangladesh . There is both cooperation as well as separation of activities between the urban local government and the central government in regards financial management and administration, maintenance of law and order, prevention of law and order, development of infrastructure etc. For the reason, local governments will have to develop a history of generating an annual surplus of revenues over expenditures. So, not only must the local government manage its finances well, they must be able to present well maintained budgeting and accounting records to verify their performance. There are only three ways that a local government can reliably develop a surplus that they can commit to long term debt repayment. They can increase their “own source revenues” as currently defined. They can reduce their expenditures. They can develop new sources of revenue. In Bangladesh , the income of Pourashava depends o

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY   In development theology the interest in governance has always been there but the focus has changed with the passage of time according to the need. Governance can be broadly defined as the services that governments provide to the governed (i.e., citizens) and the environment that is created within which the citizens can then operate. In this context, urban governance refers to the general manner in which a city is governed. It includes both the formal structures of urban government and administration and the practices of exercising management and power including the role of groups in civil society in the governing relationship. In recent years, a growing body of empirical research has identified good governance as the key to development progress. A focus on local urban governance means that, beyond legal frameworks and international agreements, the geographies of human rights have to be acknowledged if they are to be realized in practice. The not