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<p><span ><strong>Janaagraha</strong></span>, Bengaluru</p><p><strong>Key people: </strong>Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, Founders; Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO</p><p><strong>Year of inception:</strong> 2001</p><div data-embed-button="ckeditor_image" data-entity-embed-display="view_mode:media.image" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="54d912f8-b711-4e47-a501-40e17736cc2b" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"><article class="media media--type-ckeditor-image media--view-mode-image">
  
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <div class="itgimage"><amp-img  src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/styles/medium_crop_simple/public/2026-01/janaagraha-2.jpg?VersionId=fze8hOE6wUnUnKJIvEg6o2PkUficgPEg&size=750:*&size=750:*" alt = "" height="736" width="770" class="image-style-medium-crop-simple" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div>


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</div><p><span ><span ><strong><span >W</span></strong></span></span>hen Janaagraha was founded in 2001, its faith was almost romantic: that the organised voice of citizens could be the lever that fixed India’s broken cities. Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, who walked away from successful careers in the US to return to India, believed participatory democracy would be the silver bullet for urban dysfunction. But reality intervened quickly.</p><p>“We came in with a very problem-solving approach,” says Swati. “What is wrong in our cities? Why isn’t government solving it? And therefore, what can we do?” That framing led to a crucial realisation: “You can’t avoid working with government if you have ambitions of transformation at scale. Government is the vehicle through which scale happens.”</p><p>At the same time, the founders insist that this engagement never meant co-option. Over the next 25 years, the organisation would move fluidly between national policy advocacy and painstaking ground-up capacity-building—helping governments reform how cities are planned, built and financed.</p><p>Its first major policy breakthrough came with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), launched in 2005. The UPA government’s flagship urban programme linked central funding to reforms in planning, governance and transparency. “Not many people know that JNNURM was invented by Janaagraha,” says CEO Srikanth Viswanathan. The programme made people look at urban reforms more seriously and push for them.</p><div data-embed-button="ckeditor_image" data-entity-embed-display="view_mode:media.image" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="8b034a31-c5bd-4ba3-949b-fbe723e96f7b" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"><article class="media media--type-ckeditor-image media--view-mode-image">
  
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <div class="itgimage"><amp-img  src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/styles/medium_crop_simple/public/2026-01/janaagraha-3.jpg?VersionId=6kZgEYfUkFXvGxC16P1kPqITc9zLRbu8&size=750:*&size=750:*" alt = "" height="756" width="770" class="image-style-medium-crop-simple" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div>


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</div><p>Alongside policy, Janaagraha experimented with citizen-facing tools—platforms like ‘I Paid a Bribe’ and ‘I Change My City’—before achieving a visible breakthrough in urban design. In 2011, its sister organisation, Jana Urban Space Foundation, introduced TenderSURE, a standardised road design that reimagined streets as public spaces. Continuous footpaths, cycle tracks, organised utility ducts—features long absent from Indian roads—suddenly became possible. Today, 174 km of TenderSURE roads operate in Bengaluru, with hundreds more under way there and across 17 towns in Uttar Pradesh.</p><p>The most consequential reform, however, came in 2020. Janaagraha’s advocacy persuaded the 15th Finance Commission to make the publication of audited financial statements mandatory for urban local bodies to receive grants. The impact was far-reaching: nearly 95 per cent of India’s 4,300-plus urban local bodies now publish audited accounts. Janaagraha also helped build cityfinance.in, the portal that underpins this shift.</p><p>Why does this matter? Because credible balance sheets unlock capital. “The US built its infrastructure by channelising long-term pension and insurance funds into municipal bonds,” says Viswanathan. “Once data credibility improves, you will see massive changes in urban financing.” By 2050, more than half of India will live in cities. For Janaagraha, there’s much to be done and no time to lose.</p><div id="lrcmtcont"></div><div class="end_story">- Ends</div><div class="dottedimg"></div><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Shyam Balasubramanian</div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Jan 24, 2026 21:18 IST</div></div></div>

Gems of India | Republic Day Special

<p><span style="color:#c0392b;"><strong>Janaagraha</strong></span>, Bengaluru</p><p><strong>Key people: </strong>Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, Founders; Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO</p><p><strong>Year of inception:</strong> 2001</p><div data-embed-button="ckeditor_image" data-entity-embed-display="view_mode:media.image" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="54d912f8-b711-4e47-a501-40e17736cc2b" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"><article class="media media--type-ckeditor-image media--view-mode-image">
  
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <div class="itgimage"><img  height="736"  title=""  width="770"  class="image-style-medium-crop-simple" alt="" src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/styles/medium_crop_simple/public/2026-01/janaagraha-2.jpg?VersionId=fze8hOE6wUnUnKJIvEg6o2PkUficgPEg&size=750:*" loading="lazy" /></div>


</div>
      
  </article>
</div><p><span style="color:#c0392b;"><span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: 58px;">W</span></strong></span></span>hen Janaagraha was founded in 2001, its faith was almost romantic: that the organised voice of citizens could be the lever that fixed India’s broken cities. Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, who walked away from successful careers in the US to return to India, believed participatory democracy would be the silver bullet for urban dysfunction. But reality intervened quickly.</p><p>“We came in with a very problem-solving approach,” says Swati. “What is wrong in our cities? Why isn’t government solving it? And therefore, what can we do?” That framing led to a crucial realisation: “You can’t avoid working with government if you have ambitions of transformation at scale. Government is the vehicle through which scale happens.”</p><p>At the same time, the founders insist that this engagement never meant co-option. Over the next 25 years, the organisation would move fluidly between national policy advocacy and painstaking ground-up capacity-building—helping governments reform how cities are planned, built and financed.</p><p>Its first major policy breakthrough came with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), launched in 2005. The UPA government’s flagship urban programme linked central funding to reforms in planning, governance and transparency. “Not many people know that JNNURM was invented by Janaagraha,” says CEO Srikanth Viswanathan. The programme made people look at urban reforms more seriously and push for them.</p><div data-embed-button="ckeditor_image" data-entity-embed-display="view_mode:media.image" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="8b034a31-c5bd-4ba3-949b-fbe723e96f7b" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"><article class="media media--type-ckeditor-image media--view-mode-image">
  
      
            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <div class="itgimage"><img  height="756"  title=""  width="770"  class="image-style-medium-crop-simple" alt="" src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/styles/medium_crop_simple/public/2026-01/janaagraha-3.jpg?VersionId=6kZgEYfUkFXvGxC16P1kPqITc9zLRbu8&size=750:*" loading="lazy" /></div>


</div>
      
  </article>
</div><p>Alongside policy, Janaagraha experimented with citizen-facing tools—platforms like ‘I Paid a Bribe’ and ‘I Change My City’—before achieving a visible breakthrough in urban design. In 2011, its sister organisation, Jana Urban Space Foundation, introduced TenderSURE, a standardised road design that reimagined streets as public spaces. Continuous footpaths, cycle tracks, organised utility ducts—features long absent from Indian roads—suddenly became possible. Today, 174 km of TenderSURE roads operate in Bengaluru, with hundreds more under way there and across 17 towns in Uttar Pradesh.</p><p>The most consequential reform, however, came in 2020. Janaagraha’s advocacy persuaded the 15th Finance Commission to make the publication of audited financial statements mandatory for urban local bodies to receive grants. The impact was far-reaching: nearly 95 per cent of India’s 4,300-plus urban local bodies now publish audited accounts. Janaagraha also helped build cityfinance.in, the portal that underpins this shift.</p><p>Why does this matter? Because credible balance sheets unlock capital. “The US built its infrastructure by channelising long-term pension and insurance funds into municipal bonds,” says Viswanathan. “Once data credibility improves, you will see massive changes in urban financing.” By 2050, more than half of India will live in cities. For Janaagraha, there’s much to be done and no time to lose.</p><div id="lrcmtcont"></div><div class="end_story">- Ends</div><div class="dottedimg"></div><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Shyam Balasubramanian</div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Jan 24, 2026 21:18 IST</div></div></div>

From national policy advocacy to ground-up capacity-building, Janaagraha shows how patient institutional reform can reshape Indian cities at scale

India Today

Fixing broken cities | Janaagraha, Bengaluru - India Today

Fixing broken cities | Janaagraha, Bengaluru

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Fixing broken cities | Janaagraha, Bengaluru

From national policy advocacy to ground-up capacity-building, Janaagraha shows how patient institutional reform can reshape Indian cities at scale

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