Senior IAS officer Ashwini Bhide being appointed as the Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made headlines. And it should, given that she is the first woman in the chair since the civic body was set up by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1888.

However, it would be historically imprudent to view Bhide only in this perspective and applaud the Maharashtra government for the gender-sensitive appointment.

Bhide now heads India’s richest civic body — the budget for the current year is nearly Rs 81,000 crore — and has tremendous influence over the daily lives of nearly 18 million Mumbaikars. What lies ahead of her are the known challenges of urban governance as well as the burden of navigating Mumbai’s today in the context of the city’s........

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