Where are rural courts?

The Gram Nyayalaya Act was passed in 2008 to make the judicial process participatory, inexpensive and accessible to rural India. But rural courts …

Move to leash NGOs

Government and political parties see NGOs with suspicion. Arm-twisting has already begun

Presidential panchayat

India's third-tier of government has a few lessons for those seeking presidential form of government

Pills for polls

The free medicine scheme in Rajasthan may benefit Congress

The power of intermediaries

Move to rein in Internet censorship falters; ISPs continue to block websites

Democracy's better half

Exclusive women's village councils are beginning to make a difference in India's rural areas. Are state governments ready to share power with them?

The aam politician is a crorepati

Every other politician who is elected now is a crorepati, even those in the Aam Aadmi Party

DRDA faces axe

District Rural Development Agency in conflict with Constitution; committee suggests its abolition

Rise of third sector

NGOs’ relationship with the government has been redefined over the years with changing social and political scenario

Channels of change

Two villages in Uttar Pradesh have reversed the trend of migration by digging six kilometres of channels to bring water to drought-hit farms

ANNA TO BINAYAK AND TATA

A trial with too many errors

Infighting within AAP post its brute win in Delhi raises doubts about civil society's tryst with electoral politics

Democracy under surveillance

West Bengal bureaucrats to monitor panchayat institutions, implement their decisions  

Bridging the gap

Pressured by a highly active civil society, the Kerala state government is actually giving power to the people. The decentralisation theory has …

Developing politics: Election 2004 is not the end

Panchayat Raj Half a cheer for democracy

There is a great push to make panchayats the fulcrum of rural development in India. But 16 years after the third tier of government was created, …

Bank at your doorstep

Technology is helping public sector banks find customers in rural India. This is part of the Centre’s efforts to include villages in the …

Foreign Vedanta funds Cong, BJP

Delhi High Court directs government to take action against the parties within six months

On wrong wavelength

Twenty years after the Supreme Court asserted that people have a right over radio waves, community radio continues to struggle. Instead of …

Walk the village talk

After raising the political profile of village councils, government wants to downsize them

Have India's tribal leaders failed their people?

India has the largest tribal population in the world. But they are also the most marginalised section of society. What is it in India's political …

Elementary failure

Since the Right To Education Act came into force on April 1, 2010, India has been witnessing an experiment that involves parents in enforcing a …

Saga of two villages

Sukhomajri was a dirt-poor village in Haryana. It started pulling itself out of its hole in the late 1970s, making a dizzying ascent to …

The panchayat outrage

It was a vote for self-governance, not self-determination. No panchayat election in the country ever created as much hype as that of Jammu and …

Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires

Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …