Age of dissent
Six villages in Madhya Pradesh reject Centre’s proposal to declare their forest a wildlife sanctuary
Fight for Khandadhar
Once rescued from Korean company POSCO, Odisha's ecologically rich Khandadhar hills have now been handed over to the state's mining body. Tribal …
Strings attached
Centre's purpose of reserving 50 per cent seats for women in panchayat elections defeated by puppet candidates
Left without a vote
Uttar Pradesh government's repeated attempts to bring villages under industrial authorities are against the spirit of the Constitution
Millionaire mukhiyas
Money pumped in development schemes in Bihar is giving rise to a new breed of village heads, flush with money and flexing muscles
Kerala panchayat wins face-off with Coke
Two recent directives of the Kerala High Court have further vindicated the Perumatty Grama Panchayat's stand in its face-off with the Hindustan …
New sand mining guidelines call for robust monitoring and sustainable development
The guidelines try to create a balance between preserving ecologically sensitive river habitats and the need for infrastructure
Spring in a box
A village in Maharashtra solves its water crisis by building underground boxes to tap spring water
The curious case of panchayats in Delhi
The Nagar Swaraj Bill will usher in decentralised governance in the city state, but what happened to rural panchayats?
Who dropped MESA?
Government clueless about the Bill it introduced 12 years ago to govern urban areas in tribal regions. Constitutional crisis follows
Rooftop revolution
More and more people in food-deficit Kerala are taking up terrace farming to grow organic vegetables and fruits
Who owns the river?
The Rajasthan government believes that it has a right over every raindrop and makes a move to demolish a water harvesting structure set up by …
Power to the people
Heads of panchayats arrived in the Capital to demand the power to effectively run the traditional self-government
A smile for the camera
At the capitals of three mining hotbeds, AVINASH KUMAR finds a battle to capture public imagination
Machiavellian moves
Rajasthan's decision to bar illiterate people from contesting elections to panchayats is one more example of a state government dominating …
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 …
Giant snail invasion
People in Kerala village spend nights battling large snails that devour plants and nibble at walls
Corporate wastelands
Tamil Nadu seems set to gift community land to corporates under the name of wasteland regeneration
Not being kept in loop: Odisha’s sarpanches on CM’s power decentralisation move
Several sarpanches who were given powers of district collectors alleged their administrative or financial roles were not spelt out clearly
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?
How tribal leadership in Chhattisgarh is helping people access rights
The civil society’s intervention in the tribal regions began in early 1980s on two issues-sustainable livelihood, particularly in forest …
DRDA faces axe
District Rural Development Agency in conflict with Constitution; committee suggests its abolition
Born at 44
Odisha village gets pattas after nearly half a century. Land reform programmes get jumpstart
We plan to involve panchayats in monitoring pollution levels
Sheila Rani Chunkat has recently been appointed chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). She spoke to Binayak Das on how …
Sure cure: how to tackle India's undernutrition crisis in 10 steps
The finance ministry and the planning department can play an overarching role by ensuring health programmes get sufficient resources