TN gram panchayats' plea to Union government

Forest fires a recurring problem across the country

Sand mining continues unabated in Tamil Nadu there are no signs of any let-up in the quarrying of river sand in Tamil Nadu. This despite the Madras High Court staying the activity on all sites except the 79 owned by the state government

Two recent directives of the Kerala High Court have further vindicated the Perumatty Grama Panchayat's stand in its face-off with the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited

A multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation has had to blink first in an eyeball-to-eyeball dispute with an obscure panchayat of Kerala. On November 17, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCBPL) -- the Goliath of the piece -- was compelled to appear before the Perumatty Grama Panchayat, which played David. HCBPL, an Indian unit of the US-based soft drinks giant The Coca-Cola Company, was seeking a renewal of the company's licence for its bottling plant at Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district. The battlelines had been drawn much before the November 17 meeting in Plachimada. In a shed in front of the main entrance of the Coke plant, local people from the affected villages appeared to have dug in for the long haul

Dengue grips Bangalore

In 1992 the Indian Parliament approved of the 73rd constitutional amendment, which made it mandatory for state governments to devolve powers to local bodies. More than a decade later, Vinod Vyasulu, director, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore and a longtime observer of panchayati raj institutions, reviews this decade in Karnataka, also presenting Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as case studies

From literacy to economic independence

Right from the backyard

In Karnataka, a lesson in water scarcity

Curbs on farmland transactions in Karnataka

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has recently initiated ecofriendly pilot projects at its Bangalore aircraft division, which will not only minimise waste, but will also help save huge sums of money. The projects include installation of a biogas plant and harvesting rainwater. The biogas plant, which is being set up with the help of the Gujarat-based Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Resources Institute, will consume 300 kilogrammes of canteen waste every day and produce 230 cylinders of biogas per annum

No body knows for sure how the ragi bandwagon started, but all of a sudden the urban elite became curious about the grain. Today, it is being minutely scrutinised by a few truth-seekers while eateries make a beeline for its cuisine

The Karnataka government ostensibly allows private production of sandalwood, but actually maintains a tight rein on the trade. In fact, eight months after the notification of amendments in the Karnataka Forest (Amendment) Act 2001, stakeholders are yet to see any tangible evidence of the deregulation that these changes were meant to usher in

There was a time when Payinthulasi, a 40-year old herb gatherer of village Utchananthal in Virudunagar district of Tamil Nadu, had to trudge to the towns of Virudunagar and Madurai to sell her 'produce'. It used to be a livelihood with extremely limited choices. Then, two years ago, a public limited company called Gram Mooligai Company Limited came to her village. It wanted to collect the plants she gathered, at much better prices. Moreover, it made her a shareholder. Today her fortunes have changed