Divisive move

Attempted panchayati raj reforms in Madhya Pradesh

It holds no water

Shoddy planning and poor execution mar many watershed revival projects

Troubled start

Creation of panchayati raj ministry sparks row

Allocation for schools in tribal areas increased, but funds for other education schemes heavily slashed

Funds for hostels and pre-matric scholarships for ST students sustained a drop of 94 per cent and 75 per cent respectively

Panchayat elections are set to become all the more important

These village-level governments have all the ingredients to make or break a political party’s fortune

India's budget just declared

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declares major schemes in his post-demonetisation message on new year's eve

Cull the caste

The fight against the caste system must be about control over natural resources, not professions of marginalised groups

Simple, easy and healthy

Gujarat trader makes affordable sanitary napkins and develops India's first machine to hygienically dispose them of Darshan Desai

Rs 60 crore for 250,000 panchayats

The Centre's decision to reduce Panchayati Raj Ministry's budget and transfer its schemes to states has left the ministry bewildered about its …

Tissue culture in a pressure cooker

A new tissue culture technique that is claimed to be cheap and easy to understand is fast gaining popularity.

Villegers blueprint their own development

MYRADA moves a step forward in rural appraisal programmes, emphasising the necessity of involving villagers in their own development.

Breaking the rural barrier

The Centre for Application of Science and Technology to Rural Areas, set up in 1974, was a bold effort at bringing appropriate technology to the …

Going the bio way

The Biovillage project provides rural folk the finance and technical knowhow to cultivate for the market while conserving water and soil

Fuel for food

While energy consumption surveys have shown a very high level of firewood consumption, various forest departments have shown very low levels of …

Only participatory technology is appropriate

Needed: institutions that deliver

Centre allots funds

Devolution is bankrupt

Now even the World Bank says money should flow to local bodies directly

Solutions at intersection of traditional knowledge & technology can help rural farmers

With the onset of climate change, monsoon has grown irregular and arrives later with every passing year, worsening the declining water table and …

Bihar plans policy change to push urbanisation

The state government has prepared a draft seeking changes to ‘old criteria’ for notifying semi-urban or rural area as urban 

Education, infrastructure saving grace for top districts: NITI Aayog report

Top performing districts still lag behind in development parameters like health and nutrition

India’s criminal wastage: over 10 million works under MGNREGA incomplete or abandoned  

Since April 2014, the rate of work completion has been declining at rapid pace, indicating that crucial assets for villages are not getting created

Jharkhand’s MGNREGA sahayta kendras show the way

MGNREGA budget has declined in real terms over the years, despite claims of “highest ever” allocations

Cabinet expansion: does it herald improvement in governance

Experts feel that the change in the cabinet has nothing to do with improving governance, but is a way of appeasing local sentiments

Presidential panchayat

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