-The Hindu Business Line At present, panchayats make no contribution to the design of schemes. Their autonomy is negligible. This needs to change Decentralisation has long been recognised as an efficient instrument for promoting economic democracy, and delivering services to meet the needs of people. There are three different channels for decentralisation — political, administrative and fiscal. Political decentralisation promotes trust and cooperation between government agencies and citizens. Administrative decentralisation enables authority...

-TheWire.in A PIL seeking social security benefits for gig workers and PLAtform workers brings to the front a storm of issues that have festered over the last few years. There is a storm of discontent brewing within India’s app-based worker community, which the Union government has been sidelining for far too long much to the dismay of the over 15 million gig workers in India. While the government persists with an apathetic attitude...

-The Hindu Far from pushing for social and economic equality, the state is fanning systems and principles to strengthen the divide The latest edition of the World Inequality Report (https://bit.ly/3Fx8vv4 and https://bit.ly/3EvazlY) has confirmed that the world continues to sprint down the path of inequality. “Global multimillionaires have captured a disproportionate share of global wealth growth over the past several decades: the top 1% took 38% of all additional wealth accumulated since...

-Down to Earth Eligibility threshold for FPOs should be reduced or support provided to meet the criteria, experts feel Farmer producer organisations (FPO) figure prominently in government policies and the ambitious PLAn to double farmers’ income by 2022. But funds remain elusive for these bodies, according to a recent analysis.  Just 1-5 per cent of FPOs have received funding under central government schemes introduced to promote them in the last seven years, the...

-Down to Earth Bijaya Jhankar grows nine traditional varieties of paddy that have a longer harvest duration of 130-150 days The eyes of Bijaya Jhankar twinkle as he approaches his 1.2 hectare (ha) farm for harvesting paddy. They are unlike any other varieties grown in his village Sanbaheli, which lies in the vast Sunabeda PLAteau of Odisha’s Nuapada district. “They yield shorter grains, take longer to mature but are of tremendous sentimental value,”...