The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan set aside the verdict of Jharkhand High Court and upheld the constitutional validity of the amendment in the law that mandates reservations of the chairperson’s post of Panchayats at all levels for the Scheduled Tribe in all the Scheduled Areas. The bench struck down Section 4(G) of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996 and held that other...

Agriculture, irrigation, primary education discussed ‘State will extend rural development projects further’ West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday held a closed-door meeting with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen at a city hotel. The meeting lasted an hour. Sources said that at the meeting which began late on Thursday evening, the two discussed issues such as agriculture, irrigation, primary education in the State and also the progress of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribe and...

A medical degree in 3-1/2 years? This could soon be a reality with the health ministry and Medical Council of India (MCI) planning a shorter medical degree for rural students who would exclusively serve the rural populace. The hinterland, where few doctors want to serve, could soon have a dedicated corps of medical practitioners drawn from among students raised in rural areas. After incentives failed to lure doctors to practise...

As far as natural resources like minerals, land and water are concerned, Jharkhand is among the richest States of India. Yet, its people are among the poorest. Mind you, almost 30 per cent of them are tribal. Out of the total population of 288.46 lakhs, 223.1 lakhs live in rural areas and only 65.36 lakhs are urban dwellers. Even a cursory glance is sufficient to convince that most of the...

PRIMARY SCHOOLING: I Pratichi Trust (India) was established a decade ago, along with its sister across the border, Pratichi Trust (Bangladesh) [1]. The Bangladesh centre has been concentrating on the social progress of girls and young women there (it has worked particularly on supporting and training young women journalists reporting from rural Bangladesh), whereas here in India, the work of the Trust has been mainly focused on advancing primary education...