-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-Live Mint Dominant caste groups in the state have found their own ways to capture and preserve power Dravidian political parties, which came into existence with the objective of achieving social equality, have been in power for more than four decades in Tamil Nadu, yet caste-based discrimination against the Dalits has remained a fact of life in the southern state. That's in contrast with neighbouring Kerala, which has emerged as a...

-The Times of India Rains could bring some relief to the UPA in the pre-election year with the meteorological department on Friday projecting a countrywide normal monsoon for 2013. The forecast should allay government's fears of food inflation jumping again over the 10% mark after being only partially tamed in the last quarter of the financial year. The weather office said that rainfall would be within the normal range - 98% of...

-The Hindustan Times Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday his government was expected to take a decision shortly on Attapadi, a malnutrition-afflicted tribal hamlet in Palakkad district below the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats. According to the district health office of Palakkad, 14 malnutrition-related deaths have taken place in the past four months, but NGOs working with the tribals say more than 40 children died in the past...

-Live Mint The experience of Kerala and Tripura shows how panchayati raj can help in the empowerment of women Chulubari (Tripura)/Kanjikuzhy (Kerala): Her relatives warned Hena Das, a resident of Chulubari in Tripura, against taking up political office because it wasn't "meant for women". Das disregarded the warnings. Two years on, she has no regrets. She also has no male colleagues; her fellow representatives on the board of an 12-member panchayat are all...