-Live Mint It's obvious that Indian experience with local governance is not what it should have been, but a change is underway Later this week, the country will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the constitutional amendments that made it mandatory for the creation of panchayats-the village-level bodies that deliver self-governance. Most may not be aware that this could well have been the eve of its 25th anniversary, but for the three-vote defeat...

-The Hindu   Assessment by high-level committee based on interactions with farmers Chennai: A Rs.1,755-crore package of drought relief measures was unveiled on Friday for non-Cauvery delta districts in the State. Of this package, six components were meant for about 17.9 lakh farmers, who had suffered over 50 per cent crop loss. The farmers, for a variety of crops, would receive a total compensation of Rs. 835.21 crore. Making an announcement in the Assembly, Chief...

-The Hindustan Times A civil society group on Friday demanded key changes in the bill to protect whistleblowers, including widening its scope to bring all categories of public servants and private sector employees under its purview. The National Campaign for People's Right to Information, after day-long consultations with the families of some of the whistleblowers, asked the government to make the definition of victimisation clear in the bill. The Whistleblowers Protection Bill was...

-The Indian Express Bangalore: An analysis of usage of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) programme in 156 of the assembly constituencies in Karnataka, which is headed for elections next month, has revealed a continuous decline over the last three years on several parameters, such as average expenditure per constituency, percentage of households employed and average daily wages. The analysis by the IndiaGoverns Research Institute, an NGO,...

-The Times of India It is universally recognised that for ensuring people's participation in governance and holistic development, the best instrumentality is local government. So when Parliament passed the 73rd Constitution Amendment Bill on December 23, 1992 to enshrine the essential features of panchayats in the Constitution, this was hailed as historic. But where do our panchayats stand 20 years after becoming institutions of self-government? A big issue before the founders of...