-Live Mint Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's first panchyati raj minister, talks about the challenges the institutions face On Wednesday, India marked 20 years of panchayati raj, an exercise in devolving power to people at the grassroots. Rajya Sabha memberMani Shankar Aiyar was India's first panchyati raj minister, appointed to the newly created ministry in 2004. He headed a committee that examined the reasons why attempts at sharing power with self-governance units haven't...
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Ensure the accused are not brought before the victim, urge activists-Bindu Shajan Perappadan
-The Hindu Demanding that the police ensure that the accused in the recent sexual assault of the five-year-old girl not be brought before the child in any manner and that the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, (POCSO) be followed strictly, child rights activists and non-government organisations working in the area have now written to the Delhi Police in the matter. In a letter written to the...
More »Tripura, Kerala open the door for women in panchayats -Anuja and Liz Mathew
-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...
More »Panchayati raj: Key to good governance and inclusion-Anil Padmanabhan
-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...
More »Independent judiciary and interest groups -Shruti Rajagopalan
-The Hindu Business Line After the 1980s, special interest groups have preferred to knock on the doors of the judiciary. In India today, matters of public interest seem to get their due only when the Supreme Court has added its two cents. Interest groups, representing both general and special interests, petition the judiciary actively. In an era where virtually all institutions in India have been vulnerable to political capture, the judiciary seems like...
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