They could vote freely in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections but had to plead and fight for their right to exercise their franchise in local body polls. The Dalits (Pallars) of Gramapatti village in Kovilankulam panchayat under Chellampatti panchayat union near here finally got to vote in the panchayat elections for the first time in four decades. According to a section of the Dalits, the local elite's dominance, in the form of...

-The Telegraph   The Centre will award gram panchayats that have excelled in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to encourage rural bodies to perform better. The Centre has asked Jharkhand to pick a specific gram panchayat, which implemented the flagship rural job scheme well, at each of its 24 districts. After the December rural polls, 4,564 gram panchayats with as many mukhiyas are in place, so the selection...

-The Times of India   After taking lead in helping the country draw up the Rigth to Information Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to have drafted a policy underlining the importance and the need to preserve and secure common land (commons) in rural areas. The government has issued a series of orders to facilitate the process and aims...

The Opposition slammed the Naveen Patnaik government today for trying to make a political capital out of the flood relief operation by allegedly distributing relief material in bags emblazoned with conch symbol of the ruling party. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), however, refuted the charge describing it as politically motivated. The state government decided to provide relief to the flood-hit for another seven days and provide them work under the Mahatma...

The Orissa government finds itself in the midst of an embarrassing controversy following allegations of official relief being distributed in bags emblazoned with conch, the election symbol of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Miffed at the ruling party’s bid to make political capital out of the relief operation, flood-affected people in Nadiabarei village of Kendrapara district refused to accept dry food packets containing flattened rice (chudda) as they bore the...