Quota for all elected posts in panchayats, mandals, ZPPs Decision by government on the issue to improve representation for women in local bodies Draft amendment to Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act being scrutinised by the Law Department Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said that there would be 50 per cent reservation for women in the next local body elections in the State. Living up to his promise made during the International Women's Day...

After hanging fire for several years, the Ashok Gehlot government has begun processes for framing by-laws to implement the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in the state. In a recent interaction, officials informed representatives of Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan and Rajasthan Adivasi Adhikar Manch that the state government after framing preliminary rules of the by-laws for the Act on March 14, a meeting was held among departments...

The Centre is likely to send a team of experts to Jharkhand to monitor the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that it believes has been taken over by a contractors’ mafia allegedly behind recent murders of an activist and labourer associated with the job scheme. In an exclusive interview to The Telegraph, Union secretary for rural development B.K. Sinha refused to give out names, but insisted that the...

Ashok Gehlot's Budget speech lays emphasis on social welfare measures Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's Budget speech in the Rajasthan Assembly here on Wednesday laid emphasis on “positive results” of the State Government's work during the previous year for development of various sectors, and made a number of announcements for the welfare of different sections of society. In a significant declaration, Mr. Gehlot said a State-level Advisory Council would be constituted shortly in...

In yet another step towards modernising India's postal services, Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday launched ‘e-post office,' the e-commerce portal of India Post that will provide various postal services online. ‘Transact anytime' “Earlier, consumers used to go to service providers but now services providers are going to consumers… this is the future of the 21st century. The portal will enable customers to transact postal business anytime and...