-The Hindu What it signifies, what it does not tell us and what it will definitely not be used for Great shrillness has marked the current furore over the Planning Commission's latest poverty estimates. No surprise, therefore, that understanding and wisdom have flowed in an inverse proportion. Surprising and sad, however, is the fact that some political leaders have at times spoken in a manner deeply hurtful to the aam aadmi and...

-The Times of India BHAWANIPATNA: Vedanta Aluminium Ltd's plan to mine Niyamgiri hills got dashed on Monday with the seventh gram sabha opposing the move. The Supreme Court had ordered gram sabhas to vote on bauxite mining in the hills. All six gram sabhas - three in Kalahandi district and three in Rayagada - rejected the proposal. There will be five more such meets, but the result is clear: the tribal...

-The Pioneer BHAWANIPATNA (Bhubaneswar): The Palli Sabha of Tadijhola village in Trilochanpur Gram Panchayat of Kalahandi held on Tuesday unanimously declared that the villagers would not allow mining in the Niyamgiri Hills. "Niyam Raja is our father and Niyamgiri hills, our mother. Hence, we will not allow Vedanta to snatch it from us," said every villagers of Tadijhola present in the meeting. Out of 22 voters of the village, 19 were present...

-Live Mint Panchayat-related caste violence continues unabated and has become a part of the social reality today In ancient India, the panchayat system was based on the age-old caste system, social status and family. Although the local self-government concept was introduced in 1882, it took more than 100 years for the local self-government institutions to become a part of the Indian Constitution. While tremendous possibilities have been opened up in the...

-The Indian Express Why we need to revisit the 74th Amendment The National Panchayati Raj Day to mark the enactment of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment was observed on April 24 with due ceremony but little hype. Whatever the reasons for the celebration, even those are not available for the 74th Amendment dealing with municipalities. The Government of India's first line of defence on this issue is that these are state subjects. Nevertheless, the...