-Hindustan Times The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on governments to incorporate pro-women fiscal measures in budgets, so as to bridge the gender gap. In its first-ever global review of the use of tax and spending policies to promote gender equality, IMF has found that financial policies in Union and state budgets have helped gender parity. Highlighting changes across 80 countries, the IMF study, Tackling Gender Inequality, says fiscal policy efforts were...

-The Economic Times For Latak in Assam's Dhemaji district, floods are a living reality. But this remote village of about 300 houses has found a novel cost-effective way to connect flood-affected areas — a bridge made out of neatly stacked bamboo. It may not sound like a big success story but, for the village panchayat, it is a cause for much celebration. The panchayat planned the project after deliberations with villagers...

-The Hindu Confining it to just the Ministry of Rural Development would be the most retrograde step in democratic decentralisation in over a quarter century. If, as The Hindu’s exclusive on Wednesday indicates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to close down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, it would confirm one’s worst fears about his government’s hypocritical approach to grass-roots democracy for grass-roots development. This was a lacuna that was evident in the ‘Gujarat...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Maharashtra has been ranked fourth in the country by an index that measures how effectively states have transferred power to panchayats, more than two decades after the Constitution was amended to empower the institution. The rankings are part of a report titled 'How Effective is Devolution across Indian states' compiled by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for the Panchayati Raj ministry. "The novelty of the...

-The Hindu Digital infrastructure may not be of much help in addressing governance and development concerns unless it is integrated into the wider structural and institutional reforms Digital India is the flavour of the season, and not without any reason. Digital technologies have permeated into more and more aspects of our private and public life spaces. A lot of us increasingly depend on them to order groceries, book a taxi ride or train...