A Bill that seeks to amend the existing law governing exploration and production of oil and gas as well as delink petroleum operations from mining operations was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (March 12, 2025). The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, is aimed at boosting investment …
No problems with Goa project, Environment Appellate Authority says THE National Environment Appellate Authority last month dismissed an appeal that had challenged environmental clearance to a high-grade iron ore plant in Sanguem taluka in Goa. In September 2008, Sushant Naik, a Sanguem resident, had filed the appeal and alleged discrepancies …
Although the Union Finance Minister in his 1999 budget speech declared the 1999-2000 as the year of the Gram Sabha, adequate efforts were not made to enforce the declaration excepting in a few states like West Bengal and Kerala. The culture of not holding GS meetings got wide currency because …
The Andhra Pradesh government, quietly and unobtrusively, has achieved something quite remarkable: the conduct of the social audit for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) using the RTI Act; and therefore sown the seeds for a non-violent revolution in less than two years.
The draft Nirmal Gram guidelines by the Department of drinking water supply (DDWS). Details modifications related to the eligibility critieria, application and scrutiny process, usage of incentive, sustainability measures etc. Comments/suggestions on the guidelines can be sent till April 22, 2009. To give a fillip to the Total Sanitation Campaign …
The present Act and Rules seeks to correct the historical injustice done to Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, by granting them security of tenure over individual and community holdings, ownership of Minor Forest Produce, Nistar and Grazing Rights and adequate safeguards for their rehabilitation, in cases of their …
This paper documents the Andhra Pradesh experience of institutionalizing social audits into the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and uses it to analyze the social audit process. It draws on empirical work aimed at measuring the effectiveness of social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh between March and …
This paper documents the Andhra Pradesh experience of institutionalizing social audits into the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and uses it to analyze the social audit process. It draws on empirical work aimed at measuring the effectiveness of social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh between March and …
Once covered with lush teak forests, Pati block in Badwani district of Madhya Pradesh now has a depressing lunar landscape of denuded hills, where only subsistence agriculture is possible. Most rural households there survive on wage labour and seasonal migration. The Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS), an unregistered organisation with …
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, is a landmark legislation that recognizes and provides a framework for vesting forest use, protection and conservation rights, and occupation in forest land, to tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, residing in such forests for generations.
This paper examines how political institutions and local power structures interact with and influence local public resource allocation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It use data from 80 village councils and 225 villages to examine how this local political economy influences the allocation of public resources. The empirical strategy …
After its pioneering efforts in universal literacy, Kerala has scored another first with Cheriyanad gram panchayat in Alappuzha district being declared the country's maiden litigation controlled and legal literate panchayat.
This manual attempts to set out the systems and standard processes that could be followed for decentralised planning. It aims to provide guidance on how the considerable capacities of line departments and experts can from now on, subserve this process of empowered planning by local governance. This manual comprises two …
Maharashtra village places demands under forest rights act Managing forest resources comes easy to people of Mendha Lekha. The people of this forest village in Maharashtra
The traditional forest dweller has had very few entitlements down centuries. Guardian of the forest, he has been regarded as encroacher by the State. All that is changing now as the Forest Rights Act of 2006 is being implemented across the country since January this year. Down To Earth tracks …
Nidhi Jamwal Six months past the fra implementation deadline, Maharashtra is struggling to understand the Act and its provisions. The central issue in the state revolves around the local body employed to initiate the implementation procedure. The state government is going by gram panchayats and group gram panchayats, and villagers …
Goans who are up in arms against mega projects in the villages are using gram sabha (village council) to oppose such projects. But questions have been raised by politicians and some intellectuals too, whether the gram sabhas have the powers to stop mega projects. In the light of this, it …
