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 …
if states like Madhya Pradesh and Kerala showed the way, Maharashtra appears to have taken it a step further. And that's good news for the people. By bringing out an ordinance to amend the Gram Panchayat Act, thus ensuring empowerment to the gram sabha (village assembly) and right to information, …
madhya Pradesh (mp) government has proposed an amendment in land distribution laws, which will override the authority of gram sabha over common property land. This decision comes at a time, when panchayat institutions are clamouring for more power from the Union government. The amendment calls for the redistribution of nistar …
Heads of panchayati raj institutions have aggressively set the government a deadline to amend the Indian constitution and implement changes that would forcibly impact and empower Village India. It would give villages control over natural resources like water, minor forest produce and minerals, which at present lies with the state …
The saga of panchayati raj, particularly from the time of introduction of Constitution 73rd Amendment, has been full of hope and despair. While the amendment has certainly propelled participatory process at the local level and provided avenues for social mobility of the weaker sections, the states have yet to devolve …
it may well be a flashback to the 1970s for the mountainous village of Kataldi in the Tehri district of Uttaranchal. Just as in the past, the villagers are up in arms about the granting of a mining lease to a private firm. They contend that limestone mining will bring …
The Maharashtra government has decided to shelf its much-hyped devolution of power to the gram panchayats , a promise that the ruling Democratic Front government has been making since it assumed office. The chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, announced the proposal last September at a public meeting and subsequently the governor …
the Madhya Pradesh government would like to forget it. The residents of Dewas district, however, will remember it for the rest of their lives. Four people were killed in a confrontation between the administration and the tribal people at Mehendikheda village, about 100 km from the district headquarters of Dewas, …
the struggle against the British which finally ended in Independence plunged the villagers of Seed, Rajasthan, into troubled times. After over two decades of helpless suffering, it took a Gandhian from the neighbouring village of Sethwana to dispel the clouds of despondency. The simple step involved converting Seed to a …
in a world where market forces are increasingly becoming the dictating factor, indigenous communities are hoping to enhance their hold over natural resources. The revival of customary laws through the Panchayat Act (extension to the scheduled areas) 1996 has revitalised the aspirations of the Gadchiroli tribals who have so far …
when Kerala government coined the slogan adhikaram janangali lekku (power to people) it sounded like a political gimmick. But after the government entrusted panchayats with the task of supervising local development, what unfolded was beyond the expectations of many. Thousands of villagers, otherwise isolated, now participate in gram sabhas (village …
A MAJORITY of panchayats and municipalities throughout Kerala are soon expected to approve draft projects drawn up by the people's plan campaign. The plan, which had commenced in August 1996, has reached its final stage in the state. Authorities said in Thiruvananthapurarn recently that the campaign had an overwhelming response: …
on december 24, 1996, the Provisions of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, a Central act on tribal self-rule (gram swaraj) was passed. The Act's salient features are: • State governments would extend provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act to scheduled areas in accordance with the following: state legislation …
"MAVA NATE Mava Raj" (our government in our village) is the slogan Sarvodaya workers raised at a 1988 meeting in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, to educate people about village democracy. After the slogan-shouting, an old, "illiterate" Maria Gond adivasi, clad in a loin-cloth, stunned the Sarvodaya workers by asking, "You people …
• State legislature should decide the powers of gram sabhas. • All states must have panchayats at the village level. But state legislatures can decide if they want panchayats also at the intermediate (block, taluka etc) and district levels. • All seats in village panchayats and intermediate panchayats shall be …
• State legislatures can decide the composition of municipalities. • State legislatures can decide whether they want committees at the ward level or other levels within a municipal area. • The state legislatures will decide the power and authority they want to give municipalities. • Seats will be reserved for …
DESPITE the cynicism of sceptics, a brace of proposed constitutional amendments could empower the people to take control of their environment and turn it clean and green. But this dream will come true only if the proposed political decentralisation is truly democratic and results in the creation of participatory institutions …
IT IS indeed unfortunate that the two Constitutional amendment bills to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions and urban municipalities have received little public attention. Political decentralisation has the potential to revitalise this country in more ways than one. Theoretically speaking, it can give power to the people in a way that …
