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Women's participation in public life is often constrained due to various socio-economic conditions. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of India provides 33 per cent reservation for women to give them wider representation in the local bodies. In spite of such and other provisions, empowerment of women is not satisfactory because of certain factors like political failure, lack of education and awareness among women. Against this background, a study was conducted in a backward and tribal district of Odisha, which examined the political processes. The study attempted to find out how women perceive their political empowerment as people's representatives. It also examined the perception of elected representatives on political empowerment. The findings of the study are expected to give a better understanding of the relationship between socio-economic backwardness of the region and women's participation and empowerment. In turn, this will help in meeting the challenges of women's empowerment as envisioned in the 73rd amendment. This empirical study found that the participation of women is adversely influenced by the socio-economic structure of the region. The socio-economic backwardness of the region affected the capabilities of women in their participation as people's representatives. The performance of the women members appears to be more adversely affected than the male members. Thus, capabilities in the public domain are not only gendered, but also socio-economically structured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an engagement with the issues of caste and dominance in the light of field data collected from five villages of western Uttar Pradesh. Against the background of some empirical and conceptual studies, the article presents an analysis, in terms of caste, of the ownership of land and agricultural assets, occupational and educational achievement and khap-based solidarity. The analysis shows that the resources available in the villages are highly concentrated in the hands of the Jats. Being the most powerful or dominant caste, the Jats control the village level affairs and use various means such as labour hiring and wage payment arrangement, the provision of natural fodder and lavatory facilities, informal credit arrangement and the institution of panchayat, to control the life of the villagers. The article narrates various acts of dominance of the Jats over the Scheduled Castes or marginalised castes. It ends with the observation that regardless of aggressive political mobilisation among the Scheduled Castes or marginalised castes in the recent years, no caste or community has developed the capacity to object to the dominance of the Jats in the villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kerala has had a long history of cooperatives starting from the pre-independence era. The idea of women's cooperatives came much later, with the earliest ones coming into being only after 1975. This study draws on both primary and secondary data, focusing on the challenges faced by women's cooperative societies (WCSs) in Kottayam District in Southern Kerala. Most women's cooperatives function by limiting their operations to small scale banking activities and enlisting men's participation in various ways. The paper concludes that the scope of empowerment of women through women's cooperatives is severely constrained by the way property rights and gender relations are structured in the state and the manner in which local male politicians have manipulated the societies for partisan ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted in Western Dry Region of India to explore the characteristics of dairy farmers. Personal interview schedule was distributed to 240 dairy farmers and collected data was scored, tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis. The methodological approach of this study was descriptive. The data of 240 dairy farmers revealed that maximum number of the farmers has participated in gram panchayat (first ranked) and Village Development Officer (ranked first) was the most contacted source from whom the farmers tryed to find information to clear their doubts. In case of mass media, majority of the dairy farmers were regularly obtaining relevant information from television by viewing farm telecast (ranked I) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Seventy Third Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 provides a basic framework of decentralization of powers and factions to the PRIs at different levels. In fact different states in India had different modes of functioning at the grass roots levels. Assam too was no exception in this respect. The paper tries to make an attempt to study how the panchayat system worked during the Ahom period and under the 73rd Amendment act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the transformation of the diverse imperial landscape of the Gorkha Kingdom into the more uniform and integrated space of the Nepali nation. It argues that nationalised schooling, as it was introduced under Panchayat rule (1960–90), was central to the production of national space. However, it also highlights how this schooling concomitantly extended a language of ‘anthropological’ and ‘ecological’ difference with which to organise and negotiate this space. Below the textbook surface of unity-in-diversity, remnants of imperial caste and racial hierarchies remained. And, along with novel notions of national development, new hierarchies were introduced that separated developed centres from remote and backward peripheries. Through its engagement with Nepali history, the article thus contributes to our understanding of the continued interaction between the production of national space and historical developments in governmental differentiation. Approaching ‘spatial history’ as a combined emphasis on the history of spatial production and the spatial productivity of historical representation, it highlights the contingencies of national connections between time and space. In conclusion, the article suggests how the languages of difference built up across Panchayat and present-day schooling continue to shape contemporary re-imaginings of national space, in the midst of political uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Even after 68 years of independence and 23 years of implementation of 73rd amendment devolving 29 subjects to the panchayats and reserving 33% of the seats for women at panchayat level; Elected Women Representatives (EWR) are on the margin, dependent on their husbands, other male family members as the case may be in Kadwa block of Katihar District of Bihar. The EWR are mere proxies to their husband, male family members, who cannot fight election and hold offices due to the reservation of seats for the disadvantages section including women. There are numerous challenges facing EWRs like low level of education, patriarchal society, cultural norms, household liabilities, economic concerns etc, preventing their effective participation in governance process. Mere reserving the seats for the disadvantages including women and implementing them half-heartedly and in piecemeal steps will not put the women and disadvantaged to the fore front and undo the historical injustices meted out to them, but the state has to adopt integrated, whole hearted approach to ensure full participation of the women representatives in the process of the governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panchayats have been the backbone of the Indian villages since the beginning of the recorded history. Gandhi's dream of every village being a republic or Panchayats having powers has been translated into reality with the introduction of three-tier system to enlist people's participation in rural reconstruction. 24th April, 1993 was a landmark day in the history of Panchayati Rajin India as on this day the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Rajinstitutions. The study was conducted in Haryana state. The sample of200 women respondents was selected from four villages of Fatehabad district through systematic random sampling techniques. The socio-economic profile of respondents indicates that maximum number of the respondents hailed from young age group, illiterate or less educated. Age and education of the respondents were found highly significantly associated with level of awareness regarding women reservation in panchayati raj. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panchayati Raj System is best suited to our rural needs and administration. It is a right step towards devaluation and decentralization of power. It deserves all help and encouragement as it is a truly representative and democratic system. As a fit and effective instrument of self-governance, it is matchless. Now, Panchayati Raj institutions are there in almost all the Indian States with three tier arrangement at village, block and district levels. The present study was conducted in Fateha bad district of Haryana. Therefore 200 respondents constituted the sample for the study. The findings indicated that the respondents who were highly exposed to mass-media had high level awareness as compared to those who were less exposed. The maximum numbers of the respondents had low level of social participation. This group of respondents had low awareness than the respondents who belonged to high social participation group. If social participation level of the respondents increases the awareness among respondents also increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the overall progress of the country with active and effective participation of all sections of society, the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) would bring Panchayats centre-stage and achieve the inclusive growth agenda through inclusive governance. The concept of 'democratic decentralization' in the form of a three-tier administration was introduced in the name of "Panchayat Raj". Horizontally, it is a network of village Panchayats. Vertically, it is an organic growth of Panchayats rising up to national level. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has three broad agenda: Empowerment, Enablement and Accountability. Space based Information Support for Decentralized Planning (SIS-DP) is one of the initiatives taken by Govt. of India with ISRO/DOS for generation and dissemination of spatial information for planning at the grass root level. The boundary layer for villages across different states/district/block is available with line departments. Most of these data exist at a much generalized scale. These boundaries do not overlay exactly with that of ground realities and may not be suitable for accurate analysis in terms of area, shape, position, etc. To deal with this problem, a strategy is adopted, which makes use of High Resolution Satellite Imagery (HRSI) from Indian Remote sensing satellites and cadastral maps at 1:4000 scale integrated with GIS techniques to enhance the accuracy of geo-spatial depiction of Village/Panchayat boundaries. Cadastral maps are used to depict the boundaries of land parcels and other features at the village level. These maps are registered to ortho products of HRSI using Ground Control Points. The cadastral maps are precisely overlaid on ortho-rectified HRSI and each parcel vertex is tagged with the real-world geographical coordinates. Village boundaries are extracted from the geo-referenced village cadastral maps. These boundaries are fine-tuned by considering under lap and overlap of neighboring villages and a mosaic is generated at the subdistrict and district level. Each village is coded with a unique number based on Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Census department codes. Villages are mapped to their respective Panchayat(s) directory and are dissolved in GIS environment based on code/nomenclature to obtain the final Gram Panchayat Layer. The present study attempts to showcase the methodology for deriving precise Village/Panchayat Boundaries using geo-spatial techniques. The final output will immensely help the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development for implementing the developmental programs in tune with 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The panchayats represent democratic decentralized governance in India. The lowest tier of the panchayats - the gram panchayats - were envisioned to provide opportunities to the rural grassroots for participation in the governing process from taking decisions to preparation, implementation and supervision of various development programs. To strengthen the grassroots democratic process gram sabhas (under the 73rd constitutional Amendment Act, 1992) were formed as nodal bodies for approval and sanction of work done by the gram panchayats. The gram sabha provides a platform to the villagers to meet and discuss their problems and also ensure accountability of gram panchayats. The functioning of these gram sabhas has, however, not been smooth and they have come under much flak due to lack of regularity and transparency. There have been various suggestions and efforts to improve the participation of the grassroots in the panchayat process but conventional methods have not been very successful. The concept of e-Panchayats and the endeavor to use information and communication technologies to allow for e-Governance at the grassroots level has been gaining ground in these circumstances. The objective of this paper is to explore the use of Information and Communication technology (ICT) tools in the panchayats especially at the elementary level for better governance, participation and development. The paper will investigate the tools that are being used for the invoking of digital panchayats, their effectiveness and will also suggest alternative tools that can be used for the above purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the performance of the Women Component Plan (WCP) introduced at the local level in Kerala to encourage participatory planning by studying the experience of five village panchayats over a 10 year reference period. There has been a marked difference among projects carried out under the WCP and general sector projects and projects meant for Scheduled Castes in expenditure efficiency. The article also looks at the nature of projects implemented, the extent of participation of women members in their design and execution, and the opinion of elected representatives on the usefulness of the WCP. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper based on a literature review focuses on Panchayati Raj Institutions in Gujarat. The paper takes critical stock of how these local institutions have functioned under different acts legislated from time to time in the state. Critically analysing the post 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, it tries to find out, how far this Act has been able to make difference to the lives of ordinary people in terms of bringing-them close to exercising their power at the grassroots level. Further, the paper also looks into other determinants that are crucial to the overall performance of the Panchayati Raj. In a way forward, it explores what possible changes and approaches the state government can adopt towards realising the real objective and spirit underlying a true decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, pluralism has always been a part of India's identity. Even in medieval period there were liberal as well as orthodox rulers. The liberal rulers such as Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan ruled with secular and liberal policies while Aurangzeb was orthodox and imposed theocratic practices. Colonial India witnessed western-liberal and secular practices. Communalism too emerged as a part of the "divide and rule policy of the colonial rulers. Independent India adopted a constitution that provides for liberal-democratic values and secular state. However the society is still in the grips of religious and cultural orthodoxy posing challenges to the observation of the universally accepted human rights. The freedom of religion is given to the people as a fundamental right, but many times this freedom is jeopardising the observation of universal human rights and therefore the two kinds of rights are in contradiction with each other. The paper looks into the nature of religious freedom in India and traces how the observation is obstructed in the name of religious freedom. The regressive practices in the name of religion are not actually a part of religion but they try to draw their legitimacy from religio-cultural sources. The paper also tries to look into the ways and means of reconciling religious freedom and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Community Development Programme initiated by the Government of India with the support of the United States aimed at the improvement of the economic, social, and cultural conditions of the community with the initiative and participation of all sections of the people This was integral to the concept of community development. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee which evaluated the community development programme in 1957 suggested the establishment of Panchayati Raj system for the sake of ensuring the participation of all sections of people for locality development and thus for the development of the nation. Even though panchayat, a body of village governance existed in India from time immemorial, It has undergone several stages of ups and downs until it was restructured as the Panchayati Raj system in 1959. The article also deals with the constitutional status given to the PRIs through the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992. One of the features of this amendment is the reservation of seats as well as positions for women among other weaker sections. The article concludes by stating that the establishment of Panchayati Raj and the reservation of seats are right steps in the direction of ensuring the participation of all sections of people for locality development and thus for realising the ends of community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a scholastic enquiry on the politics of the marginalised, with special reference to Panchayati Raj institutions in the milieu of the Post 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in India. It is a product of my theoretical reading and field based observations in the process of pursuing PhD in Political science the area of Dalit participation in Panchayati Raj institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the primary role of panchayat village council meetings for resolving criminal and civil cases in the Southern Rajasthan region of India. Topics included are the lokai compensation and ved blood money awarded by a Bhil ethnic group council in a murder case involving the Kharadia and Uthed families, the interaction between panchayat leaders and police officers, and the subordination of legal matters to political affiliations and class loyalties.

The article presents a case study on empowerment of women in the rural areas of Midnapore in West Bengal, India. Topics include amendment of Panchayati Act in conformity with the Amendment in West Bengal, the National Commission for Women set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women, and participation of women in local self governing bodies.

This paper focuses on the function of Gram Sabha in the context of tribal belts of India, where PESA has been accepted by the respective state governments and there is presence of substantial amount of Tribals. The literature review started from the constitutional provisions for Gram Sabha, various declarations regarding it, followed by state acts, notifications, declarations etc. Then to get a broad picture of the existing practices in Gram Sabha, whatever case studies, reports, articles are available on Gram Sabha with specific reference to the concerned states, have been reviewed. This paper tries to examine the applicability of PESA in reality with specific reference to tribal dominated states and where the undercurrent of strong left wing extremism is visible at this point of time. The author is trying to find out the reasons for non implementation of PESA act in letter and spirit as well as consequences out of it. At the end of the day, this paper will try to provide some possible way of addressing the urgent needs of tribals with specific reference to the particular part of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the fluid, changeable and ambiguous character of religious and cultural identities, held by Julahas; claiming different local and sectarian backgrounds. The Barelvi, Wahabi and Deobandi schools of Indian Islam provided a polarising platform to the Julaha identity discourse from the late nineteenth century onwards, leading to a wider ‘shift’ towards supra-caste, supra-locally-based concepts of community and collective religious identity, yet this ‘shift’ did not ‘replace’ other forms of collective identities along sectarian, caste, community and regional lines. These ‘blurred boundaries’ in the Julaha Ansari identity discourse defy their concrete positioning within the framework of India’s Islamic landscape. The challenges triggered by a stagnant capitalist transformation under the colonial state and the official records reinforce a static image of the Julaha community, ascribing to it innate conservatism, recalcitrant to change fostered by the ‘modernising impulse’ of the colonial government. The self image of the community was no doubt deeply affected by this ascription by the powerful ‘other’ but nevertheless remained distinct. This process was accompanied by renewed efforts at setting up community institutions such as panchayats and by constructing community mosques. Societal changes like the simultaneous formation as well as breakup of communities along with the communal pooling of labour were part of the larger development. The article further locates and scrutinises the influence of this sort of polarisation on the mind of Muslim weavers and Hindu merchants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on low socio-economic development and several types of village councils in Arunachal Pradesh, India including Buliang, Nyile, Kebang and mentions Panchayati Raj system in the state and comparison of Panchayati Raj with Traditional Institutions.

This paper explores juridical and political practices and conceptions of justice and authority in Rajasthan, India, outlining a discursive approach to legal pluralism. The presentation and the analysis of the narrative of a Rajasthani woman will be the focus of the present work. By providing her 'internal' perspective on a case study concerning a village dispute the aim of the paper is both to clarify how legal pluralism can be seen to work in a region of rural Rajasthan, and to prove the usefulness of the method here adopted for the identification and comprehension of the modalities through which different levels of organization are produced and structured within discourse. Indeed, the attempt is to show how legal pluralism can be analyzed not only according to the postulated presence of different normative systems or access to diverse legal forums, but also in relation to the capacity of social actors to build, in a (semi)autonomous way, their position within a discursive order characterized by the potential production and multiplication of legal and political planes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political ideology of Panchayat raj movement in West Bengal, India derived from the concept of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act allows access to information held by all 'public authorities', including those that have been constituted or established by the Constitution. This means that Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), which are mentioned in Part IX of the Indian Constitution, are covered by the Act, thereby giving the citizens an additional tool to access information from these local bodies. PRIs function at the village level (Gram Panchayats), block level (Janpad Panchayats) and district level (Zilla Panchayats). The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act enabled decentralized governance through PRIs in rural areas. The right to information imposes a positive duty on government to disseminate information to the people, and extends the right to the people to seek and receive information held by government bodies (and some information from private bodies). Information is disclosed to the public in two different ways--proactively and upon request. The Act provides citizens the right to access government-held information, which includes panchayat information. The right to information provides that people should be able to access information from PRIs upon request, and that PRIs have a duty to proactively publish important information. The Act specifies certain types of information which cannot be given to the public, referred to as 'exceptions'. Some of the proactive disclosures by the Panchayats for rural development are mentioned in this paper, i.e., National Institute of Rural Development (NRID) and Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to understand existing livestock based farming systems, to assess constraints in the farm environment, to find out most accepted farming system and to develop economically viable and efficient integrated farming system in Pariyaram panchayat. Sixty farmers were interviewed. Eighty percentages of livestock farmers are above 50 years of age. Thirty five percentage of farmers treat livestock farming as their main income source. A downtrend towards rice cultivation was noticed among dairy farmers. Forty percentage of livestock farmers had three or more cattle. Fifteen percentage of farmers have 10 or more number of cattle. Sixty percentage of the farmers were getting 10 liters of milk per animal per day. Only 15 percentage of farmers are cultivating fodder in their premises. All livestock farmers have at least a few coconut trees as a subsidiary income. Most of the respondents' children are well educated. Most of the farmers are economically and socially sound. Increased feeding cost is the major problem being faced by livestock farmers. Ninteen combinations of livestock based farming systems were identified in Pariyaram panchayat. From this study it could be inferred that farming system which mainly contains livestock, coconut and rice with added options of fodder, biogas, vegetables and poultry is the most sustainable livestock based farming system in Pariyaram panchayat. For reducing the feed cost, fodder cultivation and rice cultivation should be encouraged. For increasing the profit from livestock farming, biogas plant has to be installed. Selling products as value added ones will increase profit. Proper awareness programmes are needed for attracting youngsters to this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the complex nature of handloom weaving in market relations and the household production in the north Indian region of eastern Uttar Pradesh in the first half of the twentieth century through studying a Muslim weavers’ community known as Julahas. The entire community chain active in the process of handloom production in a micro-region was appropriated in a new relation of commodity production. Therefore, the article focuses on the emergence of capitalist conditions that enabled connections, affiliations, and exclusions in the networked relationships of social communities. In basically a labour-intensive, low-cost household production, the structure of the production process was defined by the need to purchase yarn and pay for living expenses of the weaver and his dependents while the cloth was being woven. The historically unequal connections operated through the social power balance of community and those in families (between husbands and wives, parents and children) found new meanings in bargaining situations of labour markets. A direct involvement with the loom and weaving ensured that the master weaver would directly come from the weaving population and should be Muslim as well. The mechanism of advances and karkhanadar’s/grihasta’s position in the community ensured that weaver/labourer would remain under a constant moral and social pressure to follow the ‘capitalist mode of production.’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1993, India entered a new era of participatory democracy and development through legislation of a local governance structure that facilitated the presence of women and men from marginalized communities through electoral quotas. While more than 1 million women entered local levels of governance, major questions around their participation, empowerment and potential to impact development remain. Given a global capitalist crisis, what does it mean for women to take political positions in institutions that are "flawed" from years of bad decisions? How does a "systemic failure" of development get inscribed on bodies of women representatives who become "failed" agents of development? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of political empowerment of women has been a burning issue in the country since 1970s. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts were adopted to realize the objective of political empowerment of the rural and urban grassroots. West Bengal which had already established itself as a model panchayati raj state took no time to implement the 73rd Amendment Act with the provision for 33% seat reservation in all the three tiers of the panchayati raj. This paper explores the ground reality in the aftermath of the implementation of the 73rd Amendment Act during the 1993 panchayat election in the state through the newspaper content on the issue in a selection of the most widely circulated newspapers. The paper explores the response of the women candidates, nominated in the reserve seats, the reaction of the other panchayat members and that of the political parties reflected through the news reports during the period. The paper also investigates the role played by a mass media (newspapers) with respect to women empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceptualises the culture of corruption and clientelism in panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh. The discussion is based on a year of field research on the strategies adopted by power-holders to monopolise these local bodies. The study found that patronage, influence and intimidation are used by the dominant factions to retain considerable control over the panchayats. While this in itself is not especially new, the study demonstrates the ways in which government initiatives to ensure greater transparency and representation of marginal groups—lower castes and women, in particular—through reservations continue to be cleverly subverted. A successful pradhan (headman) establishes a network of supporters and alliances, which he nurtures and rewards by brokering and embezzling funds through the institutions that he controls, instead of neutrally devolving funding to the needy sectors of the village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Madhya Pradesh has been a precursor in implementing the Panchayat Act (73rd Amendment Act) and it has witnessed the evolution of grassroot leadership in the State. The paper endeavours to analyze the impact of Panchayat Act to further the emergence of tribal leadership with special reference to Shahdol District of Madhya Pradesh. Shahdol comprises 43.6% tribal population of its total population. With this high numerical strength, reserved representation makes the tribal community significant in the political scene of the State. The study also highlights the political emergence of tribal community in our society. Content analysis and empirical study been adopted to endorse the proposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past few years, marriages within ‘gotra’ (clan) of the Jat community have come into the limelight. Frequently, those couples who have eloped have been brutally murdered by the diktats of the elders—these are known as ‘honour killings’. Many such incidents have occurred in Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and the rural belt of Delhi. These areas have reaped the fruits of modernization and access to various facilities such as educational institutions, health centres, modernized roads and multinational business establishments that have encouraged foreign investment. There exists a vast gulf between this modernization and the almost feudal mind sets of people like the ‘Khap Panchayats’ who force couples who have entered intra-gotra marriages to return to the community fold, even to the extent of forcing the couples to live like siblings. A large number of such wedded couples have even lost their lives. Thus, as per their gotra affinity, the Khap Panchayats consider them as brother and sister. The Khap Panchayats try to legitimize their actions by quoting historical antecedents of uncertain origin to support their practices. They are of the opinion that the Khap Panchayat is an age old institution, having its foundation in the early medieval period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the ePanchayati Raj Institutions, or ePanchayat, a project of the National eGovernance Program (NeGP) in India which intends to introduce eGovernance in Rural Local Governments (RLSGs) for rural development. It discusses the method adopted in the ePanchayat project for identifying requirements of stakeholders such as citizens, village panchayats and district panchayats. It mentions the components of ePanchayat including the Information and Service Need Assessment (ISNA).

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act has entrusted Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) (Third Tier) with a wide range of responsibilities. Discharging these responsibilities requires an adequate tax administration. But even prior to this amendment, tax administration of the panchayat bodies were not strong enough to implement the functions they were expected to perform. They are heavily dependent on the grants from Central Government (First Tier) and State Governments (Second Tier). The taxation powers given to PRIs are wide, but doubts have been raised whether they can fully utilise these powers in an effective manner. Panchayats at all the three levels are found to be reluctant to impose taxes due to various reasons. This paper makes an attempt to review the lacunae in the existing tax administration system of collection of revenues by PRIs in West Bengal and suggests measures to rectify the loopholes. Further, it focuses on some problems in tax administration and also examines whether the PRIs at Gram Panchayat (GP) level are able to fully exploit the sources assigned to them or do they face any constraints towards fuller utilisation of present sources of revenue. This analysis mostly deals with the lowest tier of the PRIs, viz., the Gram Panchayats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Arunachal Pradesh,, although the Community Development programme was launched in 1950, followed by the setting up of the first Extension Block in 1952 it was not until 1969 that Panchayat Raj institutions was first ushered in. As in rest of the country Panchayet Raj in Arunachal Pradesh had similar structure and aimed at democratic decentralization of power and implementation of community development programme. However, the main objective behind the introduction of Panchayat Raj in Arunachal Pradesh has been to integrate Arunachal Pradesh, then NEFA, with rest of the country by establishing a uniform political practice throughout the state. through an integrated political system. This paper aims to gives an account of the evolution of Panchayat Raj in Arunachal Pradesh, the framework of the Panchayat Raj Regulation, 1967 and the developments after 73rd Constitution Amendment Act of Government of India, 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The short-term objective of our endeavour was to understand the perception of Grama panchayat presidents and secretaries on the issues related to malaria and its control, being the key leaders of the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) at a Grama panchayat level. This was necessary to achieve the long-term objective of the role of PRIs in malaria control and their enhanced participation/partnership with the public health sector. Materials and Methods: Grama panchayat presidents and secretaries representing all the 28 Grama panchayats of Chikkanayakanahalli taluk Tumkur district in Karnataka were invited for a 1-day workshop. Deliberations with the participants (n = 32) shed light on their perceptions with respect to knowledge, attitude and practice vis-a-vis malaria and its control strategies. Results: Their knowledge of malaria as a disease was fairly good as they were well aware of it being a communicable disease and its transmission by mosquitoes. However, knowledge about the breeding sources of malaria mosquitoes (Anophelines) was very poor. Many practices in vogue to control mosquitoes at the community level were unscientific. There was a general negative attitude toward the government's handling of the malaria problem and the credibility of the health care system. Conclusion: Existence of health committees in every Grama panchayat coupled with their jurisdiction and responsibilities toward sanitation, water supply and health care resources makes PRIs a natural partner to the health sector. While health education and public health intervention strategies should be based on generic principles of science, the implementation and operational specifics should definitely be based on a sociological perspective of the stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the role of Giam Panchayets in the implementation of MNREGA in general and Haiyana in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization is one of the significant prerequisites of democracy. The present paper discusses the different aspects of the process of decentralization in Andhra Pradeah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study to explore if the mainstream newspapers have been successful in motivating and mobilizing the rural population in their coverage of the panchayat elections from 1978-2003 in West Bengal, India. The mass media play an effective role by involving the masses in the country's political system. However, the free market economy and policies has prevented them to adopt a proactive role in the process.