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Rural India – following the COVID-induced shrinking of employment opportunities; heavy reliance on adverse coping strategies, including liquidation of productive assets and dispensing with productive investments; and inadequacies in government-support programs – may observe both further deterioration of its existing poor and the emergence of a new poor, with characteristics and implications that are dissimilar to those of the existing poor. The dynamic characteristics of poverty are not adequately captured by the official statistics and issues of flows into and out of poverty continue to remain a puzzle in India. Therefore, this paper underscores the urgent need to undertake evidence-based research to identify and profile the new poor and to customise the welfare schemes addressing their specific needs and priorities. It further argues for a rethinking of the role of local institutions, i.e. Gram Panchayats, in the tracking of poverty and in conceiving the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), prioritising resource allocation for the new poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the trilogy framework of decarbonisation, decentralisation and democratisation and its relevance in the implementation of just energy transition agendas in rural communities of Global South countries (GSCs). It argues that just energy transition should be implemented via developing nationally independent but locally driven renewable energy projects in GSCs. To corroborate the trilogy framework, the paper discusses case studies of India's Panchayat institutions, Nepal's community renewable projects, and Bhutan's hydro projects. The paper recommends that the trilogy framework be implemented in GSCs through the concept of 'energy prosumer communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women play a key role in India's Panchayat Raj System by serving as Panchayat members and chairpersons. The primary reason for including women in the system was to engage them in national administration and progress. The United Nations (UN) adopted the Convention on Women's Political Rights in 1952 and has organized four World Conferences on Women, the fourth of which was held in Beijing in 1995. This conference declared that women's equal participation in decision-making is not only a requirement for justice and democracy but also essential for ensuring their well-being is taken into account. It also stated that women must have at least a 30% share of decision-making positions. However, the participation of women in politics and public life in India remains woefully low. There is a significant gap between men and women in political activities beyond voting. Women's involvement at higher levels of governance is notably lower compared to their participation at the lower levels. In the domestic sphere, women's leadership and administrative skills are quietly acknowledged, yet they are not given space in the public arena. While other marginalized communities, such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, received reservations in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, women were not initially granted any reservation in the Constitution of India, which limited their political empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Akshara Deepam (The Light of Letters) project, a collaborative endeavour between Choornikkara Panchayat Library, Kerala State Literacy Mission and Kudumbashree Mission, represents a pioneering model for community literacy and empowerment, with a strong focus on women's participation and empowerment. Initiated in May 2023, this innovative initiative aims to integrate literacy applications into daily life by delivering curated book kits to 720 households through 60 Kudumbashree Neighbourhood Groups, empowering women volunteers to combat poverty through literacy. Recognising its transformative potential, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS) plans to integrate academic expertise into the project through a forthcoming MOU with Choornikkara Panchayat. Post-MOU, RCSS envisions a comprehensive approach, drawing from successful experiences, to integrate academic expertise into community engagement initiatives, particularly emphasising enhancing women's empowerment through literacy. To maximise impact, the Akshara Deepam project incorporates perception-level surveys, literacy practices and contributions from various RCSS departments. It provides diverse book collections tailored to the evolving needs of digital library usage. As an opportune intervention in changing literacy paradigms, RCSS intends to assess its efficacy and feasibility for rural replication in light of its initial results. This approach blends theory, community actions and academic involvement, empowering women and enriching communities globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By strengthening local democracy and devolving functions to deliver socio-economic development at the grass-roots level, the 73rd amendment to the Indian Constitution envisioned a transformative change in rural governance. However, despite constitutional recognition, panchayats suffer from inadequate devolution of powers and limited autonomy due to the apathy of state governments and narrow interpretation of panchayat legislation by the courts. As a result, the 73rd amendment fell short of creating participatory governance as intended. This article examines the weaknesses in the functioning of panchayats and explores mechanisms to empower them to fulfill the objective of decentralised democratic governance. Drawing upon judicial cases and critically evaluating existing challenges, the article proposes reforms for restructuring panchayat norms to enhance their effectiveness for inclusive, responsive, and participatory democratisation in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gaddis, a renowned nomadic tribe from the Himalayas, reside in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba and Kangra districts, traversing the Dhaula Dhar range. Their migrations, echoing Lord Shiva's pattern, lead them to Lahaul's high pastures in summer and to Himachal Pradesh's borders in winter. They pay grazing taxes to the Forest Department in summer and to the local panchayat for forest use in winter. Interviews with 42 herders revealed their challenges in adapting to modern times. Despite collecting insights from various department representatives, it's clear that globalization affects the Gaddis just as it does the wider world, pushing the community away from ancestral customs towards new professions and a stationary way of life. While they cherish their heritage, they hesitate to pass this legacy to future generations. This study highlights the Gaddi pastoralists' current struggles and their shift from nomadism to a settled existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is increasing the mortality and morbidity associated with infectious diseases, besides increasing the cost of healthcare, saturating health system capacity, and adversely affecting food security. Framing an appropriate narrative and engaging local communities through the 'One Health' approach is essential to complement top-down measures. However, the absence of objective criteria to measure the performance of ABR interventions in community settings makes it difficult to mobilize interest and investment for such interventions. An exercise was therefore carried out to develop an indicator framework for this purpose. A comprehensive list of indicators was developed from experiences gathered through community engagement work in a local panchayat (small administrative area) in Kerala, India and a consultative process with health, veterinary, environment, and development experts. A prioritization exercise was carried out by global experts on ABR, looking at appropriateness, feasibility, and validity. A 15-point indicator framework was designed based on the prioritization process. The final set of indicators covers human health, animal health, environment management, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) domains. The indicator framework was piloted in the panchayat (located in Kerala), which attained a score of 34 (maximum 45). The score increased when interventions were implemented to mitigate the ABR drives, indicating that the framework is sensitive to change. The indicator framework was tested in four sites from three other Indian states with different socioeconomic and health profiles, yielding different scores. Those collecting the field data were able to use the framework with minimal training. It is hoped that, this indicator framework can help policymakers broadly understand the factors contributing to ABR and measure the performance of interventions they choose to implement in the community as part of National Action Plan on AMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the government of India provides for the creation of durable assets. The individual assets creation is helping the farmers in different ways. The current study's focus is on the role of individual asset creation through MGNREGA and how the programmes/schemes are helping the farmers. During 2019-2020, in India as a whole, a total of 18,60,419 individual assets were created. In the case of Karnataka state in particular, 66,259 individual assets were created. The total assets (individual) created in Karnataka thus formed a significant share. Based on the number of man-days generated by a district, this study divided the districts into high performance and low performance districts. In Karnataka, out of 30 districts, the study selected 10 high performance and 10 low performance districts and one high population district. In each district, one Gram Panchayat (GP) was selected and in each GP, 30 beneficiary households were selected through transit walks in our field visit during the three-year period identified for the study, i.e., 2016-2017, 2015-2016 and 2014-2015. The total sample size was 630. The main objective of the current paper is to investigate how the asset creation has helped the farmers in Karnataka. The main findings of the study are: Nearly half of the households benefited by assets creation during our study. Secondly, the total land cultivation increased. A small number of households benefited from horticulture assets creation and sericulture under the MGNREGA scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study attempts to analyse the connectivity pattern and development of road network in the East district through connectivity indices such as alpha, beta, gamma the sum of which gives the Aggregate Transport Score (ATS) and the density of roads has also been calculated. The development of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) roads has been analysed based on the secondary data. It has been found that during 2006 East district had an overall road density of 0.82 of which two of the blocks had the lowest density with only 0.66 and another two of the Gram Panchayat Units (GPUs) had villages having no road network. However, in 2020 the connectivity has improved considerably with an increase in road density of 1.59 and the road density of all the eight blocks is more than 1 indicating a relatively developed network. The road connectivity of GPUs has also improved and only two of the GPU are having low category of ATS and 43 under high ATS. The result of Shannon Entropy shows that Alpha and Beta are more significant than Beta and ATS. A total of 185 habitations have been connected with 646.9 km of newly constructed roads under PMGSY during 2001–2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Years of chemical-intensive agricultural practices following the Green Revolution in the late 1960s have led to extensive soil degradation in India. This has implications for food security, farmers’ incomes, and the country's economy. However, domestic top-down policy mandates in recent times have favoured practices like natural farming with a view to slow down and eventually halt soil degradation. This is in line with the international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which is focused on restoring degraded lands (SDG 15.3 aims to strive achieve land degradation neutrality). Taking cue from recent policy mandates on soil and land, this chapter posits the historical significance of the Panchayat — a village-level administrative institution in India — and argues for its involvement in policy implementation for soil rehabilitation at the village level, The article also makes a case for the introduction of an overarching National Soil Policy to encourage natural farming practices and biofertilizer use.

This study aims to document the ethnobotanical knowledge of rural people from different villages of Agaya Narah Gram Panchayat, West Bengal, India. A total of 67 informants from nine ethnic communities were interviewed, and the collected information was examined qualitatively and quantitatively using various ethnobotanical indices such as use value (UV), informative consensus factor (Fic), fidelity value (FL) and Jaccard index (JI). We documented 32 plants belonging to 21 families and 32 genera. The most represented family is Apocynaceae (6 species), and the most used plant part is the fruit. The quantitative analysis revealed that the UV of the plants ranged from 0.12 to 0.66, while the Fic was found to be the highest (1.0) for worm disease, eye disease, and arthritis. Thirteen plants were found to possess a 100% FL value for different diseases. A high degree of similarity index (JI value) was calculated when compared with a study reported from the Jatasankar Region, Gujarat, India. The inhabitants of the study area have sound knowledge of the medicinal use of plants, which needs to be further investigated through systematic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 19921 has made provisions for strengthening village panchayats. The village panchayat would take part in the Community Development Program with the help of Grama Sabhas. The only problem is spreading party politics in the meetings of Grama Sabhas. A drift or rift between the ruling and opposition parties makes Grama Sabhas and Grama Nyayalayas a weak tool to function perfectly. The dirty politics played by the Sarpanch and the ward members of these institutions have consistently lagged the villages towards backwardness. There is a need for the state government to keep the panchayats away from political controversies which would cleanse and strengthen the village democracy. For this purpose, the 'Gram Nyayalaya Act, 2008, was passed by the Parliament to provide justice expeditiously to needy indigenous people. The present paper attempts to analyzes the salient features of this act along with the relevant functions of the Gram Panchayats under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of caste organisations in the process of social mobility of a marginalised Muslim birādarī, focusing specifically on the Rayeen (vegetable sellers) caste. The article maps the caste panchāyat, association, and Foundation, highlighting their respective role and function in the process of social mobility and political representation. I show that the various organisations complement each other in the overall process. Caste panchāyat relies on the traditional authority of the head of the caste group (the chaudharī) to regulate the internal affairs of birādarī members. The caste association attempts to consolidate the group's collective identity and foster unity to exert influence in the electoral process. Finally, caste members also run organisations at the local level, such as the Rayeen Foundation, trying to expand the reach of their activities beyond the birādarī, appealing to universal principles. Collectively these organisations strive to claim a higher status for the Rayeens. The article's contribution is to highlight the interactions between the multiple caste organisations in facilitating the transformation of group identity and the process of social mobility experienced by a marginalised Muslim caste group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study on groundwater status in Rajanukunte Gram Panchayat, Bangalore geologically lies at 13°09'58.7"N and 77°33'57.8"E. GIS and Remote sensing database was used to interpret watershed boundaries and direction flow map in order to estimate the groundwater quality. Altogether the thematic layers were overlaid, oriented, interpreted and examined using QGIS software. Groundwater samples were collected and determined fourteen physicochemical parameters like pH, total dissolved solids, electric conductivity, nitrate, total alkalinity, sulphate, fluoride, magnesium, chloride, total hardness, iron, sodium, phosphate, and calcium. As a part of this study, the groundwater level in the study area was monitored on monthly basis. Non-spatial data such as groundwater Quality, groundwater Level and rainfall data was graphically represented, these data were interpreted on maps using QGIS attribute tables. QGIS software was also used to generate base map, contour, hill-shades, elevation, DEM, streams, flow direction, drainage and delineation of watershed boundaries. Further, this study contributes in creation of GIS database for integration of geospatial and socio- economic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty as an object of study in India continues to be the domain of economists, statisticians and demographers. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSS) serves as the main instrument of data collection to measure poverty relative to economic indicators. In this paper we draw on strengths-based research undertaken in an Indian village to foreground alternative ways of conceptualising and practising data collection when measuring poverty. Explored through an analytics of biopolitics, asset-mapping exercises with young people and women revealed new subjectivities that emerged via illustrative meaning-making and dialogue. This approach to poverty measurement facilitated methods and produced outcomes that were less calculated and predefined than the NSS, and encouraged participation, even questioning of the status quo, in the 'doing' of the methodology itself. A strengths orientation to poverty opens up radical possibilities, particularly in India where the state-sanctioned self--governing body, the Gram Sabhas, has a mandate to provide for the most marginalised groups. And while this governing body is not free from power imbalances, the potential it offers, when combined with strengths-based approaches (SBA) that value people for the expertise they already have, demands renewed attention in practitioner and policy debates in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jirga and Panchayat exist in the rural social system of Pakistan for the resolution of family disputes. Conflicting parties use these to resolve conflict amicably and quickly in an informal justice system. However, the Jirga and Panchayat methods have no backing of the legal framework. The composition of said methods to resolve disputes among the two families by the village elders who have power of land, and authority to rule over the people of the community. The proceedings of said Jirga and Panchayat have no proper mechanism and procedure of proceedings and the verdicts are given without consideration of Islamic injunctions and human rights laws. This article has found the answer, to whether the Jirga and Panchayat are in line with the injunctions of Islam and human rights or not. This socio-legal research has been carried out using qualitative methodologies, and data analysis has been carried out through an analytical and critical analysis. The article significantly concludes that these practices have no backing of law except if it is permitted by the family court to resolve their disputes out of court. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be an amendment in the family laws of Pakistan to adopt the procedure provided under section 3, schedule 1 clause IV of provincial ADR laws for amicable settlement of family disputes in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's legal and judicial history is as old the civilization. Ancient India focused on punishment and retributive justice, but also emphasized on compensating victims. With time and political changes, the legal system in India has undergone several developments. The system in place is in line with the adversarial system that was put in place during the British reign, and was devoid of the restorative justice approach. Post-independence, the judiciary and the legislature has adopted several measures to infuse restorative justice into the system. Through this paper, the author traces the development of restorative justice in India, in particular, the emergence of compensatory jurisprudence into Indian laws. The author traces the advent of the Panchayat System as a supposed center for restorative justice at the level of the smallest unit of governance, i.e., the villages. The dangers due to the operation of regressive khap panchayats would be critically deliberated. Further, the contribution discusses the incorporation of restorative justice policies into certain critical legislation. The author will go on to study the emergence of plea bargaining and Lok Adalat. Finally, the author examines the need to include restorative justice in sexual assaults cases, and also explore the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have noted geographical variations in support for the communist parties in Kerala. However, practices adopted by communists in Kerala to maintain their dominance in these geographical regions and how residents of these places relate to these practices have not been sufficiently explored. This article, based on field insights from a panchayat in North Kannur investigates party-society links. It is argued that while material factors help link party and voter, these links are complex and do not conform to clientelism or patronage, as conventionally understood. These links are embedded in a local social context which adds elements of mutuality and non-hierarchical interaction between citizens and party. Ideology also conditions party-society linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to investigate the role of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in promoting rural socio-economic development in Tamilnadu, with a focus on Thanjavur district. The research will employ a mixed-methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The study will examine the functioning of PRIs and their impact on various aspects of rural development, such as infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture, and employment opportunities. Additionally, the study will analyze the challenges faced by PRIs in implementing rural development programs and policies. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the existing literature on rural development and Panchayat Raj Institutions in India. The results may also inform policymakers and practitioners on how to improve the effectiveness of PRIs in promoting socioeconomic development in rural areas. The study also highlights the challenges faced by PRIs in Thanjavur district, such as inadequate funding and lack of technical expertise. Despite these challenges, PRIs have been able to make significant strides in improving the socio-economic conditions of rural communities in Thanjavur district. Overall, this paper provides valuable insights into the role of PRIs in rural development and underscores the need for greater support and investment in these institutions to ensure sustained and inclusive growth in rural areas [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural infrastructure development is crucial for the growth and well-being of people living in rural areas. The Panchayat Raj Institution has played a significant role in developing rural infrastructure in Thanjavur district, Tamilnadu, India. However, there is still a need to focus on providing better roadways, electricity, communication facilities, water supply and sanitation systems, transportation, and digital connectivity. The study showed that there are several research gaps that need attention for the effective implementation of rural infrastructure development programs. Addressing these gaps will ensure the sustainability of such programs and help achieve their desired outcomes. This study aimed at examining how the Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) can facilitate rural infrastructure development with special reference to Thanjavur district. 550 is the sample size of the study. Finally, 528 respondents are considered as the sample size for the study. Descriptive statistics, Friedman's multiple comparison tests, and One way ANOVA analysis are used to describe the sample, to show which are factors highly influenced, and to measure the linear association between the dependent and independent variables. Findings suggest that PRI can play a vital role in facilitating sustainable infrastructural developments if implemented effectively while emphasizing researchers' needs towards identifying research gaps surrounding issues related specifically to Roadways, Electricity, Communication, Water supply, Sanitation, Rural housing, and Transportation within targeted locations themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the perspectives of sustainable development among the Nyishis of Kurung Kumey district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh who have the status of a Scheduled Tribe but are somewhat deprived of the benefits of development even after India's economic reforms. The study reveals that Nyishis living in remote and inaccessible villages have remained neglected over the years due to the following three main reasons: firstly, the benefits of development do not reach these remote villages due to their distant and isolated location; secondly, the administration of these villages is in the hands of political/panchayat leaders which is more concerned with the collection of petty amount without doing anything good for the people, and in the process, the needs and concerns of the people often get neglected. Thirdly, there is a lack of proper execution of the developmental works by the government agencies/officials, due to which initiated work is stuck on the way. The paper attempts to raise the conceptual issues and constraints of post-reformation development programmes resulting in the obscured and neglect of the people in the process of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's health is the foundation of society's health. Preserving and improving women's health is not only a basic human right, but it is also essential for the health of all nations. Reproductive health has become one of the major issues today because of the fact that population control policies are being enforced through women's bodies as they are seen as the cause and solution for population growth and alarmingly increasingly the problem of HIV and AIDS in India. The main purpose of this study was to understand the nature of various sexual and reproductive health issues like knowledge and perception, and health services available to, and accessed by tribal women in Korba District of Chhattisgarh. It was clear from the study that most of the tribal women have poor knowledge about reproductive health as well as they were unaware of its importance. Education on human sexuality with all the aspects, prevention, and treatment of STDs and AIDS is a direct necessity among tribal women to help them reduce high-risk behavior to seek proper treatment for treatable ailments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panchayati Raj is the basic unit of local administration. The system has three levels of administrations. Gram panchayat, Mandal perished, and block samati or panchayat samati. Generally it refers to the system of local self government in india. It was first introduced by a constitutional amendment In 1992 on the basis of recommendation of L M Shingvi Committee in 1986. The system has been since its introduction have done various activities in rural areas development and women empowerment. But the system has various problems in performing its functions, i.g mass illiteracy, poverty, I'll health conditions etc. In democratic country constitution has given panchayat system with more more power and its power and performance is also increasing. Studies on the subject reveal that Panchayati Raj institution have been made progress and could have brought positive changes in the villages societies and made the village politically, economically empowered. Women were also have made some progress in various fields through panchayati raj institutions. The system is further significantly beneficial to the village as it enabled the central and state governments to allot significant sources of money directly at the village level; and introduces various social protection and development programmers, which could not have been implemented without the without the existence of a well functioning local government structure. In this paper attempt has been made to study assessment of the performance of panchayati raj institutions through women empowerment in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bengali peasants, as portrayed in Humayun Kabir's 1945 novel Men and Rivers, have admirable notions of morality and justice, epitomized by the indigenous panchayat (village council/court) system. Written against the backdrop of peasant movements and anti-colonial struggles in Bengal, the novel implicitly provides an economic and cultural critique of British rule in the region. This article situates the text in colonial Bengal and the peasant revolutions of the 1930s. Referring to Frantz Fanon's valorization of the peasants, it discusses Kabir's depiction in Men and Rivers of the simplicity, integrity, and altruism of the peasantry as opposed to the sleaze and hypocrisy of colonialism and colonial modernity. It juxtaposes panchayat and colonialism to show the native peasants' egalitarian potential and the encroaching colonizers' exploitative motives, looks at Kabir's celebration of rural traditions, and compares the South Asian panchayat system to its African counterparts – djemaas in northern, and kgotla in southern, Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Panchayat means powering the rural Indian households by harnessing the renewable sources of energy. India has set target of achieving Net-Zero emission by 2070 and the set target cannot be achieved without the inclusion of the rural households as more than half of our country population lives in rural areas. Rural electrification is considered the backbone of the rural economy but it has come up with many challenges such as availability of 24x7 power supply, power wastages due to subsidized electricity and losses to State Discoms. The paper illustrates the case study of energy consumption pattern of villages Amro, Kochwa and Budgada and it proposes a solution to provide reliable power using PV-micro-grid and solar roof top installation on public buildings.Further, detail sizing (battery, inverter, panels) of the proposed PV system to meet the energy demand (1196.91 kWh/day) of the considered villages is also determined. The economic analysis is also shown in terms of payback period to reflect the project feasibility. The paper also illustrates the energy conservation measures to be taken up in the rural households to achieve the energy savings by use of energy-efficient appliances. In a nutshell, this paper will be helpful to the power system planners and decision makers for possible implementation of Rural Electrification project which has a vital role in achieving Net-Zero emissions and sustainable development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a democratic country where each and every person’s ideas matter in making decisions calls in the need for a distributed system. Also, transferring money from one system to another within seconds creates demand to be able to view it by each and every one in the country. After all, the tax payer is the one who should also be informed about his/her money transactions. Eventually, this also leads to various other problems like tampering of data, bringing in the security aspect as well. Considering a country like India with so many systems, from central to state and panchayat system, it is a near to impossible task to be able to track the money used by people, especially when money is exchanged between many people. The data, if stored in one place, also involves fraud and data theft. This is where blockchain comes into play, as one of the most secured and transparent forms of storing transactions in a distributed ledger. This is done with the use of a private and public key based on which each authenticated individual will be able to view the transactions in a distributed manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of community-based forest management (hereafter, CBFM) is drawing attention to forest policies in finding solutions for deforestation and importantly to also understand the basis of people's involvement. Focusing on the latter, the study presented here targets a regional CBFM (Van (forest) Panchayat; hereafter, VP) at the village level in Uttarakhand, India and looks into characteristics and critical aspect of people's participation. Participatory observations were conducted in four selected villages, followed by structured interviews with 113 of a total of 131 households and semi-structured interviews with additional 28 female villagers. Some specific findings were (a) the VP members were mostly involved in forest-related activities, e.g., plantation, forest patrols, (b) a greater use of firewood by the management committee (hereafter, MC) where most members were from the higher-caste, and (c) most of the VP forest users were women; however, few women members were involved in decision-making, as they were mostly fixed members and they had not voluntarily chosen their positions. In the above context, it implied a limited participation of women in the decision-making process, i.e., no or little involvement in the management plan by the main VP forest users. Results concluded three stages of local peoples' participation in forest management: "participation in activities", "participation in decision-making" and "participation in management plan creation". In summary, what our study shows is that participation by the VP members in CBFM activities was easy. The most difficult aspect related to the participation of female members was the decision-making process in each VPMC investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative case study explores the cultural obstructions that women members in reserved seats confront with regards to their political empowerment at the local council level – in the Gram Panchayat in India and the Union Parishad in Bangladesh. Primary data was collected from West Bengal in India and Rajshahi in Bangladesh between July 2018 and February 2019. The results are mixed, and varied significantly from country to country. Patriarchal behaviours are less dominant in the workplace for Indian women, whereas major challenges for Bangladeshi women come from their male colleagues. Proxy representation is still a significant form of male domination in India, while this is not a serious issue in Bangladesh. However, the interference of politicians is another form of male domination which restricts women from effective participation in local councils in India and Bangladesh. Harassment is extensively used to control women in politics in Bangladesh, whereas this is less exercised in India. Religion is no longer a dominant barrier to women's political participation in either countries. Women members in both countries should fight against patriarchal behaviour and male domination in order to create an environment where they can talk about women's interests in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's autonomy and women's participation in grass-roots governance has already been thoroughly researched. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of focus on the bottom-line reality behind the theoretical concept. This study looked at women's participation in three-tier PRIs in impoverished places like Mahabubnagar District and Telangana. This study also aims to investigate women's expertise, mindset, and commitment in the decision-making process in PRIs and the characteristics of participation, and the reality of women's active cooperation. This research employed a random sample of 256 women from Mahabubnagar rural areas. The results show a substantial difference between reality on the ground and popular perceptions about women's political participation at the grassroots level. There have been several encouraging signs of women's political and social equality, but they have not yet achieved the level of fulfillment that many would like to think. Women's empowerment and active participation should be more effective when the micro-geographical setting is favorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]