There was a time when Payinthulasi, a 40 year old herb gatherer of village Utchananthal in Virudunagar district of Tamil Nadu, had to trudge to the towns of Virudunagar and Madurai to sell her produce . It used to be a livelihood with extremely limited c
Tribal communities take on the state machinery to assert their own rights Kerala almost saw the birth of its first tribal republic in January 2003 when about 2000 tribals encroached on the forests of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and barricaded a 300 hec
Two recent directives of the Kerala High Court have further vindicated the Perumatty Grama Panchayat s stand in its face off with the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited
A multi billion dollar transnational corporation has had to blink first in an eyeball to eyeball dispute with an obscure panchayat of Kerala. On November 17, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited HCBPL the Goliath of the piece was compelled
Of the 12,619 Gram Panchayats in Tamil Nadu, one third or nearly 4,200 panchayats are headed by women following the 73rd amendment to the Constitution which stipulates that one thirds of all panchayat presidents in a state should be women
