Heaven: miles and miles of forest without any forest-guards Hell: miles and miles of forest without any mahua trees.

Seed doesn't need a collector. The lagan is collected by the gram sabha and sent to the government. Government officials are not allowed to enter the

Where the spacious black topped 20-km long road ends, India ceases and the republic of Nimalapedu starts. Life takes a different meaning altogether: "Here people rule,' says Sambhu Pollana, the head

Horomocho is just another sleepy village in the district of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. There is nothing much that looks very striking in this village of 52 Santhal households. Mud walled houses, mohua

When a few merchants from the north went down to the south, one of the princes of the Deccan asked the question: "Who is your king?' The answer was, "Some of us are governed by assemblies, some of us

Stand on your own feet. Have your own gram sabha, make your own village plan and implement it yourselves.
Vinoba Bhave

Balwant Rai Mehta is still waiting for the government to devolve power to the people

To be a truly participatory republic, India must take tutorials from these tiny republics

Madhya Pradesh sets the trend for punishing incompetent elected representatives

A few forgotten villages in remote corners of India have declared themselves self ruled republics to gain control over their natural resources. Down To Earth meets the villagers to discover how they have kept their tryst with destiny