Considering the potential of works carried out under NREGA for strengthening the livelihood resource base of marginalized groups of people provides good linkages with other development initiatives so that the coordinated work can lead them for sustainable livelihood support.

Maharashtra's efforts to enforce the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act have brought forth many sticky issues.

A RECENT decision of the Goa government to amend the Panchayat Raj Act, 1993, has been opposed by civil society groups. The Goa Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill 2009 empowers the panchayat secretary, a governmentappointed official, to bypass the elected sarpanch and members of the gram sabha while executing government orders.

Maharashtra is the first to recognize their rights over forests two villages in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra have become the first in the country to win community rights over forests under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. On August 15, Ramesh Bang, the state food and civil supplies minister, said the claims of Mendha

Vedanta and POSCO may find going tough in Orissa in a move likely to benefit tribal people and forest communities, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) has made the law tougher for industries and government agencies that want to divert forestland for industrial and infrastructure projects. On August 4, the ministry issued an advisory to all the states saying such projects

Ministry of Panchayati Raj has formulated a Model Panchayats and Gram Swaraj Act (MPGSA) for states. The Ministry invited members to give their comments and suggestions.

In 1993, India introduced quota-based political reservations for women in rural areas with the objective to promote gender equality in human development by making rural service provision and local governance inclusive and responsive to the needs of women.

Maharashtra is the first state in India to formulate a women policy in 1994, which was subsequently revised in 2001. This policy provides for participation, protection, economic development, capacity building and creation of a supportive environment for women.

Land purchase deals amid gunshots in Jharkhand village investigations into the murder of four security guards at a proposed power plant in Jharkhand are revealing uncomfortable truths about industrialization in the state. The company that wants to buy land in Chakla village of Latehar district called the guards martyrs and held Maoist rebels responsible for the murders. Sources in the

No problems with Goa project, Environment Appellate Authority says THE National Environment Appellate Authority last month dismissed an appeal that had challenged environmental clearance to a high-grade iron ore plant in Sanguem taluka in Goa. In September 2008, Sushant Naik, a Sanguem resident, had filed the appeal and alleged discrepancies in the environmental impact assessment report of

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