local governance

Communities already carry deep knowledge of the commons through oral traditions, customary practices, and lived experience. The question is whether data systems are designed to recognise it.

Using insights from existing IDR articles, we answer four key questions on India's panchayats, examining their mandate and the realities of grassroots governance.

ವಿನೋಬಾ ಭಾವೆ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ, ಗ್ರಾಮದಾನ ಅಥವಾ ಗ್ರಾಮಗಳಿಂದ ಸಾಮೂಹಿಕ ಭೂ ಮಾಲೀಕತ್ವವು 1950 ಮತ್ತು 60 ರ ದಶಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಚಳುವಳಿಯಾಗಿ ಹೊರಹೊಮ್ಮಿತು. ಇಂದಿಗೂ 3,000 ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಗ್ರಾಮದಾನಿ ಗ್ರಾಮಗಳು ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದರೂ, ಈ ಸಮುದಾಯಗಳು ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣ ಸವಾಲುಗಳನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸುತ್ತಿವೆ.

ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಯೋಗವು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಆಡಳಿತದಲ್ಲಿ ಅರ್ಥಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ತೋರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಸಾಂಸ್ಥಿಕಗೊಳಿಸಲು ವಯಸ್ಕರ ಮನಸ್ಥಿತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಯ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿದೆ.

The idea of local self-governance has been a key part of India’s political imagination. However, development has often meant centralisation, undermining communities’ rights over jal, jangal, and zameen.

Mission-mode programmes are celebrated for delivering immediate, tangible outputs at scale. But lasting social change depends on whether institutions, capacities, and accountability survive beyond the mission.

Embedding units across all tiers of administration can help nonprofits combine community knowledge and innovation with the government’s scale.

From legal frameworks to finances and functions, the Panchayat Devolution Index 2024 evaluates how states transfer power to local governments for a stronger democracy.

One of the key aims of the Forest Rights Act has been to decentralise forest governance by conferring powers on the gram sabha. DAJGUA, a new umbrella scheme for forest-dwelling communities in India, may upend this.

Informal workers in Delhi spend hours in the sun every day. Low-cost water ATMs protect people from heat exposure and uphold the basic right to water.