panchayat

Regular land audits and access to data can help the panchayats prevent encroachment and better govern the common lands.

Public service delivery in areas like education and healthcare often fails due to ineffective payment systems. Here’s what’s wrong and what needs to change.

A day in the life of a panchayat head, who works with elected representatives to ensure sustainable development for their community during COVID-19.

Gram panchayats are at the forefront of the pandemic in rural India. Here’s how they can support their communities.

In five questions, get an introduction to local government in India—what it is, its structure, functions, sources of funding, and some of the challenges it faces.

The potential to deepen grassroots democracy is immense if panchayats are accorded their rightful place in local development.

For India's Panchayati Raj system to be more effective, we need a new approach to training its three million elected representatives.

"We asked ourselves — is there another way to engage with communities? Where ultimately, they can unlock the social capital that they have built, exercise their agency without external help, and where they themselves can decide on their development agenda."

Moving beyond simply improving access to credit for women, the social capital of women's collectives can be leveraged for greater democratic participation.