15Jul/11Off
INDIA: ‘No Conducive Atmosphere In Panchayats For Empowerment’
The Times of India reported on 15 July that the state's political leadership is yet to evolve an atmosphere conducive to empowerment of panchayati raj institutions and is mostly engaged merely in framing rules and regulations for their perfunctory functioning without any real strength. Mass awareness of the significance of panchayats in local governance is also lacking in the state. These were some of the observations made at a meeting of the Programme Advisory Group on an ongoing UNFPA-supported programme on "Strengthening Gender Response of Panchayats in Rajasthan" held at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) here. Members of the group reviewed the programme's progress in 21 districts. Read: The Times of India