Stories from the Field
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Recasting Power: A Rural Feminist Movement Transforms Gujarat’s Local Democracy
By Sonal Sethia | Dec 2025
Inside the Devgadh Mahila Sangathan’s quiet revolution reshaping local governance and accountability from the village upward.
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Grassroot Women Leaders engage with Local Governance: The Story from Barwani District of Madhya Pradesh
By Ritwika Mitra | Nov 2025
Meet Badlao Didis of Madhya Pradesh who are engaging with local governance to improve infrastructure and services.
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Gram Kachahari: Judiciary at the Grassroots
By Anuradha Nagaraj | February 2025
A unique legal system at the Gram Panchayat level is delivering quick and effective justice to thousands in Bihar.
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Gamechangers: the all-woman Gram Panchayats of Uttarakhand
By Esha Roy | January 2025
Many migration-prone Indian villages in this Himalayan state have had their fortunes turned around by women in governance roles
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Children in Local Governance
By Alka D | Dec 2024
From campaigning for sanitary pad vending machines to playgrounds and cleaner villages, children are making their voice count in Maharashtra’s Gram Panchayats.
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How forest ownership rights reshaped the fortunes of a tribal village
By Roli Srivastava | Nov 2024
Pachgaon, a village in Maharashtra has tapped its forest to start a bamboo business, create jobs and arrest migration. The village pays taxes and is also making a neat profit.
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Empowering villagers to access their rights
By Esha Roy | Oct 2024
Nagarik Sahayata Kendra: Help desks run in collaboration between CSOs and the government is bridging last mile delivery of entitlements and redressing public grievances in rural Jharkhand.
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‘Jungle is our life’: Indian villages collectivise, harness decades-old laws to protect forests
By Roli Srivastava | Sep 2024
A federation of gram sabhas in Maharashtra is using India’s forest rights laws to guard their green cover and earn steady incomes.