This Bill states that all the families of the state, urban and rural, will get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year. The old aged, disabled, single women and widows will receive a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month. The state is slated to go to assembly polls later this year.

A little more than half of the 500 million no-frills Jan Dhan accounts opened in India in the past nine years belong to women. Access to banking has enabled rural women to be in charge of their own finances and their children's’ future.

The younger generation of Mundapota Kela tribe in Odisha has grown up watching the male members hold their breath and bury their heads in soil to earn a living. Many of its members are now weaving mats and brooms from date-palm leaves to make the ends meet. However, the community still has no access to safe drinking water.

The Panchayati Raj system has been a total failure and retrograde. Mere expense-audit won’t be enough; the need is for a total revamping of the system by ensuring the answerability of the pradhans

After years of moving from place to place looking for an income, women in Lohardaga district of Jharkhand find empowerment in a programme called End Ultra Poverty that is helping them stay home and practise agriculture and animal husbandry.

As of now, Gram Pradhans only have rights, but no responsibility. The Centre should act as a facilitator to resolve issues of farmers pertaining to irrigation, canal, tube wells, support prices and seed-fertilizers. The Gram Pradhans can be vested with statutory responsibility and some honorarium to supervise its functioning. There should be absolute decentralization of local administration till the level of Panchayat

Half a billion Indians have been able to open their no-frills Jan Dhan bank account for the first time in the last nine years thanks to Bank Mitras and Bank Sakhis who teamed up with village heads to achieve this feat.