“I understand my village,” a woman sarpanch in Sehore district told us. “But whenever the discussion turns to budgets, rules, or government procedures, I have to depend on the [village] secretary.” Her statement captures one of the central dilemmas of the panchayati raj today. The sarpanch was not inexperienced. She was the only woman in her community to have studied up to Class XII. For more than a decade, she had managed the mid-day meal programme through her self-help group (SHG). She had str

A Philippine anti-graft court has ordered the arrest of the cousin-lawmaker of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal, further raising political tensions in the Southeast Asian nation.

Muhammed Ansar, 24, a native of Kannur, was arrested after invoking Section 132 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for assaults or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by NEET-UG paper leak accused Dhananjay Nivrutti Lokhande challenging his arrest and seeking immediate release on the ground that he was not supplied a copy of his arrest memo. A Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja imposed costs of ₹25,000 on Lokhande, observing that the petition was "absolutely meritless" and an abuse of the process of law. The Court said that the amount should be deposited with the Advocates Welfare F