Haryana s brew
Controversy brews over the Haryana Panchayati Raj (second amendments) Bill. A fortnight after the Haryana legislative assembly swiftly approved the bill, it has assumed political overtones: the (opposition) Congress is vehemently against it.
The amendments empower the state government to pre-pone elections to panchayat bodies by four months, instead of the two months hitherto stipulated, becoming the first state in the country to do so (other states have been post-poning elections, citing various reasons). On October 9 the issue took a twist when Union minister for Panchayati Raj affairs Mani Shankar Aiyar