National Conference on “Strengthening Grassroot Democracy in North-Eastern States: Challenges and Way Forward.”

NLU Tripura in collaboration with RD (Panchayat), Government of Tripura organized a two-day National Conference “Strengthening Grassroot Democracy in North-Eastern States: Challenges and Way Forward”.

The National Law University, Tripura (NLU Tripura), in collaboration with the Department of Rural Development (Panchayat), Government of Tripura, organized a two-day National Conference on “Strengthening Grassroots Democracy in North-Eastern States: Challenges and Way Forward” on 23–24 September 2026 in hybrid mode. The conference brought together policymakers, legal scholars, local governance representatives, and researchers to deliberate on constitutional, financial, administrative, and institutional strategies for strengthening grassroots democracy in the North-East.

In his Welcome Address, Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh highlighted the role of academic institutions in advancing social justice, sustainable development, and constitutional awareness at the grassroots. He emphasized that meaningful democratic decentralization requires sustained research, institutional engagement, capacity building, and active community participation, reaffirming NLU Tripura’s commitment to policy advocacy and locally responsive initiatives.

The Keynote Address by Dr. Anjan Kumar Bhanja, Head, Centre of Panchayati Raj, NIRDPR, Hyderabad, emphasized context-specific and inclusive approaches to grassroots governance in the North-East. He highlighted the need to empower Gram Sabhas, enhance community participation and own-source revenue, strengthen technical capacity through continuous handholding, and promote institutional convergence for effective public service delivery and sustainable local development.

The conference featured three technical sessions and a panel discussion on Sixth Schedule Autonomous District Councils, traditional governance, Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP), fiscal decentralization, and digital governance. Around 20 carefully selected research papers were presented, generating substantive academic and policy-oriented discussions on strengthening local self-governance in the region.

The inaugural session concluded with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Er. Aparajita Banerjee, Assistant Registrar and Organizing Secretary, who expressed gratitude to the leadership of NLU Tripura, the Department of Rural Development (Panchayat), Government of Tripura, distinguished speakers, organizing committee members, paper presenters, and participants. She expressed confidence that the deliberations would contribute to actionable policy recommendations for strengthening grassroots governance across North-Eastern India.