More than a hundred village-heads quit in Jammu, Kashmir

More than one hundred village-heads across India's northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir have announced their resignations, following the killing of their colleagues over the past two days, reported the Press Trust of India (PTI). According to the report, the two village-heads were killed over the past two days by unidentified persons, and as a fallout of these killings, over one hundred village-heads resigned fearing for their lives. The village-heads announced their resignations through paid advertisements in local newspapers. However, in the advertisements they mentioned that they were resigning due to "personal reasons", and didn't mention that they were terror-stricken. The village-heads who resigned mostly hail from north Kashmir's Baramulla district. In one such advertisement, a village-head said: "I am resigning from the post of village head on personal grounds. From today, I will have no connection with any political party or village governance system. This is for the information of all." However, state government officials averred that resignations announced before media or in Mosques will not be considered, and the village-heads will have to follow the due procedure if they want to resign. 'Village governance' is the lowest rung in India's political-democratic set-up, under the provisions of which village heads are empowered to carry out developmental works with the help of yearly financial aid provided by the respective state government. This 'village governance' system is called "Panchayati Raj" system under the Indian Constitution, and is considered as the strongest form of governance as it is directly linked to the people living in rural/remote areas.