A grateful nation pays homage to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary Froday. An all religion prayer meeting will be held at Raj Ghat, the Samadhi of Bapu in the morning.A special function to render Gandhi Bhajans at Gandhi Smriti will be organized in the afternoon. Union Government has planned a series of programmes to mark the occasion.The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate a National Convention on Panchayati Raj in New Delhi. State Panchayati Raj Ministers, elected representatives of Panchayats will participate in the convention which is also being addressed by the UPA Chairperson, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to mark the 50 years of Panchayati Raj in the country.The Gram Nayalaya Act comes into force from Friday on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Act paves the way for setting up of more than 5,000 Gram Nayalayas at grassroot level for the purpose of providing access to justice to citizens at their door steps. The Gram Nayalaya will be of the level of a first class judicial magistrate court and will exercise the powers of both criminal and civil courts. The court will be mobile and move from village to village to dispose cases. The Health Minister, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad will be inaugurating the 27th Biennial Conference on Leprosy.