Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

267 Pages·2008·0.83 MB·English

“To be a Panchayat leader means that I have been chosen by the people of
my village, and entrusted by the Constitution to lead my community to
achieve a healthy and productive life. A life where everyone’s basic rights are
met. As a Panchayat leader, I promise to use this opportunity, power, and
responsibility, to ensure the well-being of everyone in my village.”
~ Oath taken by all elected women representatives
at the end of a Women’s Leadership Workshop

Contributors
The Hunger Project & Partners
Compiled & Edited by
Radha Khan
Special Thanks to
Sreshtha Saraswat & Praneeta Sukanya Kapur
Front Cover Photograph
Ambuj Soni
Front Cover Photo of :
Khushboon Khatoon
Ward Member
Panchayat: Banshohi
Block: Bhagwanpur
District: Siwan
State: Bihar
Back Cover Photograph
The Hunger Project
Cover Design
Orijit Sen
Printed by
Impulsive Creations
Year of Publication
2008
Published by
The Hunger Project
18/1 Aruna Asaf Ali Marg
Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi 110067
Tel.: [phone]
FOREWORD
One hundred and eighteen elected women leaders have been profiled in the second volume of
“Women Leaders in Village Panchayats Vol. II”
As we document these profiles and share them with you we continue to be amazed by the
path breaking strides being taken by elected women representatives across the country. These
profiles reiterate our faith and knowledge that women leaders are ensuring that children attend
school, that their villages are equipped with adequate health facilities and that all sections of the
population are aware of and can access government schemes. In short these profiles chronicle the
dramatic transformation taking effect in villages governed by these dynamic women. Yet, this
transformation is silent, as it goes largely unrecorded.
This compendium is an attempt to ensure that the trials and tribulations of elected women
leaders are acknowledged, and their voices are heard. The need to do so is an urgent one, for
it may change the destiny of India’s villages. Without the documentation of its processes and
realities, future generations will never know how the women of rural India stood up and fought,
through the institution of democracy, for their rights and for those of their children. These rights
include the right to govern, but the right to be heard, the right to information, the right to vote
for an able candidate and the right to become a good leader. Above all, they include the right to
holistic, all-inclusive development goals. Women leaders ensure development for all, not just for
the empowered and influential. Their worldview is true to the letter of democracy.
I am positive that you will join me in appreciating the work, dedication, and courage shown by
the elected women representatives we have profiled here. These one hundred and eighteen voices
are but a sample of the kind of work being done in the villages of India.
Rita Sarin
Country Director
THE HUNGER PROJECT
Uttarakhand
Elected women representatives
profiled from these States
Tamil Nadu
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ASSAM .......................................................................................1
ARUNACHAL PRADESH ......................................................17
BIHAR .....................................................................................27
HIMACHAL PRADESH .........................................................41
JAMMU & KASHMIR ............................................................59
KARNATAKA ...........................................................................71
MADHYA PRADESH ............................................................103
MAHARASHTRA ..................................................................125
ORISSA ...................................................................................153
RAJASTHAN ..........................................................................179
TAMIL NADU .......................................................................207
UTTARAKHAND ..................................................................227
gLOSSARY .............................................................................247
INDEx ....................................................................................251
INTRODUCTION
This publication by The Hunger Project is a continuation of its earlier effort to profile the work done by elected
women leaders of Panchayati Raj Institutions*. The need for this is two-fold.
Firstly, there is a need to document and archive the work of these pioneers – who are eagerly availing of the
opportunity provided under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment to contest and work for their communities as
elected leaders. This collection of the profiles of one hundred and eighteen women leaders demonstrates that they
are exercising their leadership skills across the country and are transforming themselves, their villages, and their
communities. The profiles vary in length, structure, and content. This is deliberate, as women leaders themselves
are not homogeneous. They are from different regions, castes, communities, and classes. Some are educated, some
neo-literates, some barely literate and some have never been to school. Yet, across all the profiles, the problems they
face are similar: an ineffective and indifferent bureaucracy, a patriarchal bias, a hostile work environment and over
and above, the constant need to reiterate that they, as women leaders in Panchayat Institutions, are working towards
holistic development.
As one reads the profiles, one realises that the elected women leaders are enthusiastic, eager to learn and proud
of their achievements. All they need is support, guidance and training to help them realise their potential. It is
definitely not their gender that holds them back but support which has been denied to them through their social
conditioning. This is the major deterrent and not their ability to govern. This fact is what this collection effectively
brings out. They are the first to admit that they have a lot to learn. Others would have weakened and given up,
but not these women leaders. They are aware that they are under scrutiny, that there is a different yardstick used to
measure their success, simply because of their gender. They are their own harshest critics and are surprisingly aware
of their own shortcomings; some freely admit that they only contested because they were asked to by their male
relatives. They admit that their husbands/brothers/sons help them with their work. They are equally candid about
the fact that they had limited understanding about what they were taking on, what was expected of them, and how
they would achieve what they wanted to. Most are first-time contestants who had never taken a step outside their
homes before they filed their nomination papers.
* ‘Women Leaders in Village Panchayats’ was published in 2006, which profiled 51 elected women leaders achievements; ‘No Short Cut to
Leadership’ by S. Jothimani published in 2007, an autobiography of a Tamilian elected women’s struggle to bring water to her village.
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The second reason is there are still critics who maintain that women leaders act only as proxies for their male relatives.
If they resist, they are labelled ineffective and considered ill equipped to handle leadership. They are dismissed due
to lack of experience in decision making/politics, lack of education, their gender, and the socio-cultural patriarchal
framework of their reality. The women leaders have not been given a chance to prove otherwise – they have been
condemned and hung even before a trial! It is a great pity that we do not recognise and acknowledge the millions of
women leaders who are battling insupportable odds every day to bring about change in their villages.
Profile after profile - from states as diverse as Assam and Tamil Nadu, and Districts as far-flung as Jammu and
Kashmir’s Kargil and Madhya Pradesh’s Satna – makes one aware that women leaders have far more than just their
seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions at stake! The Hardass women’s community of Kargil district in Ladakh, where
Panchayat elections have not been held since 2001, have formed a group and effectively fought and secured water
rights for themselves and their village, even in the absence of a Panchayat. They are now eagerly waiting for the State
government to announce the elections so that they can contest.
Through the Panchayat, women leaders become mobile, their voices are heard in public forums, they interact with
a range of people, and they innovate. To do all this, they take help from whatever quarter they can, be it husbands
or sons, as long as they can continue their work. They realise that this is an opportunity for them, perhaps for the
first time, to openly exert some authority and participate fully in the crucial development of their communities.
The women leaders ensure that, unlike themselves, their children and particularly their girls, have access to
education, healthcare, sanitation, better roads, etc. They are sensitive and inclusive of those who have been left
out of the development agenda. They proudly list all that they have done for their communities and while reading
these profiles; one is not just inspired, but also sometimes brought to tears because of their struggles. The time has
come to acknowledge, honour and support women elected to village Panchayats - this compilation is testimony to
this fact!
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ASSAM ___________________________