During the WLW, I was further exposed to issues of women’s social status and
the laws that protected women. It surprised me that despite several protective
laws, numerous women in the village live a life of humiliation. I decided to
spread this legal information to all the women in the villages. In another training
program, we discussed the provision of 10 percent of the gram Panchayat’s
Budget for women and child development. I made the gram Sevak call a
Mahila gram Sabha. In this gram Sabha, we made and passed a resolution to
spend the allocated 10percent on arranging a women’s meeting in the village.
A woman lawyer was invited as a resource person and she discussed exisiting
legal provisions that were in place to safeguard a woman’s dignity.
I am very keen on making the women in my village confident and self-reliant.
I make it a point to convey the information from the trainings I attend,
to all women. Women’s needs are a big priority for me. I repaired all the
water sources in my village to reduce the problems that women face due to
water scarcity. Most of the women in Vanand work in gimhavane as waged
labourers, so one of our priorities was to construct a road that would connect
Vanand to gimhavane.
I encountered some incidents of corruption during my tenure as a President.
The biggest problem concerned a gram Sabha, which had been called to
discuss the construction of a new gram Panchayat Office and a well under
the Yashawant gramsamrudhi Scheme. During this meeting, a resolution
was passed and a proposal with signatures of 40 percent of the voters was
forwarded. People who opposed the meeting claimed that the proposal was
fake. The issue circulated at the District level and was highlighted in the media.
They began to demand the resignation of the President. I went through great
embarrassment due to all this. However, my reputation did not suffer. I faced
everything with great courage and this was a great learning experience for me.
I have become very tough because of all this. Earlier I hesitated while speaking
publicly, but now I have developed confidence and I feel more attached to my
village.
I belong to the Baudha community, which is considered one of the most