responsibilities. After attending the Women’s Leadership Workshops, I
became keener to spread my knowledge to the other women in the village. I
noticed that the average women should also know about the importance of
the gram Sabha, and about their rights and their share in village governance.
However, I was not able to do this, there was no common platform through
which I could communicate with the women. Therefore, with the help of
Parivartan’s activists I organized four women SHgs. Because of the SHgs,
women became more social; they started coming together every month for
a meeting. These meetings proved an important medium for the exchange
of thoughts and ideas. All the women were excited to have this confidence
boosting activity. Through these SHg meetings, I was able to secure women’s
regular participation in the gram Sabhas.
I initiated smaller developmental tasks, as well, such as the construction of
pathways, water supply schemes, and repairing the water sources. I put issues
of sanitation on the development agenda, convinced, and helped villagers to
construct public as well as private toilets.
The women were very excited to have a woman President, and I was excited
at the chance to get to know and work with all the women. They bring their
complaints to me in the hope that I will help find a solution. One day, a
woman came to me and complained about the village revenue employee. I
went to Talathi Saza (village revenue office) to verify her complaint, and found
that a woman was at the office; she had Rs. 100 in her hands. I asked her
why she was carrying this money and she said that the Talathi had demanded
Rs.100 for releasing a compensation check of Rs. 500. This was to compensate
for the loss of her mango crop. I confronted the Talathi about this at once. He
remained silent.
I then went to the gP office and called a gram Sabha on the issue. I personally
spoke to all the women through SHg meetings and ensured that the gram
Sabha would meet the required quorum. In the presence of many women
from the village, the Talathi was questioned about his irresponsible and
corrupt actions. All the women supported me and we passed a resolution that