Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

I have, from a very young age had a wish to help the poor. I always dreamt

about working for the distressed in society, yet I hadn’t had time to pursue

this passion as I had to move from place to place with my government

employee husband, who had a transferable job. It was only after my

husband retired, and when we finally came back to our village of gadarkhai,

which falls under Tulasipur g.P, did I find time to devote myself fully to

social work. Having a yen for community service, I could easily gauge the

problems affecting the village generally, and women particularly. In private

I used to discuss with other women the need for them to be aware of their

rights and find ways to be independent along with being conscious of their

duties and responsibilities towards the village and Panchayat. Publicly, the

opportunity arose in 2007 for me to avail of a greater platform from which

I could help my community.

I won the election for the post of President from the reserved seat of Tulasipur.

It was an easy victory and soon I set about finding ways to help the needy.

Migrant workers, daily-wage labours, marginal, and landless farmers, the aged,

and the very poor were the first to be enlisted by me under various government

welfare schemes. Striving to make my Panchayat a model one, my first task

was towards improving the state of health care and education in my area. I

requested the Block Office to sanction an additional Primary Health Centre

to provide proper health facilities and anti-natal care for women. I keep in

regular touch with the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers and

the Aanganwadi staff to ensure they carry out their duties properly. I also visit

people personally to encourage them to send their children regularly to school

and ensure that no child misses school even for a day. Since my Panchayat

lies near the National Aluminium Corporation Limited (NALCO), a Public

Sector Unit (PSU), I succeeded in linking my Panchayat to the peripheral

support activities of NALCO.

Under my initiative, people of my village passed a resolution for the provision

of drinking water, repair of school buildings and connecting roads from

villages to the Panchayat headquarters. This resolution has been approved and

NALCO has sanctioned Rs. 4,50,000 for this. This has resulted in my esteem

Bijayalaxmi Dehury
President
Panchayat: Tulasipal
Block: Banarpal
District: Anugul