Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

I am 28 years old and belong to a Scheduled Tribe. I contested for the post of

President of Rupra Road gram Panchayat from a general seat and defeated

all seven male candidates, by a margin of 240 votes. People in my Panchayat

thought that women can contest only from the seats reserved for them,

while the rest of the seats were reserved for men. When I tried to break this

notion and filed my nomination, I had to face a great deal of opposition.

One ex-President, a rich ‘Sundhi’ (liquor vendor) subjected me to threats,

abusive language trying to compel me to withdraw my application. However,

as a local daughter and daughter-in-law of the village, a group of educated

youth supported my candidature and I won the election partly due to their

support.

My husband did not wish to be involved in any entanglement of this sort.

Some people of my village summoned him from home and said, “Your father

used to carry loads of earth on his frail shoulder for your upkeep. Now that

you have an educated wife, she is out to be the President of the Panchayat.

Aren’t you left with an iota of shame?” They insulted him a lot. Even after I

have won the election, they continue to put obstacles, but I am not going

to let anyone influence my commitment to my Panchayat, and I will work

towards the development of my village. I will prove myself with my deeds,

that is why I regularly call Panchayat Meetings and maintain cordial relations

with my Ward Member colleagues; and the activities of my Panchayat are

going on quite effectively.

My experiences taught me a few lessons. The position of women is rather low

in our society; concrete steps need to be taken to redress this imbalance. And

the first step towards this is the economic self-reliance of women themselves. I

believe an increase in their worth and self-esteem will gradually lead to better

economic and social status and greater acceptance of their worth.

I gave priority to women SHgs in the auctioning of ponds, for pisciculture

and encouraged women to come forward and register under the NREgS

programme. Many eligible people (many of them women) had been left out

of various schemes like BPL, Annapurna, Antyodaya, Madhubabu Pension

Dipanjali Majhi
President
Panchayat: Rupra Road
Block: Narla
District: Kalahandi