Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

On being elected Ward Member, I found that my President (whose husband

took charge of all Panchayat affairs) in connivance with the Panchayat

Secretary and BDO had been misusing the Offices of the Panchayat. With

my husband’s encouragement and active participation, I initiated a campaign

against the President and her husband. I have been partially successful in this

struggle. The elected women’s federation active in the area encouraged and

supported me in my fight.

I come from a political family. My father in law had been Ward Member for

many years handing over the reins to his son in 2000. After serving a five-

year term as Ward Member, he had to give up his seat when it was declared

reserved under the woman’s quota in 2005. I was asked to replace him and

stand instead for the election that year. I have studied until Class V and am

from Delhi. I was delighted at the opportunity. However, I was pregnant at

the time and my father-in-law put his foot down at the proposal. As a result,

the seat was given up to a gujjar woman who was elected uncontested.

However, politics was clearly in written in my stars. In 2007, the sitting

Ward Member passed away and a new opportunity opened up for me to

stand for election. I belong to the Bhairva (SC) community. My proposed

candidature ignited a caste war in my Ward. The former Member’s gujjar

husband was determined to prop his candidate- another gujjar as Ward

Member. When he realized that I too was in the fray, he threatened my

husband and tried to intimidate him to get me to withdraw my candidature.

Undeterred, we decided to go ahead. As luck would have it, I won the

election by a mere five votes.

Once elected, my husband informed me that I had to start going to the

Panchayat meetings. Therefore, accompanied by my husband, I went to

my first meeting where I noticed that my female President’s husband had

taken charge of proceedings. However, what irked me most was that after

this first meeting, the Panchayat went defunct. There were no further

meetings. Through conversations with other Ward Members, I learnt that

the husband of the President, the Panchayat Secretary and two other Ward

Radha Devi Bhairva
Ward Member
Panchayat: Rupadikala
Block: Barmer
District: Barmer