Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

My Panchayat consists of 35 villages, which are divided into ten Wards. The

voters can be divided into different categories - Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled

Castes, the Adivasi (indigenous) Tea Laborer community, and people from the

general castes.

I did not have even a vague idea about what the duties of a Panchayat President

were as there had been no Panchayati Raj in Assam for the last eight-nine

years. I did not even remember what the Panchayat members did or used to

do in those days. At the same time, I was told that the new Panchayati Raj

system would be different from what it was before. It will be more powerful,

more responsible and more people centric.

In March 2001, I experienced community mobilisation for the first time,

when I helped campaign for the local MLA. This experience became a

strong basis for my candidature and campaign in the Panchayat elections.

When the seat of the Panchayat President was reserved for women,

I decided to contest the elections. I stood for the post and defeated 3

independent candidates and one Asom Gana Parishad (a Political Party)

candidate in the elections. My cultural involvement during school and

college days proved to be very helpful in my win, as I was quite well

known as a singer in those days.

After being elected as the President, I did not know what I was supposed to

do. I was not given any responsibility or work. The Panchayat Secretary and

other bureaucrats would take the decision and sometimes here and there they

would call me for some meetings or would just send me some papers and

cheques to sign. However, my world changed after attending the Women’s

Leadership Workshop organized by The Hunger Project - NEST. I realized

the ownership of governance. I understood that because of my ignorance, the

officers were controlling me like a puppet. I refused to continue in such way

and started doing my work on my own.

I then proceeded to ensure that 18 roads were constructed in the community

under the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SgSY). I also constructed

Saleha Begum
President
Panchayat: Morongi
Block- Morongi
District: golaghat