Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

I am 42 years old and have studied up to the class 10. I am married and

mother to a son and a daughter. I am a Bajanthri by caste (OBC category) and

I am engaged in the saree business.

I did not have any political background and was never interested in

politics. As my husband is an alcoholic, it was very difficult for me to

manage the family expenses alone. During the 2005 gram Panchayat

elections, two other people had stood for the elections, but I was elected as

a Ward Member. The Panchayat nominated me as Chairman of Sampurna

Swachada Andolan Programme. To undertake the responsibility of the

programme in the Panchayat villages, I attended a three-day training

programme because of which my husband beat me up and ordered me not

to leave the village for Panchayat works. He did not let me enter the house

for an entire day, but I did not let it affect me and continued to work.

Due to the unhygienic conditions in the village, many people suffered

from several diseases like jaundice, malaria, diarrhea etc. I succeeded in

making people, especially women in the Kambada halli, Chowdasandra,

ganganahalli and Melur villages aware of the dangers of defecating in the

open by making the health worker and the Aanganwadi worker in all the

four villages visit every house in their respective one and motivate women

to construct a sanitary latrine in their homes. Due to this drive, 95 percent

households constructed latrines. It has reduced the health problems in all

the four villages.

I visit the schools in the Panchayat and teach children about the importance

of sanitation. We decided to construct community toilets to deal with the

problem of shortage of space in some houses. Thanks to these efforts the

Panchayat was selected a winner under the Total Sanitation Programme and

received a prize of Rs. 5 Lakhs.

I am a member of Annapurna Self-Help group, and the group distributes

notebooks, pens, and instrument boxes to the students. We conducted a

survey in the village, about the children, especially girls who dropped out of

school, and motivated their parents to re-admit them to school. To encourage

Jnanamma
Ward Member
Panchayat: Melur
Block: Siddlaghatta
District: Chikkaballapur