I am 29 years old and have studied up to Class x. I belong to the Nayaka Caste
(Scheduled Tribe category) and am a mother of two children - a boy in Class IV
and a girl who is in Class II. None of my family members has ever been involved
in politics, but I decided to enter politics because of the influence of the villagers,
especially the women in my Ward. I contested from the reserved seat in the 2005
Panchayat elections and won. My family’s main occupation is sericulture, but we
also grow Ragi (finger millet), when there is insufficient water in the bore well. We
have two cows that support our income and two acres of land.Initially when I started attending the Panchayat meetings, I faced communication
problems. After taking part in the Women’s Leadership Workshop, I understood
the importance of communication and started going to the Panchayat every day.
Being the Panchayat President, I had to talk to many officials, so I had to use the
Secretary’s mobile. I felt the need of telephones in the village, whenever I wished
to seek guidance from the organization that organized the training program. I
was also given an opportunity to attend the Sarojini Naidu Prize ceremony in
New Delhi in 2005.I have attended the follow up workshops, RTI workshops, federation orientations,
and many other training programs related to the gram Panchayat. If I was not a
Panchayat member, even then, the work, which is necessary or is included in the
schemes, would have been done by someone else with the post, but my concern is
to give more importance to the social issues and problems that have existed since so
many years. I wish to conduct a survey to find out about the number of physically
challenged people in the Panchayat, to provide the government Schemes and
benefits to them. I have already mobilized the benefits that were within my reach
for three physically challenged persons. I have also managed to mobilize funds for
admitting a mute girl to a special job oriented school in Bengaluru and got her a job.
The cook in the Aanganwadi is aged and hence he is unable to perform his duties
properly, I am trying to post a young physically challenged girl in his post.I involve myself in all the Panchayat activities and try to regularize all its activities as
much as possible. I also actively participate in all the federation activities; take work
responsibilities to the Block, and District level.Manjula
Ward Member
Panchayat: Muduvadi
Block: Kolar
District: Kolar