I was elected as Vice President at the age of twenty-nine for the second time
in a row and have been lucky to have a family who are supportive of my
activities outside the home. We live with eleven members in a joint family and
my husband, a small businessperson in Kanjara, is the eldest son and has to
shoulder all responsibilities for the entire family.Before I stood for election, I helped in my husband’s business as well as looked
after our only son. The little time that I had left after all this, however, was
spent in tending to the needs of our neighbors and others in the village. This
interest in the general welfare finally saw me entering public service in 2002,
when the Kanjara seat was reserved for women.During my first stint at office, I had successfully fulfilled strongly felt demands
for providing social support to the poor and underprivileged by bringing many
of them under the protection of State Welfare Schemes. Many people who
had benefited from these, subsequently paved the way for my continuation
in the same post, for the second time in 2007. Acquiescing to requests from
my community, I entered the fray and won by twenty votes. There have been
long standing demands in my area for drinking water facilities, roads and
drainage systems, construction of a school building, pond renovation, fishery
and irrigation facilities apart from other developmental activities. I have
started fulfilling these demands and have raised these issues in the Panchayat
meetings, with Block Officials etc.I have had tube wells and a road sanctioned during the past year, and am
undertaking an evaluation of works carried out under NREgS in my area. I
also plan to ensure that all eligible people have job cards and apply for work
under NREgS. Though I am only educated up to Class VIII, I personally execute
all documentation, proposals, and correspondence relating to gP activities
myself. Not having a political background has not been a problem for me. This
is something I try to impress upon other women in my area while I discharge
my duties as a representative of my Panchayat. I organize and motivate them to
participate actively in all events and activities in the Panchayat and have succeeded
in enlisting their support for all my endeavors towards the progress of our area.Aliva Sahoo
Vice President
Panchayat: Kanjara
Block: Banarpal
District: Angul