Village makeover—the women’s way : The Tribune India

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Village makeover—the women’s way

Nearly eight months after they were elected to head village bodies, women panchayat members in Haryana seem determined to change the state’s rural landscape, funds or no funds. Battling prejudices and administrative delays, these women are slowly realizing the responsibility of a task well cut out for them.

Village makeover—the women’s way

A woman sarpanch in Karnal.



The Tribune Team

They have been hailed as torch-bearers in a long march of village women in Haryana: from being mere bearers of children and passive co-applicants in ancestral largesse, they have come to occupy a position of decision-maker. Their avowed goal is not to submit to the whims and fancies of their male counterparts. And they have taken upon themselves the task to rebuild their villages and change the way their families and district authorities look at them: They are sarpanches, panches and much more in a state known for all the wrongs committed in gender insensitivity. Around eight months back, they made their presence official in many villages: they were elected in over 40% seats in polls conducted in January this year.

The poll figures were encouraging: The number of unanimously elected candidates increased from 39 per cent to 56 per cent this year. It might be attributed to lack of qualified candidates but indirectly, it is a step towards social harmony. The state government is awarding Rs11 lakh to a unanimously elected panchayat. 

How real are their stories? Are the elected women trying to convert their state-sponsored power into an instrument of true empowerment? Or are they yet again reduced as dummies for their husbands or male heads of their families? Nine months are too short a period to gauge the village mood. Yet the intensity of action is in evidence. Reports suggest many bold initiatives such as cleanliness drives as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, freeing village land from encroachers, punitive measures against wastage of water and open defecation and demanding development funds. 

Over to the Haryana’s rural hinterland: 

Social acceptance

Sonepat: There are 304 gram panchayats in the district and out of these 63 gram panchayats are headed by the women in the district. Anju (22), sarpanch of Shamri Lochab Baran gram panchayat, is gradually getting accustomed to the new responsibility. She said “Samajik Prampraon Ka Dhyan Rakhte Hue Kaam Kar Rahee Hun Aur Pariwar Ka Pura Sehyog Mil Raha Hai (I work keeping in mind the social conventions. I am getting full cooperation from my family members). She says project reports of construction of an open drain in the village, installing a pumping set to meet the drinking water requirements and pavement of village streets have gone to the department authorities. But funds are yet to arrive.

Nisha (29), sarpanch of Kasanda village, is very comfortable with the post as her late father-in-law too served in the same capacity. “Development grant of around Rs 25 lakh was available when I took over. The sanctioned works included repair of chaupal, construction of the boundary wall of the cremation ground for the people of a minority community,” she said.

District Development and Panchayat Officer, Sonepat, Dev Raj Dangi says the government had released grant of Rs 5.65 crore including about Rs 2.39 crore under Gramin Vikas Yojna Scheme (SCSP) and Rs 3.27 crore for special development works during July. He said monitoring committees have so far not been formed in any village. — BS Malik

Saving girl child

Panipat: Educated women sarpanches have started off with improving the gender ratio. The sex ratio of Shimla Mulana is 825 females per 1000 males. Sarpanch Pinki Devi of village Shimla Mulana has passed a resolution offering Rs 1,100 as shagun to newly born girl child. ‘Kuan Poojan’ and distribution of sweets mark the birth of girl child in the village.

Out of total 174 village panchayat 72 female sarpanches were elected of which 18 are class 8-pass, 35 are tenth-pass, 11 are twelfth-pass and 8 are graduate or above.

“I had started a cleanliness drive immediately after my election. Though sweepers are doing well, all panchayat members including me run a special drive to clean public places in a week,” said Pinki. “We have not received any grant for development. But we are doing our best within our limited resources.”

The panchayat has installed water coolers with RO filters in the village and initiated an anti-encroachment drive which resulted in widening of roads. The panchayat has announced that if anyone is found wasting water three times in a row, the person would be fined Rs 1,000.

“Some of the women representatives are educated and take keen interest in development. The government has released about Rs 30 crore for about 170 development works in the villages,” says Rupinder Malik, District Development and Panchayat Officer. — Mukesh Tandon

Out of the shell

Ambala: Gurmeet Kaur (42) has been elected as the sarpanch of Sullar village for a second time. But she says elderly men in the village prefer to approach her husband. He often attends the official meetings along with her and visits government offices for village-related work.

“I recently briefed the panchayat monitoring committee about the works done and money spent. The gram panchayat has decided that a yogshala should be constructed on two acres. Land has alrbeen provided for Gaushala while six kanal ntly briefed has already been provided for a veterinary hospital. The panchayat has allowed the local administration to conduct a survey for setting up a solid waste treatment plant and a water plant,” says Gurmeet.

She has started a campaign to make Ambala open defecation free (ODF). “There are 30 homes that don’t have a toilet facility of which 15 have been warned to construct toilets at the earliest as they have received money from the administration. “We hope our village will be ODF soon.”

District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Renu Jain says training sessions are being organized for the panches in Ambala. “They are educated and understand the directions.” — Nitish Sharma

Dummy culture persists

Karnal: Over 45% of the panchayats are ruled by women sarpanches and more than 43% women panches are governing the panchayats in the district. The irony is that on their name the panchayats are being run by some or the other male members of their family including husband, father, father-in-law and brother-in-law and son.

The male members of the family of most of the sarpanches and panches had given their mobile numbers to the election commission, which are being displayed on the website of the Panchayati Raj Institution, “Mahari Panchayat”. When TNS tried to contact several female sarpanches and sarpanches as per the phone numbers displayed on the website, they were answered by the male family members. They admitted that they run the show. Yet there are exceptions. Reetu, sarpanch of Bir Dandari village, has set an example by getting 23 toilets constructed on her own to make the village open defecation-free. — Parveen Arora

Security first

Faridabad: Though all the 116 villages in the district got new panchayat heads in the elections, it is Anju Yadav (22) of Chandawali village who has done something unique: her village is now covered under 24x7 CCTV surveillance. 

A second year MA student of local Aggarwal College, Anju decided to take a plunge in village politics after the government made education qualification mandatory and the post was reserved for a woman. She says since the village is in close vicinity of the Industrial Model Township, the movement of outsiders in and around the village needed to be watched. “Village transformation is a reality thanks to the youth like Anju,’’ said deputy commissioner Chandershekhar. — Bijendra Ahlawat

Shortage of funds

Hisar: Though the ‘gaon ki sarkar’ elected about six months ago awaits development grants, some newly elected women sarpanch have tried to make their villages a better place to live in. 

Newly elected Dalit sarpanch of Dobhi village says she has initiated some projects from the development grants pending with the previous panchayat. “A park is being set up near the bus stand in the village while an anangwari centre is also under construction. Besides, two streets are also being laid in the village,” she said. The all-women panchayat of Bhiwani Rohilan village drew applause from the government. But the village has not received any funds. “Our plans are ready. We want to construct toilets for women, a stadium and a library besides an efficient water supply scheme. But every project needs funds,” said village sarpanch Asha Devi. — Deepender Deswal

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