Wish these women success

Governments lack seriousness in encouraging young women sarpanches to change the face of their villages. But quite a few of these women in Punjab have shown that despite their social status and low funds flow, they can achieve what many had thought was unthinkable a few years ago

Tribune News Service

Whenever Punjab’s rural and panchayat department officials attend meetings in Delhi on empowerment and other local self-government institutions, they cut a sorry figure because of the state’s dismal record.

Under the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution, the control of as many as 29 departments is to be transferred to the panchayati raj institutions, including elected panchayats, block samitis and zila parishads. The Punjab government has done too little: the state figures poorly on the parameters of empowerment in local self-government institutions.

Some years ago, the control of certain departments such as government primary schools and rural health and veterinary dispensaries was given to zila parishads. That control is now back with the government departments concerned, except in the case of health dispensaries. Teachers who were recruited through the panchayati raj department to run government primary schools have been merged with the cadre of teachers of the state education department. Ditto for the staff of veterinary dispensaries.

States like Karnataka and Kerala have almost fully empowered panchayati raj institutions. In Karnataka, zila parishads are powerful entities and elected chairpersons of zila parishads command vast powers. In these states meetings of ‘gram sabhas’ are held regularly where decisions concerning development projects are taken. In Punjab, the meetings, which should be legally held after a regular interval, are just a mere formality. “As far I know, such meetings are shown in books, but actually these are never held expect in some villages”, says a senior official of the rural development & panchayat department.

Under the 73rd Amendment, panchayats were empowered to levy taxes and fees to generate revenue for local development projects. At a meeting in Hyderabad a few months ago, issues concerning panchayats’ powers to collect taxes were sorted out. But Punjab has not implemented any proposal. Panchayats get most of their funds through land transactions.

The Tribune team visits a few villages where young women sarpanches have taken up the challenge to change the destiny of their villages — with or without much government help.

Tenacious despite taint
Arvinder Kaur

Sarpanch Phaguwala, Sangrur

Age: 40 Qualification: Masters in Hindi, History and M.Ed. Marital status: Married  

Achievement: Claims to have invested all Rs 1.40-crore grants in a transparent manner. Faces graft charges

Ask a villager in Phaguwala (Sangrur) where Arvinder Kaur lives, s/he would point to the sarpanch’s house, with an introductory: “You must be looking for the woman with a triple master’s degrees.” In the village of Dalits, Arvinder is feisty, and a woman of conviction: caste lineage has no meaning, she says often. “I am a Dalit, my education makes me a proud Dalit.” 

In 2013 when the government declared the village as ‘reserved’, elders and youth approached her to contest the polls, says Kaur. She won, becoming the first Dalit woman sarpanch. Known to be in command, she is not a dummy for her husband. “I take all decisions, though my husband helps me in matters related to the police,” says Kaur, helping her son Anandveer Singh in completing his summer vacation homework. 

Phaguwala is located on Sangrur-Patiala main road and has a population of around 5,000. There are 1,735 voters, out of which around 600 are Scheduled Caste voters.  She has master’s degrees in Hindi, history and education. “Our village now has parks, an RO system and six dharmshalas, all renovated. The sewerage and water supply have improved and so has the condition of our government school. Yet I face allegations of misappropriation of funds,” says Kaur.

District administration sources say the village has received around Rs 1.40 crore  out of which Rs 1.27 crore came from the National Highway officials for acquring the village land. The rest were development grants. 

The allegations seem to tire her out. “I do not want to fight the next election as my case for the job of a teacher is pending before the high court. If I win the case before elections, I would join my new duty. But I will take into account the wishes of the villagers,” says Kaur. 

District Develoment and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Sangrur, Sukhpal Sidhu, says he has not received any new complaint against her. “An earlier complaint is pending with the director panchayats,”  says Sidhu.

— Parvesh Sharma in Sangrur

Assertive and well-meaning, she is a proud Dalit

Baljeet Kaur 

Sarpanch Muglani, Khadoor Sahib

Age: 25 Qualification: Higher Secondary, Diploma in Computer Applications (DCA). Pursuing Elementary Teachers’ Training

Marital status: Unmarried

Father: Lakhwinder Singh, a security guard

A school-going Baljeet Kaur had realized that her Dalit community was being exploited by the upper caste. Nearly 2,000 people live in her Muglani village, dominated by Jatts (around 55%). She accepted the challenge for earning a respectable position for her community. 

Out of 1,400 votes, she got 365 to become sarpanch in 2013. “During my school days, most of our acquaintances worked as labourers in the rich agricultural fields of Jatts and other landlords of our village. They received wages much lower than what they had negotiated,” says Baljeet. She would watch her uncle approach sarpanches on behalf of many labourers. “He would often return without even an assurance. I made up my mind to do something concrete.” 

As sarpanch, her first step was to ask the landlords to disclose the wage pattern of their hired labourers in advance. “I made it a rule that before hiring labourers during sowing or harvesting season, the landlords would have to conduct joint meetings and make announcement through gurdwara’s loudspeaker about the final wages to be paid to the labourers. This made the process fair,” she says.

Among the youngest women sarpanch in the region, Baljeet Kaur is the reflection of changing face of the Dalit community.  

Her second step was to encourage women to speak up. “My victory in polls was path-breaking for a community whose women hesitated in even talking in front of men. I have tried to change that approach.” Despite constraints, she managed to get an aid of Rs 26 lakh from the government. It was utilised to repair a water reservoir, clean up the chappar (village pond), in paving the street paths and constructing hygienic toilets. 

“My next immediate objective is to have a sports club and a cyber cafe. I Google-search to know the rights of my community and the village. I share information with all villagers,” says Baljeet.

In collaboration with an NGO, she has managed to conduct drug de-addiction and counselling camps. “In my village, eight out of 10 children were school dropouts. I found that we had only one middle-level school. I want the school upgraded to the higher secondary level,” she says. 

— GS Paul in Khadoor Sahib

She passes people’s test

Jatinder Kaur

Sarpanch Bhagike village (Moga)

Age: 40

Qualification: BA Marital status: Married, with two children

Husband: Ranjit Singh, farmer-businessman 

As you enter Bhagike village in Nihalsinghwala sub-division of Moga, a stinking drain greets you. But don’t blame the villagers. Within the village, almost all roads are paved with solar street lights on both sides. Parks are being developed on common land, a reverse osmosis plant has been put up for clean drinking water, there are two schools and three anganwaris for children and eight community centres . There is a lot more, which makes a difference in the lives of 4,500 residents of this village. 

Jatinder Kaur is the woman sarpanch of this village. With a comfortable family background, she could have made her life even easier. She chose her village. When panchayat polls arrived, the then local woman MLA Rajwinder Kaur, from the same village, opposed Jatinder. “It was people’s determination to make things better which saw me emerge a winner,” says Jatinder.

“The first thing I did was to remove encroachments. This led to a neatly paved grain market, two parks, and a library,” she says.

The way forward has not been easy. A cheque of Rs 26 lakh given by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board through the panchayat department bounced obstructing development works. The amount is yet to be released four months after the cheque bounced. “We are yet to pay wages to masons and labourers. I have decided to get a few works done under the rural job guarantee scheme,” she says.

— Kulwinder Sandhu in Moga

Elsewhere in Haryana, Rajasthan

‘Youngest’ sarpanch wants her job back

Sushil Manav in Chandigarh

In January last year, Rekha (21), worked as a salesgirl at a food joint ‘Burger King’ at Elante Mall in Chandigarh. She contested and was elected sarpanch of Chaplamori village of Fatehabad the same year.

Eighteen months down the line, Rekha is disappointed: she had to quit her job. She also lost her financial independence about three months back. Yet she likes the new status of her new post. “I was elected because I was the only educated girl in the Dalit community living in my village. I had thought I would work as the village head as well as continue my job. The arrangement worked well for nearly year and half. Malicious rumours in the village and the resultant pressure from my family forced me to leave my job,” says Rekha.

“Some villagers told my father that my job of a salesgirl did not add to the prestige of the village and to the post of Sarpanch. Some other villagers told my father that I must have got married in Chandigarh. Then there was a whispering campaign that the functioning of panchayat was suffering because of my job, though I visited my village every weekend,” says Rekha.

She says she earned a monthly salary of around over Rs 11,000 — way below the government honorarium of Rs 3,000 to a sarpanch. “I received the honorarium for the first few months. Then it stopped. I have not received anything for eight months,” she says. Rekha would like to rejoin her job and hopes to handle the twin-jobs successfully.

About her achievements as a sarpanch, Rekha says she has been able to build two toilets and some roads in the village. She has also been able to persuade all the 250-odd villager households to construct toilets in their houses to make the village open defecation free. She does not know how much government funds are meant for her village for development works. “My father will be in a better position to tell,” she says.

Rajesh Koth, District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) in Fatehabad, rates Rekha’s performance as a sarpanch as less than average. “When we visit the village, her father mostly represents her,” Koth says.

Panchayat members Raj Pal and Ram Kumar and some villagers defend Rekha. “The village has not seen many development works, but one can’t blame Rekha. The fact is the government has not released much funds. The authorities have not been able to fix purchase rates of cement, so renovation and construction work has suffered,” says Raj Pal.

A villager, Santosh, says the people must give Rekha more time. “After all, a woman has got a unique opportunity to serve her village. We must guide Rekha how to lead the people in developing the village,” says Santosh.

MBA sarpanch brings hope
Yash Goyal in Jaipur

Soda, one out of 9,875 gram panchayats in Rajasthan, is now prosperous, fertile, and has better infrastructure and livelihood means for 7,000 rural folks. Soda is synonymous with Chhavi Rajawat, an MBA in Modern Management. 

Swaran Talab (pond) has become a lifeline, while basic necessities such as water, power, school education, health centre, cemented roads, drainage, bank, agriculture, and an upcoming IT sector have given Soda a new status of model village. 

Recalling his hardships, Govind Narayan Mali (75) of Khari-ki-Dhani, says before 2010, agriculture was solely dependent on seasonal rains, there was no road connectivity to main Malpura town and Tonk district. “Jab so  'Baeesa’’ (Chhavi) sarpanch chuni hai, Manha logo mein aas-aur-saans aagayee jeevan mein (Chhavi's supervision has given us an new hope).”

In her second consecutive term of sarpanch in 2010-2015, Chhavi says her crusade began from a charity of Rs.20 lakh. It was meant to dig up the vast pond spread over 100 acres to conserve water. People had to be involved because the water situation was critical. Ground water was contaminated due to excess fluoride and sodium and was unsafe for agriculture and human consumption. But with the storage of surface water from monsoon rains, the village life here is far better, she says. 

Chhavi says her vision is to connect the dots in villages. “The Centre’s Smart City concept would only be successful if we begin with smart village movement: an integrated approach with experts from all fields joining together. The present scheme of MPs adopting a village is not a holistic way for sustainable development of gram panchayats.”