by N J Bahuguna, 10 Feb 2005
WHEN Pushpa Rana was elected gram pradhan (village council head) of the Attakfarm panchayat in the hill state of Uttaranchal in north India, she vowed to work for the betterment of her community. To keep herself well informed, she made frequent trips to the block office to find out about all the development schemes earmarked for her panchayat (village council).But whenever she visited the block office, neither the Block Development Officer (BDO) nor the other staff would offer her a chair (they remained seated themselves). Finally, one day, she gathered up her courage and asked the BDO: “Sir, should I get my own chair the next time I visit the block office?” The embarrassed BDO got the message and immediately offered her a seat.
There are probably hundreds of examples of gender prejudice that elected women (panchayat functionaries) confront in their day-to-day work. And in the little over four years that Uttaranchal has been in existence (the state was formed in 2000), elected women in villages have been challenging and dealing with such prejudice in various ways. Today, the state has 39 per cent representation of women in panchayats. Uttaranchal has a total of 7,227 gram panchayats.
There is Sunita Devi – pradhan of Bugaintalla village in Pauri district – who fixed “equal wages for equal work” for both women and men workers in her panchayat. Ms Natho Begum, from a poor Muslim family, fought against class and gender barriers to lead her panchayat on the road to development. Others like Pushpa Rana compromised their principles and bargained with corrupt officials to bring down their ‘commission’ or kickbacks out of development funds from 30 to 15 per cent. The bargain was struck with the aim of getting development schemes off the ground, and to gain the panchayat’s confidence.
Ms Meenakshi Bhandari, the pradhan of Kulyani village in Pauri district, says that a few years ago only three or four women pradhans could be seen attending block meetings, even though about 35 women members should have been present. This situation often made things difficult for her because Ms Bhandari had little support whenever she challenged the men. The attitude of the male block officers did not help either. On one occasion, she says, the BDO passed a snide remark after which all the men at the meeting laughed at her, making her feel uncomfortable and helpless.
News Source: http://www.navhindtimes.com
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