Uncovering the head

Last August, a panchayat meeting was called without informing her and a no-confidence motion passed against her. Mohan Singh now became the sarpanch. According to Chhaggibai, he had taken the ward members on a trip outside, bought their support, and brought them back onthe scheduled date for the no-confidence motion. But she won back her right to be sarpanch. Her case is all the more remarkable because although she is a tribal, she had won from a general seat through her work as a social activist.

Then there is Kiran Meghwal, an SC woman sarpanch of Sekhasar in Jodhpur. She too has fought many a battle. Faced with upper caste prejudices and the reluctance of feudal Rajputs to give up their stranglehold on the local community, she fought every step of the way. The Rajputs had wanted the gram sabha bhavan and other facilities meant for the people to be located in their area, although most of the people lived elsewhere. For a while, she took things lying down. Then one day things changed. As she put it, 8220;Maine palla hata liya I uncovered my head.8221;

This generated more anger. The Rajputs even beat up her husband and threw him into a tank and he would have died if the local villagers hadn8217;t rescued him. Fortunately, the village community backed her. A no-confidencemotion brought against her was also defeated.

Today, brimming with confidence, Kiran intends to contest for the post of sarpanch once again, even though the seat becomes de-reserved the next time round. What8217;s more, she also intends to contest for the Assembly elections, when they come. Says she: 8220;I now understand their nexus, how they operate and what all they do to monopolise everything. I can fight them better than any new and inexperienced person.8221;

The stories of Chhaggibai and Kiran are only two in a sea of similar stories that were related at a public hearing in Ajmer last Monday on the experiences of women sarpanchs in Rajasthan. The women, many with toddlers in their arms, spoke out uninhibitedly. It was not about family matters that they were speaking, not about hearth and home, but practical grass-root politics.

Nearly a hundred women sarpanchs participated in this event which was meant as a review of their five-year terms which were nearing completion. To hear them were Sayeeda Hamid,member of National Commission for Women NCW, Justice retired Dinkar Lal Mehta, prominent social activist Aruna Roy and Justice retired Navrang Lal Tibrewal and others.

On an all-India basis, there are about 30 lakh elected representatives who act as a link between the government and the people through over 500 district panchayats, 5,100 block panchayats and 2.25 lakh village panchayats. One third of these are headed by women panchayats. This was a revolution of sorts, especially in Rajasthan where gender and caste discrimination have had a stranglehold over society and politics for ages.

Of course, how effective a sarpanch is depends on numerous factors, the ward members and the panchayat samiti. Going by the general experience of the first five years, women sarpanchs have often been cramped by vested interests who are loathe to relinquish their traditional hold on the power of resource allocation.

But, as we say in the case of Chhaggibai and Kiran, women sarpanchs have fought back too. Women whohad been taught always to submit, scheduled castes who have always been trampled upon are now beginning to claim their share in power, their rights, their dignity and their place in society.

The experience in the past five years has been a mixture of struggles, achievements and government apathy. These women had little experience in running such bodies. Added to this was the uncooperative and manipulative staff and officialdom which had little regard or sympathy for them. For instance, the gram sevak or secretary would keep all records, bank papers and funds and come to the panchayat once in a while. The patwari would not allow the woman sarpanch access to the revenue records. The men ward members connived continuously to put hurdles in their work.

Many women were duped or pressured into signing papers and then had to face charges of corruption. In other instance, husbands were allowed to take over for all practical purposes. This led, in turn, to a rash of no-confidence motions being passed against manywomen sarpanchs. But daunting as these factors are, the participation of women in panchayat bodies set in motion a process of change.

By the evening last Monday, the sharing of problems and frustrations created a great deal of agitation among the women. The collector, J.C. Mohanty, at whose office gate the hearing was held, came out to listen to them. He announced his decision to constitute a committee to look into the cases of the removal of women sarpanchs by fraudulent no-confidence motions and another committee to look into cases of fake corruption charges. Women sarpanchs would be represented on both the committees.