Haryana village panchayat offers a lesson in women’s quota

“Fancy delegations comprising foreign dignitaries,sociologists,media people visited us initially. But we have just remained an exotic case study. This panchayat has completed its tenure and we are due for elections next month but most of our problems still remain because of the sheer apathy of the administration,” says the sarpanch,Asubi Khan.

The biggest problem,she says,is the lack of a hospital or even a health centre in the village,which has witnessed the deaths of 70 infants and six women (all maternity deaths) in the last five years.

But there is no doubt that change has come to this village,once known as a place where both water and brides were next to impossible to find. Due to an acute water crisis,people had refused to marry off their daughters here. During summers,the administration arranges for water tankers to tide over the scarcity.

For instance,there are a lot many children going to school now. “The number of children who attend school has seen a remarkable increase from just 70 students to 450 students in the last five years,” says Rampyari,a village elder who plans to contest the coming panchayat elections.

The panchayat can also count a grant of Rs 2 crore (for developmental work) and four hours of “non-stop” electricity among its achievements.

“Because of religion,things are more complicated. If we complain too much,we are quickly dubbed as difficult to please,as perennially peeved or,much worse,as traitors. But certain things defy our understanding. There were only three Haryana Roadways buses which used to connect this village. But in the last five years,these three buses were cancelled and now the nearest bus stop is about 10 kms away,” says another member of the panchayat.

“When elections take place next month,the village has decided that this time too the sarpanch will be a woman from a BPL Scheduled Caste family. This isn’t about politics because there are only four Scheduled Caste households in this village. This is about ensuring amity. Also,there is a misconception that ours is a matriarchal society. In most families,the head of the family is the man,” she adds.

The all-women panchayat has an interesting story behind it. “Five years ago,the sarpanch’s seat from this village was reserved for a woman. Besides the sarpanch,three other women were elected. Thereafter,the villagers unanimously decided that it would be better to have only women as panchayat members as they felt that the all-women team would perform better than a panchayat with mixed representation,” says M S Yadav,Additional Deputy Commissioner,Mewat.

Elaborating on this decision,Asubi says,“Five years ago,most of my panchayat members wouldn’t come out of the veil. When in the company of men,they would sit on the floor. So there was no way they could have participated in a mixed panchayat. Today,they talk freely. When we go to the Deputy Commissioner’s office,they tell him their grievances on their own. This is a change which we had hoped for when the village residents made the choice.”

The feudal structure in many Haryana villages has often thrown up instances where despite the election of a woman to a panchayat,her male relatives act on her behalf. But,Neemkhera residents deny this. “The only seat reserved for a woman was that of sarpanch. If we were subject to the decrees of our husbands,why would we have elected women as the other nine members? Also look at the work done. Five years ago,only 23 per cent of the families would send their kids to school. Today,more than 80 per cent of the families send their children to school. The village had no proper sanitation and drainage system. Today,we have pucca roads. We have a school for girls and most importantly,the rampant problem of alcoholism among village men has been contained to a large extent,” says Asini,another member.

So has “reserving” seats for women helped? “Yes,it has and in that way the Women’s Reservation Bill is commendable. But what we are saying is that the Bill in itself will not help. A woman leader has to be given resources and help. As a panchayat,we were successful in bringing some social changes,but when it comes to big problems they can’t be solved without the government’s assistance,” says Asubi.

“Our village still doesn’t have proper water supply,which means that most of us have to walk 10 kms daily to get water. After Class X,children have nowhere to go for further studies. It is here that the government has to pitch in. About two years back,we even wrote to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,but after a brief flutter in the administration,things have again slowed down. And then,we are always conscious of being blamed for having played the religion card,” says Asubi. Villagers say that no chief minister has visited them in the last two decades.

Nevertheless,at Neemkhera ,the monthly village meetings no longer debate the panchayat’s “non-performance”,but focus on the issues that need to be dealt with to contribute to the quality of life. That may be the biggest harbinger of the change that the all-women panchayat has managed to bring about.