“Young People Should Run The Panchayat Administration”: Story Of A Young Adivasi Woman Leader
For Laxmi Bhil (23), the Bhil Adivasi Sarpanch (President), Kabra Village Council, Bhilwara District, Rajasthan, contesting elections was both taxing and rewarding. A nursing student, Laxmi …
All-Women Panchayats In Uttarakhand Reimagine Post-Covid Futures
“This is just the beginning; there is much to do and fight for”, said Kavita Arya (31), Dalit Pradhan ( village council head) of Rauliyana Gram …
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Women Leaders Breathing Life Into Van Panchayats in Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand is home to the fierce ‘Chipko Movement.’ Led by the bold and spirited women in the 1960s, the movement was one of the many significant …
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Adivasi Women Claim Power In Local Elections
Badami Bai (32), had a problem on her hands, just a week before the Panchayat (India’s directly elected village councils) elections in India’s western state of …
When Violence Is the Cost Of Doing Politics
When Mamta (26), was elected to Jayadara Gram Panchayat ( lowest tier in India’s 3 tier local governance system) in Sirohi district of Rajasthan in 2015, …
Dalit And Adivasi Women Leaders Secure Community Rights
Surta Bairwa (33), the former Dalit Sarpanch of Srirampura Panchayat in Rajasthan’s Tonk district had enough of the centuries old dominance of the upper caste Gurjars. …
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Krishnaveni’s Story And The Era Of Women Panchayat Presidents
Thalaiyuthu panchayat, Tirunelveli district (Tamil Nadu): P Krishnaveni remembers the night of 13 June, 2011, clear as day. Barely 200 m from her home of 15 …
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The Triumph Of Sharmila Devi And Tamil Nadu’s Women Leaders
Thirumanvayal Panchayat, Sivagangai District (Tamil Nadu): Sharmila Devi (39), the youngest dalit sarpanch of Thirumanvayal panchayat in southern Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai district, has pulled off what none …
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Meagre Funds, No Salary: How Tamil Nadu’s Women Leaders Still Succeed
Nachangulam Panchayat, Sivagangai district (Tamil Nadu): What is it like to do a full-time job without a salary? Especially if you are a dalit or an adivasi …
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Why Muthukanni, A Dalit, Had To Build Her Own Panchayat Office
Madhavakurichi Panchayat, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu: It wasn’t personal ambition that drove K Muthukanni to stand for election as panchayat president from Madhavakurichi in Mannur block of …
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Tamil Nadu’s Women Leaders Live, Work In The Shadow Of Violence
Urapakkam (Kancheepuram district), Tamil Nadu: Even by normal standards of violence in Tamil Nadu’s panchayat politics, the events of March 29, 2001, were troubling. Menaka, 35, the …
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Why 277,160 Women Leaders Remain Invisible To Tamil Nadu’s Political Parties
Chennai: Salma (50), the deputy secretary of the women’s wing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is among the few women to have made the transition from …
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Why Ashubi Khan’s Pioneering Run Ends Today
Mewat (Haryana): Ashubi Khan, 51, is distraught. A decade of trailblazing work done by this tall, soft-spoken sarpanch (village chief) and her team of seven illiterate women–and three literate …
Illiterate, Married at 11, Mother At 12: Panchayat President Now Changes Fates
Padiganalam, Krishnagiri district (Tamil Nadu): Married against her wishes at 11 to her dead sister’s husband, Sidhamallamma Kanchappa gave birth to her first child at home when …
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In A Sylvan Valley, One Woman Reveals, Changes Lives Obscured By Beauty
Sittilinghi, Dharmapuri district (Tamil Nadu): Nestled in a sylvan valley in northwestern Tamil Nadu and surrounded by forests, the village council, or panchayat, of Sittilinghi struggled to …
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The Woman Who Brought Drinking Water, Toilets To A Lost Panchayat
Melamarungoor, Sivagangai district (Tamil Nadu): Mazharkodi Dhanasekar has a radiant smile and is keen to talk about her achievements, which, as it emerges, are considerable: Building 650 …
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