Click to play videoNew Delhi: Women from the most backward Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are taking over the gram sabhas, says the first state of the panchayat report, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will release on Wednesday.
The report, details of which are with CNN-IBN, says women of backward classes are edging out upper caste women.
In Haryana 47 out of every 100 elected representatives at the gram panchayat level are women from Scheduled Tribes. The situation is the same in Orissa. In Uttaranchal 56 per cent representatives from Scheduled Castes and 43 per cent from Scheduled Tribes are women.
In Karnataka the figure is an astounding 65 per cent women from the Scheduled Tribes at gram panchayats.
But the panchayati Raj Ministry is not entirely happy with this report.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur, Bihar Andhra Pradesh have not given the caste breakup in the panchayats.
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And in one of the villages in Madurai, the post of the panchayat President was auctioned by villagers despite her repeated requests. Villagers say they were forced to elect her because it was reserved for a Dalit woman.
"All this hasn’t happened. I will serve my term,” the President says.
The entire picture might not be captured by the woman’s statement or just by figures alone. There are issues like decentralisation of power, funds are huge deterrent and also the issue of women just being fronts.
But as long as women representatives keep coming forward, there will be no doubt that a silent revolution is gaining ground and women power is here to stay.
(With Inputs from Ruban in Madurai)
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