The Hindu : 'Women panchayat chiefs more keen on development'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 01, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

'Women panchayat chiefs more keen on development'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JUNe 30. There is an increasing tendency on the part of women and Dalit village panchayat presidents in the State to assert their position, despite numerous "insurmountable barriers" they have to face.

They invariably take up development issues and address them more than the others do.

In spite of their limited literacy skills, they have demonstrated that they can manage finances of the panchayats well.

These are among the findings of a study undertaken in the last six months on the working of 38 women and Dalit village panchayat presidents in 20 districts.

Talking to mediapersons here today, G. Palanithurai, Head of the Political Science and Development Administration department in the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI)-deemed university, said the study also revealed that while men panchayat presidents saw their position as ``political space,'' the women chiefs viewed it as ``development space.'' But, more significantly, the study dispelled the perception that the women and Dalit representatives could not deliver the goods as they had to struggle a lot to stabilise their position in the panchayat raj system.

"The study has also shown that a woman and a Dalit, even from a modest social background, can occupy an important space in public affairs and make a difference to their villages," Prof. Palanithurai said.

Gram sabhas, though conducted only four days a year, provided a platform for villagers to critically scrutinise the functioning of their representatives, including MPs and MLAs. "So far, the democratic culture was confined to people taking part in elections. But, now, they have started questioning their representatives and have no inhibition to do so."

If one area had to be cited wherein the village panchayat presidents succeeded, it was in ensuring "equitable water supply" to the villagers.

Even in the existing set-up, every panchayat carried out works worth Rs.13 lakhs annually, and the performance of many presidents was ``creditable.''

However, the capacity-building of panchayat presidents deserved more attention. The panchayats' chiefs required training. Besides, the State Government should furnish them information needed for administration of their panchayats, whenever it issued orders, he said.

As for training, the GRI had held programmes for about 3,000 panchayat presidents, and the Government proposed to cover the remaining 9,000 presidents.

The study recommended creation of more linkages between sectoral departments and panchayats, micro-level planning, special training for panchayat presidents in auditing and accounting, and establishment of an ombudsman for redress of grievances against panchayats.

A workshop on the status of the panchayat raj institutions would be organised by the GRI in Chennai on August 22.

The Rural Development Minister had agreed to inaugurate it and 120 panchayat presidents were expected to take part, Prof. Palanithurai said.

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