For 26-year-old Sonali Shahpure, juggling household work with politics does not come naturally. She comes from a family of political non-starters. The political novice borrowed Rs 50,000 from the local bank to pool money into the village development fund set up by the 11 elected members of the Bubnal Gram Panchayat in Shirol Taluka, southern Maharashtra. All members who chipped in with their share had one thing in common — they were all women with no political background.
“In the morning, I take care of my family and children and step out later in the day to take care of the roads and drains in my village. Both are my priority now,” said Ms Shahpure.
The village has taken a lead in women’s political participation by becoming first in the State to adopt 100% political representation for women at the Gram Panchayat level. Elders of the village, who had decided six months ago to elect these women posts unopposed to the panchayat feel the group has brought in more transparency and accountability. The members have pool together Rs 5.5 lakh as development fund and are now petitioning the State government to sanction an additional special fund of Rs 25,00,000 lakh for all future developments.
“We were fed up of the caste politics and the destruction seasoned politicians caused at the cost of development. So we decided to give all posts including that of Sarpanch to women,”said Ulfatbai Afsar.
Bubnal’s example has inspired other villages in the neighbourhood.
