Neemkheda (Haryana),
Dec. 21: The feisty all-women Muslim panchayat in the interior of Mewat
(Haryana) is determined to make its presence felt. "There may be three
million women panchayat members across the country, but we want our
names to figure amongst those who count," said 47-year old Ashubi Khan,
who heads this all-women brigade.
When Ashubi says she wants her team to count, she means she wants her
nine panch members to make a national impact on the basis of the
projects they have executed. Their biggest achievement has been
connecting their village to the Ujina canal which flows from Delhi to
Rajasthan.
Mewat is a water scarce region with the village women being forced to
walk a kilometre to fetch drinking water for their homes. Agriculture
here remains largely rain-dependent with negligible irrigation
facilities. "Linking our village with the Ujina canal will help us grow
three crops a year," she claims with a sense of pride.
Getting the pipes in place does not mean that the water has started
flowing. For that, they will have to grapple with local bureaucrats in
the irrigation department who will have to sanction the opening of the
sluices for the water to flow.
The women realise crossing this barrier will entail making innumerable
visits to different government offices. They are used to it. Every
achievement in their two-year tenure, whether it be kick-starting a
high school, getting permission for an all-girls junior-level school,
or improving the primary health centre, has meant knocking at the doors
of the tehsildar, BDO, local health workers, et al, all of whom have
treated these illiterate women with disdain.
"Not being able to read and write placed us at a great disadvantage
because we had to depend on our husbands or on other villagers to
explain the nitty-gritty involved in all this paper work," said 70-year
old Mehmoona, the oldest panch member in this group.
"These delays forced us to tender our resignations last year. No one
would listen to us. The officer folk could not understand why a bunch
of illiterate Muslim women wanted to come forward and improve their
lot," said 60-year old Majiden.
Fortunately for them, Congress president Sonia Gandhi chanced to read
about their resignation and asked panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar
Aiyar to intervene. His intervention brought Ms Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh,
former secretary, panchayati raj, who persuaded them to take back their
resignations. It also brought a local Haryana minister scurrying to
their doorstep who assured them they would receive a regular supply of
water.
"For a few days we did receive a tanker of water four times a day. But
that soon stopped," explained Ashubi. A daily bus service to help
students studying at the nearby town of Pulwana was also started only
to be stopped 20 days later. "Sab ghoshna karne aate hain, kaam koi
nahin karta," is how they sum up these interventions.
It’s easy to understand why Ashubi is the leader of this group. She
belongs to the most affluent family in this largely Meo-dominated
village with a population of 3,000. The other panch members struggle to
earn their livelihoods as daily labourers. This has made them extremely
savvy when it comes to ensuring that panchayat funds are properly
spent. The state government has allocated to the panchayat Rs 12 lakhs
for building roads, Rs 1 lakh for building pucca drains, Rs 2 lakhs for
doing levelling work and Rs 15,000 as part of the Jawahar Yojana scheme.
"A lot of discussions preceded the utilisation of these funds. We
wanted to make sure every pasia was spent and not swindled away by the
contractors," said Mehmoona. It was because of their intervention that
the village is finally seeing a pucca road being built. They also hope
to have a drainage system in place by the end of 2008.
Their other success has been in getting the primary school to start an
all-girls wing. Fifty girls are studying there at present. The middle
school has been extended up to Class 12 and enrolment has shot up from
80 to 450 children.
A village education committee has been put in place. "Their job is to
oversee the performance of teachers and ensure they do not skip
classes, as is the norm in our villages," said Ashubi.
The women panchayat helps resolve family disputes. It is also trying to
put curb dowry, but without much success. "No Muslim girl can get
married today without her father giving a motorcycle to the groom," she
said.
Ashubi’s husband, Israel Khan, is actively involved in all these
projects. Her nephew, Suj-ud-din, the only graduate in the village
having studied in Jamia Millia in New Delhi, also helps these panch
members with their correspondence work.
Their proudest moment came earlier this year when they were visited by
the Norwegian minister for local government and regional development,
Magnhild Meltviet Kleppa. The panchayat spent Rs 1 lakh putting up a
shamiana and entertaining the minister.
"Our country’s reputation was at stake," said Israel Khan. "The panch
earns Rs 60,000 a year from renting out 25 acres of common village
land. We spent it all on khatirdaari."
The all-women panchayat rode to power because the earlier male
panchayats had done little to improve the lot of the villagers. Being
members of an agricultural community, they do not follow purdah.
http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:_2LZ_Pj9O_gJ:www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/
panchayat-of-muslim-women-shows-its-clout.aspx+rashme+sehgal+the+asian+age+panchayat+of+muslim+women
+shows+its&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=in
© Copyrights 2006 Asian Age.
