A tale of toil and triumph
Mamta Devi, a gram pradhan from Uttarakhand, files a complaint against her husband for misusing her powers
In a male-dominated society like ours, being a woman pradhan of a gram panchayat has never been easy. Raised to bow to their husband's wishes, these village women — willing or not — often end up relinquishing their powers and responsibilities to their husbands after winning elections. Such examples are many, leading to the coinage of the now familiar term, ‘Pati Pradhan'.
However, there have always been exceptions to the norm in every sphere, and here too is one — 24-year-old Mamta Devi, a mother of four children, “Class V pass”.
Mamta, pradhan of Singhor gram panchayat in Uttarakhand's Dehra Dun district, has recently lodged a complaint in Kalsi block police station against her husband, Mahavir Singh, for procuring a duplicate stamp of the pradhan. In her report, she says despite her objection, he misuses the stamp and also forges her signature to embezzle public funds in her name. In a letter to the district magistrate, Mamta has written about her husband misusing her position to even collect money from the villagers.
“I have now told everyone that I will return their money. I will work hard for that. I have already borrowed money from relatives to give back to some of them. In all, he took from people about two-three lakhs,” says Mamta over the telephone from her village. Since she has lodged the police complaint, she says, “He has not returned home.” With the eldest of her children only four years old, and her husband being “always a drunkard and a compulsive gambler”, Mamta says, “I have been looking after the house, working in the fields besides being the pradhan. Whatever you become, a woman is expected to do her household duties, always.”
Mamta says she found out about his illegal activities only when she started visiting the block office. “Initially, all panchayat work was done by him because he said I don't know how to do office work.”
Reserved for scheduled tribe candidates, the Singhor pradhan's seat saw a formidable battle in the last elections. Mamta won it by just seven votes against another woman candidate. “The villagers, like always, are with me,” she says. With water being scarce in the hills, Mamta has recently spent Rs.50,000 from her funds to invest in a water generating project in her village. “Yet another job I need to do is to open a school in the village. There is a school building here but its walls are crumbling, also because we got a lot more rain this year. So children, including my eldest one, have to walk six kms every day to Narkhap to attend school,” she says.
Mamta's story has the potential to inspire other women pradhans to assert their rights, and the Dehra Dun-based Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) has written a letter to Sudha Pillai, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, to take note of it. RLEK has been at the forefront of the movement in Uttarakhand to promote the rights of elected women representatives.
RLEK head Avdesh Kaushal takes the opportunity to give an example of a woman pradhan who had to face arrest since her husband embezzled funds in her name. “Pradhan Sitara Bano was jailed last year due to her husband's interfering and illegal activities. She is currently on bail. Our women do not often raise a voice against the existing male dominated society, and that is why Mamta deserves praise,” says the Padma Shri recipient. RLEK recently invited Mamta to Dehra Dun “to felicitate her for her exemplary courage.”
(Source :http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/article825204.ece)
