WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN VILLAGE POLITICS
By : Sabyasachi Amitav
Media Researcher

1.0 WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND PANCAYATI RAJ: A CONCEPTUALIZATION:

Empowerment is a multidimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power (that is the capacity to implement) in people for use in their own lives, their own communities and in their own society, by acting on issues that they describe as important. Above all, empowerment is a result of participation in decision-making .

Then, women’s empowerment refers to the process by which women acquire due recognition on par with men, to participate in the development process of the society through the political institutions as a partner with human dignity . So, why is empowerment through Panchayati Raj? According to the Document on Women’s Development (1985) women’s role in the political process has virtually remained unchanged since independence. Broad-based political participation of women has been severely limited due to various traditional factors such as caste, religion, feudal attitude and family status. As a result, women have been left on the periphery of political life. Observing this dark picture, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act came to provide them an opportunity to ventilate their grievances and to take active part in decision-making process in the local level.

With the passage of 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, India is at a crucial structure in the evaluation of Panchayati Raj institutions- the Indian brand of rural local-self government. It has envisioned people’s participation in the process of planning, decision-making, Implementation and delivery system. The Panchayat Acts of State governments have subsequently been amended to incorporate the stipulations of the central Acts thus the constitutional mandate has heralded uniform pattern throughout Indian states.

1.2. NEW CONSTITUTIONAL POLICIES IN ORISSA:

The pre independence period had witnessed the operation of various acts applicable to different districts of Orissa soon after independence; the first comprehensive law establishing rural government at the village level had been enacted in 1948. This was the Orissa Gram Panchayat Act 1948 that covered what were then still British Orissa and the ex tributary state merged with it. All previous acts were consolidated in the Orissa local self-govt. act 1950, which was enacted to govern the district boards in the entire sate.
In 1955, a powerful local self-govt institution started functioning in Orissa. It was called anchal sashan (Tehsil). An act passed in 1954 during the chief ministership of Nabkrushna Choudhury, the visionary Bhudan leader had made revenue tehsils, the units of local government above the panchayats. Each Anchal Sashan had an Anchal Sabha comprising both elected and co-opted members. The Grama Panchayat chose the elected members, municipalities and notified area council from amongst the person residing within their respective areas while co opted members included representatives from SCs and STs and women if a member belonging to any of these categories was not elected. The Orissa Anchal Sashan act 1955 was repealed after the introduction of the three-tier Panchayat Raj system on the line of Balwant Ray Meheta committee report.

After the reports of the Balwant Ray Mehta committee (1957) was approved by the national development councils, the state govt introduced a three tier Panchayat Raj system of rural local govt and Orissa Panchayat Raj Samiti and Zilla Parishad act 1959 was passed. Since then the Panchayat Samiti has been constituted at the block level and Zilla Parishad at the district level. While the Grama Panchayat and the Panchayat Samiti continued to function the Zilla Parishad continued for a short spell and was abolished in 1968. The gram panchayat had already been constituted at the village level since 1948. The districts (now numbering 30) are divided into bocks (a total of 314) to serve as a unit of development administration. A new act called Orissa Grama Panchayat Act 1964 was passed in 1965 consolidating all the laws relating to Grama panchayats in the State. This act was amended in 1992.

The 1964 act was further amended in 1994 and 1995 to meet the requirement of the 73rd amendment to the constitution. The act of 1964 as amended up to 1995 empower the State govt to establish and constitute the gram, the Grama Sasan (Village Govt), the Grama Sabha, the Palli Sabha (ward parliament), and the Grama Panchayats.

In 1992, the elections were held on political party symbols following the Janata Dal's decision but now these are held on non-party basis. A bold provision was made in 1990 for reserving as many as 30% of the seats for women in the Panchayats. In the terms of 73rd amendment not less than 1/3 seats are reserved for women. The reservation provision is also made applicable for the SCs, STs and backward classes women form the respective quotas of the three categories. These reserve seats for women are allotted by rotation to different wards of Grama Panchayat area. Following the 1992-gram Panchayat elections, there were 28,069 women members, 5,267 Grama Panchayats.

In each block there is a Panchayat Samiti, which consists of elected members, one form each Grama Panchayat area, and ex officio members. In1992, the Panchayat Samiti in the State had 1961 general members, 585 SCs, 876 Sts, 841 women. Now the members of women have increased. After the 1992 election, there were 248 general, 6 SCs 43 STs and 17 women chairpersons in the 314 Panchayat Samiti in Orissa. In case, the chairperson was not a woman then the office of the vice-chairman was reserved for a woman. This was an innovative provision and it provided the base for the growth of female leadership in the State before 73rd amendment came into force. Then, The Orissa Panchayat Samiti (constitutional standing committee) rules 1993.

Five members each on specified subjects and their recommendation are more or less mandatory. The chairperson of two communities out of the six shall be woman. The Zilla Parishad is the apex tier. Following the 73rd amendment, the act 1991 was amended in 1994. Elections to the Zilla Parishad under this act were held in 1997. Here 1/3 were reserved.

Source: Status of Panchayati Raj in the States and Union territories of India, 2000, Institute of Social Science, and New Delhi.

( Sabyasachi Amitav is a hyderabad based media researcher)