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Shikari Hero Username: Shikari Post Number: 12334 Registered: 03-2010 Posted From: 183.82.85.108 Rating: N/A |
Chhavi Rajawat, an MBA graduate and one-woman whirlwind, is seeking to drag her impoverished ancestral village in the desert state of Rajasthan into the 21st century. Rajawat, who spent her family holidays in sun-scorched Soda, became its sarpanch, or elected village head, three years ago after villagers implored her to take charge with dozens turning up at her home in state capital Jaipur to persuade her. âThe villagers broke all caste, gender and religious barriers to elect me,â said Rajawat, a glamorous 33-year-old whose 10,000 constituents are mostly farmers and laborers largely untouched by Indiaâs economic boom. She ditched her corporate career with one of Indiaâs biggest telecom firms to become sarpanch and has been working ever since to bring better water, solar power, paved roads, toilets and a bank to her ancestral village. Soda is a byword for backwardness in this remote corner of Rajasthan where the houses are made of mud, electricity supplies are erratic, literacy levels are below 50 percent and the fear of drought is never far away. The villagers said there had been no progress since Rajawatâs brigadier grandfather, now in his 90s, had served as sarpanch two decades ago and they wanted someone else in the family to take on the role. âI didnât have a choice,â said a smiling Rajawat, who represented India at a recent UN poverty summit. Her story reveals the potential of good grassroots leadership in making a difference in a country plagued by corruption and inefficiency. It also shows the limitations. âIndia must go fasterâ Swarmed by villagers as she walks down the road, Rajawat greets them by name as they share family news and pepper her with questions about progress on various projects. âNobody has been able to do what she has doneâno other sarpanch has done as much,â said 30-year-old farmer Jai Singh. Rajawat was visiting a computer center in a no-frills stone structure that she set up with the help of a corporate sponsor. The spartan interior doesnât bother the youngsters who tap away eagerly on keyboards on long trestle tables. âItâs a huge opportunity for them to get some skillsâthere was nothing before,â said teacher Mohammed Sadeek, 25. But Rajawat, who now divides her time between Soda and Jaipur, chafes impatiently at the sluggish pace of change. âIndia canât keep advancing at the same slow rateâit must go faster. Otherwise we wonât be able to give people the schools, the electricity, the water and the jobs they need,â she said. She was also checking on the progress of a scheme equipping primitive homes with toilets, which have made a big difference to locals who earlier had to relieve themselves outsideâand the women only after darkness set in. Bureaucratic inertia There are many women sarpanchs in India because a number of these posts are reserved for them. But what sets Rajawat apartâaside from her iPhone, big-rimmed sunglasses, blue jeans and youthâis her education. She holds a masterâs degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Modern Management in Pune, rated one of the nationâs top 10 business schools, which she says helps her draft funding plans and proposals. âSheâs unique. We need her kind of people, they are a breath of fresh air, they have vision,â said government district collector Muktanand Agarwal. Among the achievements is her arrangement for medical checks of villagers by doctors from the state capital Jaipur, a bone-jolting two-hour drive away. She also organized the opening of the first bank in Sodaâa branch of the state-run State Bank of Indiaâa significant success as 90 percent of Indiaâs 600,000 villages have no banks. But all that change doesnât come without raising some local hackles. When she constructed a drinking water reservoir that has created a shimmering blue lake in the middle of the village, she got her first taste of the bureaucratic hurdles that have repeatedly thwarted her. âI was told we could not use government machinery to clean up reservoirs. Finally, they (the government) told me to do it on my own,â she said. And thatâs what she didâraising money from friends, family and companies to fund many of her projects. Baskar Petshali, secretary of a local welfare charitable trust, says her problems stem from the fact âsheâs a clean politicianâ who refuses to give bribes to get jobs done. A senior state government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called Rajawatâs initiatives âpraiseworthyâ but added she âwants to do things very quicklyâshe treads on toes and upsets vested interests.â Rajawat is hopeful better leadership will come with the Indian governmentâs new drive to make lists of services and funds available on the Internet. âIf everything is online, people will start demanding accountability from their politicians,â she said. She has not decided whether she will continue in development work once her five-year terms ends, but she is hoping her example will inspire other educated young people to take time out to serve their communities. âYour roots are your foundation. You have to start at the bottom to make a differenceâand there is so much left to do.ââPenny MacRae photos: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/people/chhavi -rajawat-one-woman-whirlwind/slideshow/19577611.cms  |