This story is from September 2, 2016

Empowerment brings rural women out of their homes

Women from rural areas of Madurai who chose to remain indoors till now are getting ready to embrace public life, thanks to the increase in the percentage of reservation for women from 33 to 50.
Empowerment brings rural women out of their homes
(Representative Image)

Women from rural areas of Madurai who chose to remain indoors till now are getting ready to embrace public life, thanks to the increase in the percentage of reservation for women from 33 to 50. Many of them are planning to contest the coming local body elections.
Elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu are being held after October 1996. Women, members of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes have to be given seats and reservation in local bodies based on rotation as per Article 243 D of the Constitution.
The posts of village panchayat presidents, chairpersons of panchayat unions and district panchayats, which are reserved for SCs, STs and women, are rotated every 10 years. The reservation is usually based on the population ratio of women or dalits in a particular area. Till now, women have enjoyed one third reservation in the total number of seats; in the ensuing election for the local bodies in October 2016, it will go up to 50%.
As the 50% reservation will have an effect on the rotation system, with more general constituencies being given to women, spouses of sitting male local body representatives are gearing up to fill the seats if they are reserved for women. Many of them, though educated to the SSLC level, have the nuances of the government schemes at their fingertips, which they say is one of the important aspects of being a local body representative.
M Jayanthi of Kovilankulam is learning about being a local body representative by attending workshops, as she or her husband will be contesting the post of the president, based on the reservation this year.
Ponnarasi Vadivel, president of the Thoppur panchayat in Madurai, says she considers it a boon to hold the post. "It gives me a chance to serve the people directly," she said, adding that she is confident of becoming the president again. Though a DMK sympathiser, she says she never hesitated to bring the AIADMK government's welfare schemes to her village.

K Selvarani, ward member of Nagamalai Pudukottai panchayat too is getting ready to face the elections again. "I have studied untill Class nine. I was always a socially conscious person and decided to take the plunge during the last elections. I am enjoying my work," she says, adding that her husband never interferes in her work as the ward member.
After tasting failure, S Ochayee and her friend Lakshmi are preparing for the second attempt. They had contested the elections for the post of the panchayat president of Ayyanarkulam in Chellampatti, but lost. "Even the local MLA asked us to withdraw from the last elections because he supported another candidate. He offered us 3 lakh each. We lost by a few votes, but believe that we will win this time,'' Lakshmi said. "Our husbands are supporting us. However, our relatives are discouraging us as we had lost about 1 lakh during the last elections. We have to show them that we can win," she adds.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA