What exactly is your Panchayat Raj Training Programme?
The Maharashtra Government asked us to run training courses for elected members of Panchayat Raj institution. The government module of training these elected representatives for two days was found insufficient and so we developed five days model. Along with the two elected representatives, we include two women and one youth from the Gram Sabha. We are testing this model. Last year we trained 400 persons in 20 Gram Panchayats. Constitutional amendment in 1994, brought around the law to reserve 30 per cent seats for women in Gram Panchayat. But this was being used by the politician husbands making their wives just a front to win the election. And wherever women started asserting themselves, the Gram Panchayat male members brought around no-confidence motion like it happened in Lonara where the collector postponed it since no-confidence motion is not allowed within six months of the election of a Sarpanch. So for six months, the things run smooth and then they bombard the woman-Sarpanch.
