My Village Has a Pradhan Pati

 

 

 

 

I belong to a rural village in Uttar Pradesh but currently live in Delhi. For passport-related work, I had to go back to my village. After completing the documentation process, the next step was police verification. I got a call from the police station saying that I should have a residence certificate issued by the Gram Panchayat, along with my Aadhaar card.

The Pradhan of my village is a woman from SC category. I asked my mother if she would be available. Mom, being an ASHA worker, stays in contact with her. She replied, "Her husband might not be home right now." I asked, "But the Pradhan will write the address proof, right?" Mom said, "No, he will write it."

I didn’t take my mom very seriously and ran straight to the Pradhan’s house. When I reached there,  Pradhan was present, but her husband was not. She asked me what work I needed. I told her, and she said, "I don’t know what to write." I asked, "There must be some format for this, right?" She responded, "I don’t know."

I said, "Okay, I’ll check the format on the internet. Will that work?" She said, "No." I suggested, "Let your daughter guide you." She again refused. "He (her husband) will write it," she said. I pointed out, "But the signature will be yours, right?" She went silent.

Luckily, the Pradhan Pati arrived just then. He asked me what I needed, so I told him. He himself wrote the letter, stamped it, and signed it. I was shocked—he is not the Pradhan, yet he was the one issuing and signing the document.

From this incident, I recalled almost three to four Five-Year Plans during which she had been elected since my childhood. Her husband has been contesting elections every term using her name because he is a government employee and cannot run for office himself.

While the reservation of seats for women paved the way for greater political participation, in reality, it has not been entirely successful. Practices of Pradhan Pati and Sarpanch Pati are widespread and remain significant issues in local self-governance.

The menace of Pradhan Pati is widespread because there are about 2.63 lakh panchayats, and women make up 46.6% of the 32.29 lakh elected representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, and Rajasthan, power is usually controlled by male relatives instead of the elected women. Whereas in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, have 50% reservation for women, aiming to ensure their actual participation in governance.

while the reservation of seats for women and marginalized groups in Panchayati Raj Institutions was intended to enhance political participation and empowerment, the ground reality often reflects tokenism rather than genuine representation. Tokenism in panchayat elections is not limited to women alone. It also occurs in seats reserved for  general SC population or any category other than the general seat. Upper caste/ruling caste often selects a symbolic puppet to contest the election on their behalf. If their candidate wins, they indirectly control the power. 

Genuine empowerment requires not just electoral representation but also structural and social changes that enable elected women to exercise authority independently, without the shadow of male dominance.