A message from a leader :

I am no one to describe their powers, scarifications, dedication towards work, the thoughts to change the world,
the contribution towards to do something.

The ladies they deserve equal opportunities to get respect, equal opportunities & equal power in this world.

Rural India Women do not have formulated strategic choices; take a decision to control the outcome of life.
However, they still have courage to the tradition way of living at villages, to do a small change to control outcomes.
The stories of these dedicated women reveal the potential of good grassroots leadership in making a difference in
a country plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Development experts too have widely recognized women’s
contribution to village leadership as critical to economic progress, healthy civil society, and good governance in
India.

Women on Top :

1. Chhavi Rajawat, Sarpanch

One of India’s youngest sarpanches, Chhavi Rajawat is a one-

woman army who seeks to drag her impoverished ancestral village in the desert state of Rajasthan into
the 21st Century. In 2010, the MBA graduate quit her corporate career with one of the country’s biggest
telecom firms to become the sarpanch of Soda and has been working ever since to bring clean water,
solar power, paved roads, toilets and a bank to the village.

2. Sushma Bhadu

In a state that is known to reject the girl child, Sushma Bhadu has
managed to make her village of Dhani Miyan Khan, a ‘model’
when it comes to women’s rights and the survival of daughters.
Elected in 2010 as the sarpanch of three villages, Salam Khera,
Chablamori and Dhani Miyan Khan, she fought the centuries-old
cultural tradition that dictates she be covered with a ghunghat in
public places.
 3. Meena Behen
Meena Behen, the first woman sarpanch from a village in Gujarat, in the district Vyara, heads an
all-women panchayat board. In a patriarchal
society, where women were never allowed
outside their houses, not even allowed to talk
in front of men, Meena dared to bring about
change and succeeded. Gaining confidence
and leadership skills while running a self-
help group  (helped by World Vision India),
Meena worked hard to empower the women
of her village while improving basic
infrastructure like roads, hospitals and
schools.

4. Vandana Bahadur Maida

Once a quiet homemaker, few in Vandana Bahadur

Maida’s sleepy village would have imagined that she
would one day be making plans to build bridges and
schools and solving some critical livelihood problems
of her people. Nonetheless, today, such activities are a
part of her daily life in Khankhandvi village of Madhya
Pradesh. Despite family opposition and prevalent
patriarchal norms, she not only stood for local elections
but ended up becoming the first female head of her
village panchayat. Her work also got her featured in the
UN women calendar of 2013.

5. Arati Devi

Former investment banker, Arati Devi chose to leave

her plush job to make a difference in her village
Dhunkapara in Odisha. One of India’s youngest
sarpanchs, Arati is considered one of the most active
ones too. Other than launching a campaign to revive
traditional folk art in her village, she also ensures that
the benefits of the various government schemes reaches
the people who need it the most. Arati’s wonderful
work was recognized internationally when she was
selected to be a part of International Visitors
Leadership Program by the US Consulate to speak on
the importance transparency and accountability in the government.
 6. Atram Padma Bai :

The elected Sarpanch of eight tribal villages in Telangana,

with more than 2,000 farmers, 37-year-old Padma Bai
was once a poor tribal Girijan farmer who only cultivated
cotton, oil seeds and pulses on her 3-acre land. In 2013,
she used a Rs. 30,000 loan from an NGO to launch a
hiring centre for farming tools such as pick-axes, sickle,
spades, hoes and wheelbarrows. Her idea was to lend
these tools to poor farmers in neighbouring villages who
could not afford them, at a marginal rate. Other than using
the income to build roads in the village, she has also
managed to get government funds for rainwater
harvesting and to install a water pump that will make clean water available in the village school.

7. Bhakti Sharma

Bhakti realised that she wanted to serve the society

and returned to her native village in India,
refusing jobs with hefty packages in the US. Having
decided to pursue full-time social work, in November
2014, she decided to take the electoral plunge and
w as elected the sarpanch of Barkhedi. By ensuring the
effective implementation of government schemes on
ground, the hard-working 27-year-old hopes to make
Barkhedi a model panchayat.

8. Radha Devi

In Bhadsiya village, 115 km from the district

headquarters of Nagaur in the heart of Rajasthan,
students of the Government Girls Higher Secondary
School used to skip classes and lug heavy buckets
of water from a hand pump outside the compound to
the kitchen, where their midday meal was
prepared.When sarpanch Radha Devi came to know
of this, she was furious. Not only did she pull up the
principal for getting the students to do work that
was outside their curriculum, she also motivated the
young girls to attend school regularly.
9. Hinal Patel
Hinal Patel is a nursing graduate,
Radha Patel is an engineer, Nisha
Patel works as a manager at a
motorbike showroom while Viralben
Sarvaiya is a pharma student. Busy
with their jobs and studies during the
week, the young women make it a
point to meet each other and eight
others every Sunday at Hinal’s home.
This is not your ordinary close-knit group that hangs out to swap gossip or talk about their latest
crush; they are the competent members of the all-women Gram Panchayat of Sisva village in
Gujarat’s Anand district

10. Nauroti Devi

A resident of Harmada village in

Ajmer district of Rajasthan, 74-year-
old Nauroti was born in an extremely
underprivileged family of the Dalit
community. She never had the
opportunity to attend school or gain
any formal education and worked at a
road construction site, cutting stones
for a living. As a wage labour, she led
the mobilisation of 700 labourers and
ensured payment of minimum wages.