approve their decisions made by the male dominated Panchayat. Many elected women complained that their suggestions were not considered seriously nor CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION Bihar is the third most populous state of India. It was a part of the Bengal Presidency during the colonial period until 1912. It was then united with Orissa to form a single province. Later, by the Govt. of India Act, 1935 Bihar became a separate unit and an independent State. At independence in 1947, the province of Bihar, with the same geographical boundary, became the State of Bihar, a part of the Republic of India. The present status of the State has been shown in the table 1 below: (Source: Bhatt and Bhargava, 2005, and http://gov.bih.nic.in/Profile/default.htm) Source: Census 2001 Table 3: Sex Ratio Source: Census 2001 Scenario of SC Population in Bihar according to 2001 Census Table 6: Number of elected representatives at each level Source: State Election Commission, Bihar Table: 8 Sample of PRI members covered Gaya District is situated in the Southern part of Bihar. It has an average elevation of 111 metres (364 ft). The Dist has 24 blocks & 35 Police Stations & 4 Subdivisions. The total land area of the district is 4937.75 sq/km, which is about 5% of the total area of Bihar. As of 2001 India census, Gaya had a population of 3,473,428. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Gaya has an average literacy rate of 51.07%, lesser than the national average of 59.5%; male literacy is 63.81%, and female literacy is 37.40%. The state of Bihar is perhaps one of India’s richest archives of history. Since ancient days, it has been a cradle of prosperity for various civilizations. For what the world aspires to achieve in a distant future, Bihar has only to look into its past. Patna, one of the thirty five districts of the present state of Bihar, shares the same sketch. Patna is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. The modern city of Patna lies on the southern bank of the Ganges. The city also straddles the rivers Kosi, Sone and Gandak. The population is 1.8 million people. Patna is approximately 25 km long and 9 km to 10 km wide. Apart from being the administrative centre of the state and its historic importance, the city is also a major educational and medical centre. The walled old area, called Patna City by the locals, is a major trading centre. Figures as per the 2001 Census Table 15: Posts held by PRIs covered in the study Table 14: Total number of PRIs coverec While studying the socio-economic background of the respondents, age, education, occupation, marital status, and residence before and after marriage are taken as important factors. The respondents interviewed for the study comprise the scheduled caste community from SC headed and the Non SC headed Panchayat to make a comparative analysis. SC and Non SC elected women members of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samitis, and Wards from 2 districts of Bihar. They are drawn from the posts of Mukhias, Gram Panchayat members, Pramukhs, Sarpanch, Ward members and Panchayat Samiti members. Altogether 1000 persons have been interviewed. Their distribution by posts and sex is given in chart below. It is seen from the chart that a total of 500 respondents each were interviewed in Gaya and Patna respectively. It included 315 respondents each from SC community and 135 from Non SC community in Gaya and Patna. A total number 7 SC and 3 Non SC Panchayats were covered in Gaya and Patna. Table 17: Educational Qualification of the respondents Higher educational level of citizen is an important prerequisite for greater role in political process’. Education enables one to act rationally. Some previous study shows that higher education leads to greater commitment. In the opinion of Jorgan, education is not to be regarded as an important factor for political participation. Duverger is convinced that education is the most decisive factor for women’s political participation. For the purpose of our study, women leaders in the sample are divided into nine categories. Member with elementary (5" class or below), secondary (Sth ~10" class), intermediate and higher education category, literate and illiterate. From the above data it is clear that literate women have a greater representation followed by the illiterates. There was only 1 SC Graduate PRI in Gaya. So according to this the literates should have greater role ig} Cc Age is a very important factor, which has greater influence on affecting political participation. There is a general view that young and middle aged participates actively in institutions. In the opinion of Nie, Verba and Kim, Age has a greater impact on political participation. According to them, participation arises in early year’s picks in middle ages and falls in latter ages. Another author like Narayan Pillai has also the same view. So, middle age groups 31-40 years have a greater participation among women in the Panchayat. Women at this stage are free from household responsibilities. Old women (50+) have a lesser representation in our samples. It proves that these aged women have less interest in this activity. Thus more and more young people can be drawn into electoral process and political awareness and aspiration are likely to increase. The presence of young women in considerable number points some indication of social change in rural society. While a few decade earlier younger women were shut out from public exposure, it is now quite possible for them to come to centre-stage of public activities. Table 19: Specific categories in SC Caste and politics influence each other. The electoral process, administration and politics are greatly affected by caste. Caste has its hold in the Indian politics. According to M.N. Srinivas, voting preferences are made on caste line. From the above data it is found that women from the reserved category are participating in greater number which may change the equation in Panchayat electoral politics. Reservation of seats and posts for them has been the main reason for the prominence of SCs. But, how many SCs women have been elected from the unreserved seats can only establish the phenomenal presence of reserved women. Source: Field Survey The scheduled castes in Bihar are generally landless. Those who possess land are mainly Bataidars (sharecroppers) and marginal / small farmers. The same is the case with female respondents also. 40% SC PRIs in Patna and 63% in Gaya have less than 1 acre of land. It was surprising to find that in Gaya larger number of SC PRIs possess 1-5 acre of land in comparison to PRIs in Patna. About 43% of them in Patna are landless and most of those having land possess uneconomic holdings. This is also well reflected from their main occupation. Source: Field Survey From the above data, it shows that average of the most of the women leaders’ family is ver miserable, 1.e., between Rs. 10,000 — Rs. 20,000 annually. Others are in the category of less th 10, 000 annually. Therefore, it has a greater impact on the women leaders in engaging in political y, activity of that Panchayat. a Table 20: Marital Status Source: Field Survey Table 24: Occupation Pattern of Women Leader Jccupation is an important aspect of participation. Above data shows that though they are members of Panchayat 50% have to go for daily wages. Others are engaged in domestic work. It states these leaders ave to be influenced by their relatives and community in every aspect which have an indirect mplication towards political participation in that locality. This also indicates that women leaders joined olitics after their marriage in the context of our study. Source: Field Survey Table 26: Political Background of the Respondent Political Background Source: Field Survey It is found that some people (3.57%) discouraged the respondents from contesting the elections. They even put pressure on candidates to withdraw from the election. A handful of persons even campaigned against them. Wrong propaganda by opponents, lack of funds were another difficulties cited by the women. A large number (35.48%) of the respondents reported problems in filling up nomination paper, booth capturing & lack of security. Almost 100 percent SC and Non SC PRIs in Gaya said that Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar yojana was not being implemented in their district. As far as the community is concerned very few of them in Patna and Gaya said that the scheme was being implemented. 53.33% Non SC PRIs in Patna and 100% SC and Non SC PRIs in Gaya were of the opinion that Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar yojana was not being implemented. 60% SC and 74.81% Non SC community in Gaya said that the scheme was not being implemented in their area. A whopping 54.29% SC PRIs and 87.3% Non SC PRIs in Patna were unaware of any such scheme being implemented in their district. Even a large number of community members from both SC and Non SC category were unaware of such a scheme. Table 31: Support of local M. Ps. and M.L.As to the PRIs for the implementation of schemes There was no question to take the help of their area MP or MLA as they had no idea as to what was their role and responsibility regarding the development peogrammes. The scenario was slightly positive in Gaya. If by any chance a Panchayat representative took her role seriously and tried to implement a few schemes, it is clear that M.Ps. and M.L.As do not take the Panchayat representatives into confidence about disbursing the funds allotted to them for the development of their area. About 20% and 28.57% of the EWR in Patna from Non SC and SC category respectively sought help of local M.P/ M.L.A. for getting some development works. They approached them mainly for construction of road, Panchayat bhavan, ponds and installation of hand pumps. But the picture of EWRs in Gaya was even poorer in comparison to their counterparts in Patna Table 32: Benefits to specific groups from development work Source: Field Survey Source: Field Survey As far as the involvement and support of elected members to their community was concerned the picture is not very positive. 38.67% of them rarely attended the Gram Sabha. 32.14% rarely attend the village level meetings. 31.9% had no response when they were asked if they supervised the development work being implemented in their Panchayat. 33.33% rarely found any improvement in Standing Committee after the Panchayat election 2006 and 34.53% were hardly able to give any answer. 39.76% rarely worked for the promotion of the Issues of health, adult education and education are rarely addressed. The respondents are divided over the question of participation of scheduled caste women in the Gram Sabha meetings. Majority of the female members, say that scheduled caste women do not participate in the Gram Sabha just because of the lack of regard from the people at large. Lack of awareness and illiteracy is also stated to be other reasons for their non-participation. They are rarely able to encourage them to participate in Panchayat activities. Some scheduled caste women attempt to understand the schemes in the Panchayat but women’s participation is rarely encouraged in planning and implementation of development schemes. 35.72% rarely keep a watch on income and expenditure as they have no knowledge of it. 41.42% did not respond to the question as they had no idea of income and expenditure. 39.05% rarely attended meeting as they had no information about it. Table 34: Support provided to women of SC community Source: Field Survey Take a look at table above. PRIs from SC and Non SC category said that when their people bring their grievances & complaints to them 78.10% of them either generally take up the matter with relevant officials or refer it to Panchayat officials like sarpanch and Mukhiyas. 73.57% generally resort to some kind of direct action like dharna, morcha or demonstration and 36.67% generally handle it personally. The EWR, as evident from the table, took up some steps for improving the status of scheduled caste women representatives. 55.95% SC and Non SC PRIs in both districts said that no support was provided to encourage SC Women and 56.67% said that there no programme strategies explicitly targeting women. 48.81% said that no loans were available for poor women. Only 8.33% said that there are concrete incentives for implementation of empowerment strategies. 50.48% said that economic participation does not increase women’s ownership of assets. 50.95% said that men may control decisions about use of women’s income, savings and credit. 54.29% were of the view that women don’t take decisions about use of savings and credit in the household. Last but not the least, 54.29% said that women's expenditure and household management decisions may continue to favors boys while girls are withdrawn from school in order to do unpaid household work in their mother's absence. Table 35: Improvement in status of women members When the FI’s enquired about beneficiary Panchayat relations and Panchayat follow u help except Mukhiya all other women leaders have nothing to say. But Mukhiya told the she some time’s tour to place to investigate the work and Panchayat assists in this regar very well. One final question to them is that have they seen any changes after gettin power in particular to a scheme implementation in their village Panchayat. Answer fror them were very much natural as all told that definitely there increases some awareness an: confidence among women leaders inwards and works are also some transparent as the demand it. Tahle 35° Improvement in status of women members 37.61% EWRs from both class reported improvement in their status after being elected as members. They were respected by all sections of the population, but as far as their full participation is concerned only 10.24% members replied in positive. Only 3.57% of them were invited to religious functions. They at times negotiated disputes between parties. 46.67% Non SC PRIs in Patna reported improvement in their economic condition as they had started some economic activities after taking loan from bank. It is thus seen that the people, especially women who have long been marginalised, are now being accepted as agents of social change after winning the election as Panchayat members. Although it is a long way to go but the process has started. 51.43% of the members said that they faced problems in discharging their duties as they were illiterate and unaware of different schemes. A large number (26.43%) of them said that no training was being provided to them. Many EWR did not receive necessary co-operation of the functionaries in the Gram Panchayat and at the Block level. 15.95% said that no support was provided by the block officials and sometimes also by their community members. Table 36: Problems faced by the EWR in role performance — Source: Fie Category of Opinion leaders Since the majority of them had been approached by Dalit Panchayat members occasionally for advice regarding various matters, their opinion is based on personal experience. About 80% of the opinion leaders think that the scheduled caste Panchayat members and non SC members are unaware of the problems of the village as well as of their responsibilities. The Gram Panchayat which is expected to keep watch on the working of the organisations like Health sub centres, Anganwadi and Primary schools have failed to do anything constructive. The scheduled caste Panchayat members, whose own community people could get more benefit from these units, have not been able to improve their functioning. One of the reasons for malfunctioning of these organisations is lack of coordination between government department and the Gram Panchayat. It is that the government staffs do not want the devolution of power to the Panchayat, especially women leaders and interference of the Panchayat members. Table 38: Did EWRs faced violence while contesting election 5S In view of the responses of the EWR from both categories on different issues, it can be said that there is slight improvement in the condition of the scheduled caste women. They have also started realising their position and importance in the community and in the society at large. They also intend to participate in the political process and do good to their Table 39: Problems faced after being elected as the Panchayat Representative Pressure of dominant persons and vested interest has been the greatest stumbling block for any development work. It gets further complicated by the involvement of powerful persons which are so prominent in some of the areas in the districts from which the sample has been drawn. Table 40: Reasons for poor participation in politics by scheduled caste members The study enables us to assess the impact of the reservation policy on participation levels in different Panchayat. Among the reservation variables, gender and membership in a scheduled caste achieved no significance. This implies that levels of political activity among the Non SC population is not likely to be significantly higher or lower in Panchayat where the position is reserved for women or for SCs. This finding reveals that individuals belonging to SCs and Non SCs participate considerably less than those belonging to other caste groups. Table 42: Orientation training of Panchayat members It is evident from the table that as many as 100 percent PRI members in SC and Non SC category in Gaya and 68.57% and 86.67% from SC and Non SC category respectively in Patna said that no training was imparted to them. Since they were not given any training they never felt confident in discharging their roles and responsibility. No training was given by the Voluntary organisations in either of the 2 districts. 11.19% of the respondents from Patna had one day’s orientation training provided by government officials. In one day they could have only nodding acquaintance with their role in the programme and the tasks involved. The rest of them did not have any training. It can therefore be said that for better discharge of their responsibility as Panchayat members as well as for more meaningful participation in the local self-governance, all the elected members are required to have adequate training. Source: Field Survey Major achievements according to the EWRs- Table 43: Success & Failures Table 45: Future Planning Source: Field Survey Source: Field Survey . 9 arpanch Bachchia Devi, wife of RamdayakBaswasn got married at the tender age of 15. Virmala belongs to Schedule caste. She is illiterate, landless and daily wage earner. She The study concludes by noting that quotas in local bodies alone are insufficient for ensuring women's political visibility. Therefore, more fundamental changes are needed for creating a more women-friendly political environment. This is particularly important for the organizations of cadre-based and supposedly progressive political parties, who, in the name of party discipline, tend to adopt means of patriarchal domination to control women Panchayat members. Thus our finding suggests that it will be very useful to track the impact of reservations on inclusion in the future. CHARTS FROM THE FIELD SURVEY 4.1. Political Background of the Respondent 4.2 Pre- election 4.3 Types of pre-election activities (Tick as many applicable) 7.2 Assessment of your Gram Panchayat 7.3 Is support provided by you to encourage the Schedule caste women for improving their living standard & their participation in Decision Making? 7.5. Assessment about themselves as a Panchayat leade1 7.4, There is occasions when people take their grievances & complaints to leaders like you (PRIs). In suck situation which of the following do you generally do & which you do not do generally? 8. Other sources of support to the Panchayat Members 4.2 Considering all development Schemes during the last few years, which of the following development schemes have been implemented in your area (Panchayat)? 3. Benefits of being a member of the SC community 4. Information about development programmes 3.2 If yes, then can she/he mention some of the benefits received through SC PRIs Member in their Panchayat? 4. 8. Agency for Programmes 4.7.2.2 In Case of worse than others, answer why has it performed badly 4. 10 mention some problems faced by the SC Population of your Panchayat in getting the benefit of schemes? 4.9 Considering all development work during the last few years, which of the following groups hav benefited more from development work than others? 6.1. In your opinion, how frequently PRIs members get involved in it. 6.2 Assessment of the Gram Panchayat 6.3 Do the PRI members support and encourage the Schedule caste women for improving their living standard & their participation in Decision making 6.4 There are occasions when people take their grievances & complaints to PRIs members; in such a situation did your community receive any support from them? 6.4 Community’s opinion regarding PRIs leaders
