Women Leaders Thrive on Reputations For Honesty

By Ranjit Dev Raj

DEHRA DUN, Jan 31 (IPS) - Nathu Devi Begum has a quarrel with her husband, Maulvi Nazar Hussein. He insists that she use her clout as ''pradhan'' (elected village chairperson) to evict encroachers from their land.

''What is the use of being the pradhan of a gram panchayat (basic administrative unit) if you can't even take care of your own land,'' mumbles the Maulvi (religious teacher).

But Nathu Begum thinks otherwise. ''If I get the encroachers evicted using my influence people will say that I am misusing my position - there are legal means to get them out although they are slower.''

Nathu Begum attributes her remarkable success and popularity as elected pradhan of the Enfield Grant village in northern Uttar Pradesh state's Dehra Dun district to scrupulous honesty.

Nestling in the foothills of the high Himalayas, Dehra Dun's salubrious climate has, in recent times, begun to attract well- heeled settlers from New Delhi - India's bustling capital barely 200 kms to the south.

With land increasingly scarce in Dehra Dun town, which boasts fine schools and prestigious central government institutions such as the Indian Military Academy (IMA), land sharks have taken to scouring the surrounding lush farmlands for quick deals.

That means ''pradhans'' in Enfield Grant and the surrounding villages of Dehra Dun district have an additional responsibility to ensure that common lands are not alienated and that villagers do not fall for the wiles of land sharks.

''As a woman people see me as less likely to get involved in corrupt deals - and I intend to keep it that way,'' Nathu Begum, a 60-year-old grandmother, said.

Her popularity encouraged Nathu Begum to stand for the state assembly elections as an independent candidate. ''I lost but I did give the established political parties a good fight and I am confident that I will do better next time,'' she says.

Nathu Begum is one of 119 women who benefited from a 1993 constitutional amendment reserving a third of seats in local self- government for women and was hailed at the Beijing Women's Conference as a major piece of affirmative legislation.

Like Nathu Begum, other women pradhans in Dehra Dun swear by transparent functioning. ''People have become unused to honesty and transparency,'' says Pushpa Rana, ''pradhan'' of the neighbouring Attock Farm panchayat.

Rana prevailed on local police not to interfere in disputes among people from Attock Farm until they first approached the panchayat with the result that nobody complains of bribery, arbitrariness or high-handedness any longer.

A recent assessment of women panchayat leaders conducted by Prof Susheela Kaushik of the Delhi University's Women's Studies Centre reports that corruption at the local level has lessened considerably because of the presence of women pradhans.

Kaushik's study, which covered six Indian states including Uttar Pradesh, found that women pradhans were generally uncomfortable operating through illegal means while men were confident of accessing and using illegal channels of power.

''It is women rather than men pradhans who have been demanding better devolution of power to the panchayat level - and that is because the men are confident of accessing power through parallel channels,'' she said.

Kaushik said she has come across cases where officials have tried to negotiate with the male relatives of a woman pradhan for ''commissions'' an euphemism for bribes or a share of development funds.

In Dehra Dun, women pradhans have had the benefit of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded training programme run by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), a prominent non-government organisation (NGO).

Said Avdesh Kaushal, chief of RLEK, ''the training involved not only an understanding of basic law and grassroots democracy but also how to stand up to corrupt and bullying officials.''

At Enfield Grant, a village of 10,000 people, Nathu Begum points to the well-laid ribbons of hard, well-laid concrete roads and drains that criss-cross the village. ''All this is possible because none of the money was diverted,'' she said.

Although the funding of panchayats and payments for pradhans is a matter yet to be sorted out the the Uttar Pradesh government allows pradhans to approve schemes not exceeding 1,500 dollars on their own and without reference to the bureaucracy.

Currently, Nathu Begum is busy getting built Enfield Grant's first school and securing a regular government salary for Meena Sharma, the teacher.

''I myself am nearly illiterate and so I know the importance of getting children, particularly girls, to receive a good primary education,'' Nathu Begum said.

Of Dehra Dun's 119 women pradhans 34 are illiterate while another 40 never got beyond the eight grade. Some of them including Nathu Begum now make up for it through tuitions.

Yet their achievements have been notable. According to Kaushik, women pradhans in the hills of Uttar Pradesh have been able to bring attention to such things as hostels for unwed mothers and alcoholism among their menfolk.

Before she was elected as pradhan, three years ago, it was indeed a hard grind for Nathu Begum and she recalls times when she has had to work as a farm hand in the fields to feed her seven children.

What really helped her acquaint herself with the villagers and also supplement her income was the fact that she had an understanding of traditional healing from her father who was a ''hakim'' (traditional healer).

''I got to know every family in Enfield Grant and their problems intimately through healing and they encouraged me to become pradhan,'' she said.

When Nathu Begum first came to Enfield Grant as a young bride she could not dream of coming out of the ''purdah'' (veil worn by Muslim women) but hard times changed all that. ''You cannot work as a labourer or as a healer in purdah,'' she explained.

Liberated by sheer poverty, Nathu Begum began to take a deeper interest than is expected of Muslim women in the affairs of the village and the people who inhabit it.

Luckily, her husband never stood in her way. ''It is always a good thing to serve others - but I do wish they would pay her the honorarium due to her,'' Maulvi Hussein said. (END/IPS/rdr/an/00)