Rajkot: Nearly a decade after Gujarat introduced 50% reservation for women in gram panchayats, a familiar phrase still echoes through panchayat offices — “sarpanch pati”. In many villages, the elected woman sarpanch is often just a nominal head, while her husband or other male relative in fact runs the administration.To challenge this entrenched practice and promote true women’s leadership, the Junagadh district panchayat has launched an initiative to recognize women sarpanches who govern their villages independently.To encourage women to exercise real authority, the district panchayat has set aside funds in its 2026-27 budget to honour such women. Under the plan, one woman sarpanch from each of Junagadh’s nine talukas will be selected and awarded Rs 50,000 at a public function.This comes in response to the long-standing practice where families field women candidates to meet reservation requirements while the men continue to wield power behind the scenes.For transparency in the award, the district panchayat will constitute a selection committee with bureaucrats and social workers, with no politicians included.“We noticed that in several panchayats, women sarpanches exist only on paper. Their husbands or fathers-in-law take decisions and villagers follow their instructions. This defeats the purpose of panchayati raj,” said Junagadh district panchayat president Haresh Thummar.“The committee will identify women sarpanches who take independent decisions after being elected, actively implement govt schemes and ensure benefits reach even the remotest residents,” Thummar added.The selection process will include informal feedback from villagers and even family members to assess whether the woman leader is truly exercising authority in the panchayat or remains overshadowed by male relatives.Officials say the idea behind the initiative is simple — to celebrate women who have stepped out of the shadow of male relatives and are actively shaping the futures of their villages.
