73rd & 74th amendments.doc

8/14/2019 73rd & 74th amendments.doc

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dowr% harassment# The ender and /ecentrali)ation pro.ect to which I

was assigned was conceived of to engender the planning process in

panchayat governments in two wa%s' mainstreaming gender planning

in local governance and enhancing the capailities of elected women

representatives in local self-governing institutions# *pecificall%, our

team wor!ed with twopanchayat governments in the villages of

lavanna and 0ila%ur to assess the status of women in thepanchayats

and to help create institutional mechanisms to improve the conditions

and opportunities for women in these areas#

% portion of the pro.ect was to draft what was initiall%

conceived of as a 2ill of ights for omen in eachpanchayat. The idea

was to create a document along the lines of C5/A which could e

administered at the local level to improve the status of women in local

self-governing institutions# As the pro.ect developed, however, it

ecame clear that the outcome would e mainl% polic%-oriented#

Constrained as we were % the .urisdiction of thepanchayats,6which

derives entirel% from the *tate government the document deals

mainl% with health, education and economic and political rights# e

decided to recast it as a ender 8lanning and /evelopment 8olic% that

could e adopted % thepanchayat governments and used as a

guideline in developing social polic% and implementing the

constitutionall% mandated omen"s Component 8lan 6C8#

ne of the !e% prolems with the implementation of the C8 is a

lac! of clear guidelines as to what constitutes gender planning# In the

mid-9s, local governments in $erala routinel% diverted C8 funds to

local infrastructure pro.ects : roads uilt with C8 funding would e

.ustified on the grounds that ;women use roads#" A government order

was passed in 1997 to prevent this practice, utpanchayats continue

to grapple with the


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engender social sector programming in general# In m% first two wee!s

in India I traveled to variouspanchayatsin $erala along with m%

pro.ect supervisor to tal! with local officials and oserve the gender

planning and development initiatives happening on the ground# I also

spent a significant amount of time in the ver% well e


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Conversel%, in the lavannapanchayatgovernment officials

were initiall% ver% enthusiastic and cooperative, and did a great deal to

facilitate our stud%# >nfortunatel%, towards the end of the pro.ect we

got ogged down in some rather complicated local politics# As a result

the elected memers ecame rather uncooperative and refused to

ac!nowledge the validit% of some of our findings, claiming, for

e&ample, that dowr% was not a prolem in thepanchayatand that we

were delieratel% misconstruing the simple social practice of giving

gifts at weddings# At the time I left India, discussions with the

panchayatover the *tatus of omen eport and the ender 8olic%

were ongoing, and it is still unclear to us whether and to what e&tent

the% will e willing to adopt it or wor! with *a!hi in the future#

% e&perience this summer was oth rewarding and frustrating,

which I imagine is something that can e said of nearl% all human

rights internships# There is a lot of wor! to e done, and seeing the

efforts of people in the field : oth elected government memers and

social wor!ers and human rights law%ers : and their infinite elief in

the possiilities for etterment is nothing short of inspiring# At the

same time, it can e disheartening to see institutional mechanisms in

place that s%stematicall% prevent such etterment, a lac! of political

will to push for real solutions, and a lac! of infrastructure to actuall%

achieve these solutions# 8ersonall%, it was difficult for me : as a

second-generation immigrant who has nonetheless spent roughl% half

m% life in India : to e called an outsider to m% face % the elected

memers, as happened once or twice during tension-fraught meetings#

2eing ale to ac!nowledge that there was truth in that allegation was

not eas% for me, ut it when I was ale to overcome the issue and

estalish a level of trust and understanding with those I was wor!ing

with, it made the discussion that much more fulfilling# 8erhaps most

importantl%, I reali)ed this summer that we can change things is not


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.ust a catch phrase from an after-school special? it"s something that

real people elieve and dedicate their lives to and sometimes, it

actuall% wor!s#

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73rd & 74th amendments.doc