Politically correct

women workers in Rajasthan

Norti Bai, in her late fifties, is the first Dalit woman sarpanch of Harmara village in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district. She says she’s the only woman elected to the post not from an influential political family. Norti Bai says she won the Panchayat elections held earlier this year because of overwhelming support from the women in her village. A support that according to her, is a direct result of growing awareness and exposure among the women in her village.

This augmented exposure has been brought about by an unlikely agent – the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA.

Interestingly, apart from the impact on social and economic dynamics, this scheme is also ushering in, what might well be a subtle yet crucial political shift.

Apart from providing a safety net to the rural poor, MGNREGA is showing signs of helping the Congress party strengthen its position in a key electoral base – women. The way in which the mechanics of the MGNREGA have panned out has seen more women participate in development programmes. Till now, a total of 5.06 crore households have been provided employment under MGNREGA and 262.9 crore persondays of employment have been generated. Of

this, women constitute 48% or nearly half the workforce. In some states like Rajasthan, women account for nearly 70% of the workforce.

This fact, along with the financial emancipation that comes with it, has also seen women becoming more aware of their rights. The development could prove to be beneficial for the Congress. Associating the party with their new emancipated status could see the support base being strengthened among rural women, which has always been one of its core constituencies.

Norti Bai’s election as sarpanch could indeed be a consequence of women finally finding their voice, particularly in states like Rajasthan, where they have historically been oppressed and largely influenced by men. It, of course, might be too early to gauge the political impact of significant female participation in MGNREGA and draw conclusions from

that, given that the scheme was introduced across all 619 districts in the country just about two years back. Further, this theory may also not hold true in states where either:

a) women have always been politically aware or

b) where female participation in the scheme is still too low

However, in Rajasthan, the winds of change are perceptible and if the assembly election results of December 2008 and the Lok sabha elections of 2009 are anything to go by, the marquee scheme is definitely working in favour of its creator.