Mrs. Nandi Bhandari, a matriculate, belongs to the Thakur (Hindu Rajput) community. She has three married daughters and two employed and unmarried sons. Her husband, who was in the Indian Army, played a vital role for her entry into politics and social work. Ms. Bhandari’s family supported her in getting elected as chairperson (Sarpanch) of Galai Panchayat (in Garud block, Bageswar district, Uttaranchal) on two occasions, in 1991 and 1996, from the unreserved seat. As a woman, she had never felt any constraints from her family members and as a mother there were no constraints as her own daughters were employed.

Initially, Mrs. Bhandari was a member of a Self Help Group (SHG) and that experience helped her in entering politics and public life. Her charismatic leadership and experience with SHG and the resultant popularity among the women helped her in entering the panchayati raj system.

Mrs. Bhandari obtained training on Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) from Sahayog, an NGO in Uttaranchal, in 1999. She took an orientation course in 1993 from National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) and got trained on reproductive and child health issues in 2000.

Mrs. Bhandari’s leadership role cannot be discussed without knowing the main problems of village Galai, which now belongs to the hill state of Uttaranchal. But first, a little about the village. The two villages of Galai and Kandhar form the Galai Gram Panchayat. Galai gram panchayat is situated 34 kms away from the district headquarters of Bageswar. Out of 129 families living in Galai GP, 19 are from the Scheduled Caste category. Of these 19, 11 are considered to be living below the poverty line (BPL). The total population of the Galai GP is 722. Out of that, 230 people are from the BPL list and out of this 230, 50 are from the SC category. Out of the total population of 722, the female population is 380, with the male population being 342. So the number of females in the GP outnumbers the males. There are 595 literate individuals in the GP. Out of the total number of literates, 305 are male and 290 are female.

The major problems identified by the villagers are alcoholism, water shortage, inadequate educational infrastructure, the lack of hospital facilities nearby, the lack of school facilities for girls, and the need for irrigating desert lands. The basic education facilities of the Galai village are not very encouraging. The village has one primary school, one public school and one junior high school up to class 8. Unfortunately, there is no high school within a 6 km radius and people have to travel up to Bajula for higher education, which is far away from the village. For degree studies, people need to go either to Bageswar or Almora situated at distances of 34 km and 78 km respectively. People naturally hesitate to send their children, particularly young women to such long distances. Mrs. Bhandari was deeply committed to provide education facilities to Galai village. She gave her own house to Junior High School for eleven years without any charge. Under her personal initiative, non-formal education was introduced for women and children. Now these same women and girls are pursuing graduation or higher studies. There are several instances when she helped poor children to fill up forms for taking private examinations.<

Due to her association with Lok Chetana Manch, an NGO working for women’s empowerment, Mrs. Bhandari emerged as a leader from the grassroots. With the help of Lok Chetana Manch, she formed SHGs in the villages. While she was the chairperson of Galai panchayat, she was very particular in conducting regular gram sabha meetings on a yearly basis and in organising monthly meetings to learn about the personal and social problems of the villagers.

Mrs. Bhandari gave much attention to the development of Galai village panchayat with the assistance of major organisations. With Maitee, a Garhwal-based NGO, she succeeded in initiating a tree plantation scheme by the bridegrooms of the villages. She has dealt with many individual cases where women were harassed and tortured. With the support of Himanti, a Nepal-based NGO, she took legal action to end the exploitation of one woman in the village who was being tortured by her husband and helped her in getting monthly compensation. This was appreciated by many people in the village.

Ms. Bhandari tried various approaches to promote economic development of the village. She formed a women’s dairy with the involvement of Sahayog, an NGO, helping the women in the panchayat to get employment and income. Through the networking and cooperation of individuals and NGOs, she contributed to the rapid development of the village.

Being a member of the district consumer forum, Mrs. Bhandari has been trying to solve consumers’ problems and develop an effective food distribution system. Presently, she is planning to construct a hospital, for solving the medical problems of the villagers, especially pregnant women. She has already discussed the matter with the Uttaranchal Chief Minister. As doctors are not willing to come unless the water problem is solved, she has planned to construct a water tank near the school and the hospital, and a road to the hospital to improve access for patients.

By encouraging the involvement of local women, Mrs. Bhandari organised a successful anti-liquor campaign, pulling down liquor establishments in Kandhar. She continues to protest against social evils and is currently supporting programmes for backward classes including campaigns against both liquor and dowry. She has taken the lead to establish a cottage industry for women and a vocational training centre.

Mrs. Bhandari has proven her leadership qualities by identifying the major problems of the villagers and tackling these issues with community participation. She has been strengthening her networking with neighbouring villages. People from neighbouring villages have also chosen Mrs. Bhandari as their leader. Recently, under a World Bank initiative, she formed SHGs for participating in the project for connecting the water pipeline of Galai villages under Swajal project. For that, she has initiated talks with the neighbouring villages of Ritoli and Ritha in order to obtain the water source and an agreement is expected soon.

In view of the fact that Mrs. Bhandari works amidst a difficult situation of resource crunch, social and cultural barriers and opposition of certain groups with vested interests, she is being admired as a real leader among the tribal people of Uttaranchal.

Charkha Features