India’s Panchayat system works at the very grassroots level to bring about administrative and political awareness as well as social change. So, when a district in Gujarat takes the initiative to start a Panchayat to promote the social and political development of young girls, it is bound to attract the positive attention it deserves. Several villages in Gujarat’s Kutch district have initiated India’s first-ever Balika Panchayat—a version of the nation’s unique Panchayati system aimed at promoting the active participation of young girls in politics.
The initiative was started by the Government of Gujarat’s Women and Child Development Welfare department, under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. Currently, it is at work in the villages of Kunaria, Maska, Motagua and Vadsar. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is also planning to take the initiative nationwide to promote the social and political development of young girls across India.
The Balika Panchayats in Kutch are managed by girls in the 10-21 age group, and its main objective is to empower the girl child socially and politically in order to remove patriarchal and harmful practices like dowry, child marriage, etc. “Balika Panchayat is a panchayat of girls between the age of 10 and 21 years, whose main objective is that the girls should get their nominations done in the Panchayat’s decision-making process and are active in politics since childhood,” Garba Bharti, a member of this Panchayat, revealed in an interview with ANI. “On Women’s Day, we talked to Union Minister Smriti Irani if this work initiative is taken across India then other girls like us can also perform well. For the last one-year, Balika Panchayat is running in our village.”
*Image used for representative purpose.