Training the sarpanch alone won’t fix India’s panchayats
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Summary
“I understand my village,” a woman sarpanch in Sehore district told us. “But whenever the discussion turns to budgets, rules, or government procedures, I have to depend on the [village] secretary.” Her statement captures one of the central dilemmas of the panchayati raj today. The sarpanch was not inexperienced. She was the only woman in her community to have studied up to Class XII. For more than a decade, she had managed the mid-day meal programme through her self-help group (SHG). She had str