Mukhiyas nix proxy pati(Husband) rule

Ranchi, Nov. 12: Sorry, Jharkhand's matriarch mukhiya won't be a puppet to strings pulled by the pati.
Women mukhiyas, offered 58 per cent reservation in panchayati raj by the Arjun Munda government, are wielding power with ease in the tribal hinterland. The three-tier panchayati raj polls held in December 2010 elected more than 53,000 representatives, of which more than 30,000 are women.
And unlike their sisters in Bihar, where husbands often call the shots, most women mukhiyas of the tribal state run the show on their own.
Mukhiya Cecilia Runda (48) of Hardag gram panchayat in Ranchi district blithely confesses that her husband David is in the driver's seat. "But only on the bike, when he drives me to my meetings," her eyes twinkle.
Getting serious, the rural head adds: "In all, I have held over 20 meetings in my panchayat till now. I do consult my husband on crucial issues but take my own decisions on matters related to my gram panchayat."
Cecilia, who has studied till Class X, is now busy arranging drinking water supply to her new panchayat bhavan, though she still runs her office out of the small National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme office. Work hours are long and household chores take a backseat. But former armyman David is not complaining.
"My father late Joseph Runda was the mukhiya of this panchayat about three decades ago. I also wanted to fight the election but the post was reserved for women. But I don't dominate my wife," he said.
In patriarchal Bihar, obvious instances of the "panch patis" attending meetings or issuing orders on behalf of their wives recently forced state panchayati raj minister Bhim Singh issue an order to the women not to allow their men to interfere in official matters.
But in Jharkhand, tribal women have traditionally played a crucial role in the family's economy, and hence decision-making. That put their social status on a par with the men and sometimes they are more powerful.
"That's the sole reason why husbands of mukhiyas here can't rule by proxy," said Karma Oraon, an anthropology professor at Ranchi University.
Activist and feminist Dayamani Barla, with a long experience of working with tribal women, agreed.
"Jharkhandi society gives equal status and opportunity to women. This is the reason why one finds almost no instance of a man wielding official power while his wife is only a figurehead mukhiya. The woman won't take it lying down," she smiled.
Shankar Kachchap, the husband of Sithio's woman mukhiya Binita, couldn't agree more. "As many as 10 ward members out of 11 are women in our panchayat. I simply wouldn't dare interfere in their official work," he said.
Earlier this year, soon after the panchayat process started working, a few husbands particularly from non-tribal areas did try to rule by proxy. "Yes, soon after the elections, some husbands did come to panchayats, trying to assert their superiority and attend official meetings. But, we asked deputy commissioners to sternly discourage the practice," state panchayati raj director Shuvendra Jha told The Telegraph.
Such instances, he added, are nearly non-existent in Jharkhand now.
Bihar, the "mother" state, can only envy the empowered tribal daughter.

The above is from Rediffmail.

Here is another instant of Jharkand being far ahead of the rest of India