Women Representatives in Local Governance-A Step in the Direction of Good Governance

The Parliament passed 73^rd and 74^th amendments of the constitution to improve decentralized governance in the country. Today India has 3.3 million elected representatives in Panchayaths in nearly half a million villages out of whom over one million are women. Panchayat Raj Institutions provided poor women a platform to claim leadership roles and assert themselves in local self-governments and proved no less inferior to men in deliverance and governance. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to look at the extent of participation of marginalized women belonging to ST community in local bodies and how it will contribute to the quality of democracy and good governance.