Knowledge of women members of Gram Panchayats about women and child welfare programmes

Gram Panchayat is the primary body of the rural local self-government. The elected women members are supposed to play very important role for the overall development and specially for women and child welfare. Many programmes have been implemented by the state and central governments for women and child welfare. The successful implementation of these programmes largely depends on the elected women members of Gram Panchayats. The present investigations were done to study the knowledge level and extent of information understood about women and child welfare programmes by these women members. The study was conducted during 2019-20 in Dharwad and UttaraKannada districts of Karnatakastate.Atotal of150 women members ofGramPanchayats were randomly selected from both the districts (75 from each district). In Dharwad district, more number of women members of Gram Panchayats possessed low to medium level of knowledge whereas in Uttara Kannada district most of the respondents had medium to high level of knowledge. The knowledge among Uttara Kannada women members of Gram Panchayats was found to be high (17.48) followed by Dharwad (11.65). There was a significant difference in knowledge of women members of Gram Panchayats of Uttara Kannada and Dharwad districts.