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Presently India is a substantial democratic country in the world where the women folk constitute almost half of the total population. The provisions of Indian Constitution render equality to women political rights by legitimizing their role for contribution in community inside the formal and legal framework. Women political participation is one of the important issues in Indian politics and concern of intelligentsia. It has been more than six decades of independence still there is a quite diminutive impact on women’s active participation in politics. Since the enactment of 73rd Amendment, it is perceived that space in local bodies will give rural women space for political participation. The journey of last twenty years indicates mixed results while women voter turnout in different elections enhanced and women participation in informal activities also increased. But in the present time there is a glaring gap still remains between de-jure and de-facto status of women in the political arena of the country. The term “women participation‟ is a widely used concept and interpreted differently by different scholars. It has been used in terms of involvement, interaction, influence, self-help, empowerment and self-reliance. The term participation has generally been conceived as the involvement of the people in the affairs which affect them. From the perspective of participatory development, equal participation of both men and women is quintessential. Development is a multidimensional concept and essential to satisfy the aspiration of the people. With the growth of development studies the concept of "participation" of women in political process has received scholarly attention and it is conceived as a pre-requisite for the success of democracy as well as for development. To enable them 73rd and 74th Amendments to the constitution were passed. These amendments provided for reservation of one third seats of members and chairpersons of rural and urban local bodies for women of all categories. To understand the reality of the accountability of it, it is necessary to know about the political participation of women in the post-colonial period and after independence of India. In India, women actively participated in public affairs in the early Vedic period. They were free to attend and visit public assemblies and social gatherings. However, in the subsequent period, slowly and gradually women’s position declined and got confined to the four walls of family life. After independence, the constitution of India has laid down the foundation of participatory democracy and guaranteed the “Right to Equality‟ to all its citizens. The government had also formed various social legislations and passed several acts for raising the status of women. However, women remain marginalized in political decision making bodies. The realization that women always have been disadvantaged and marginalized from various development processes had led to a conscious effort among the development planners to provide equal space to women to participate in political process. Attempts had been made at national level to bring equality and to provide equal opportunity to both men and women to participate in decision making process. In 1993 the 73rd amendment act had brought a tremendous change towards the rural power structure through 33% reservation of seats for women in PRIs which was enhanced to 50% reservation and has been implemented in few states of India. However, participation of women, in general, in politics and public life in India has been abysmally low. There is a huge gap between men and women in political activities beyond voting. Participation of women at the higher level is lower in comparison to their participation at the lower level of governance structure. In the domestic arena leadership and managerial skills of women are silently recognized however, they are not given space in the public arena. While other marginalized communities such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes got reservations in the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, no reservation for women was given in the Constitution of India in the beginning which restricted their political empowerment. The study is carried out in the PS and the GP were matched on the basis of the sex and education of the heads of the tiers. All the elected women members from the selected ZP, PS and GP were covered. An effort was made to study the views of both women and men electorate and substantiate the findings by attending 50 meetings of the three tiers. The main objective of the present research is to study the nature and efficacy of participation of women members in PRIs. The specific objectives besides studying the profile of the elected women and men members are- to study awareness of rights and responsibilities among the women members; the nature of concern among women members regarding issues pertaining to women and children; the future aspirations of the women members; and the opinion of public and men members regarding participation of elected women members.

Bohra, O. P. (2022).Entitled his work “Women in Decentralized Democracy.” The researcher found out that there has been a noticeable revolution, Haryana's Panchayat Raj, which looked at the success of roughly 100 elected women in four districts. The 73rd Amendment Act's primary goal was to decentralize authority and eliminate gender inequities and biases in local self-governance organizations. Women's involvement in the decision-making process is encouraged by Article 243 (D) because of its provision for a one-third reserve of seats for women. According to Balwantrai Mehta's Committee, two women should be elected to panchayatsamitis and village panchayats. Reservations for women started even before the 73 percent Amendment Act in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal. These states' experiences show that women can influence panchayats to prioritize matters like clean water, female education, and primary health care. Thirupathi, L. (2021). Entitled his work “Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj Institutions and Significance of 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act,”. This article examines grassroots democracy, Panchayati raj institutions, and the importance of the 73rd constitutional amendment Act. People in ruralareas now have a legal way to influence local government decision-making via participation in democracy's grassroots processes, according to the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act. Furthermore, according to the article, constitutional provisions have provided opportunities for growth while also preserving social equity, as the new Panchayat Raj system needs. Panchayat Raj Institutions are now open to all citizens, thanks to the new framework. Panchayat Raj Institutions, a new kind of participatory democracy, enable anybody with interest in participating in decision-making to do so. Women and others from historically marginalized groups have been more active in politics. As part of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, seats were reserved for SCs, STs, and women on different levels, ensuring their participation in the running PRIs. Through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, the reservation policy has also addressed problems of gender discrimination, socioeconomic disparity, and patriarchy. Jyoti, K., & Sharma, M. L.(2020).[17] Entitled their work, “Training Participation of Women Sarpanches Towards Rural Development in Bilaspur District of Chhattisgarh.”The research was carried out in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh state in India during the 2015-16 academic year to examine the training patterns and involvement of tribal and non-tribal women sarpanhcs (Village Head). There were 645 Gram Panchayats in ZilaPanchayat, of which female sarpanches led 336 Gram Panchayats. One-third of the 336 panchayats led by women were randomly chosen for the research. Two separate categories were formed from the 112 respondents (women leaders): 56 tribal and 56 non-tribal women leaders were included in the survey. Tools for statistical analysis were used to examine the data. According to the survey findings, most respondents needed training in village development activities and agriculture, with a total of 21.43 percent and 17.85 percent, respectively. According to both respondents, training in village development was the most preferred option. One hundred percent of those polled said they had taken part in the training. Bhardwaj, P. (2019)[18]. Entitled his work “Women Participation In Panchayati Raj In Haryana.” The purpose of the paper is to study the empowerment of women. The objective of empowering women cannot be achieved alone via the provision of reservations; other social and demographic elements influence the EWR to engage in local self-government actively. Even though women make up half of the population, they have few options in terms of politics, social life, economics, or health care. The treatment of women with impairments has been a significant problem. Due to several social laws and restrictions, they are also excluded from the decision-making process. Although women in India now have the same legal and constitutional rights as males, they still have a long way. Political and administrative decentralization is essential in a vast and varied subcontinent. Every political system, old or new, free or strict, massive or tiny, depends on citizen participation. Any form of political structure will do well. These are the bodies in which democratic choices are made. Mishra, A. (2018)[19]. Entitled his work “Multiple marginalities: a study of the participation of women in Panchayati raj institutions in Arunachal Pradesh.” This paper investigates the circumstances and ramifications of expanding women's involvement in Arunachal Pradesh's Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). One of the most critical issues to be addressed is whether or not including women in grassroots governance increases the potential for a more inclusive form of government. According to the research conclusions, the sheer presence of women in decentralized governance is not enough to make local politics more inclusive. Positive discrimination in one area has not been able to have a rippling impact on other types of exclusion in the face of numerous marginalities. Female reservation in the PRIs is still tied to patriarchal politics of identity, even though it has excellent potential as a catalyst for change. The report concludes that a crucial step towards greater gender parity has not been taken by reserving seats in PRIs for women.

Constitutional Provisions

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, 1992, is an institutional change, which secures 33% reservation of seats for rural women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) in India. For the first time 33-40% women entered decision making from the miniscule 2-4% in the earlier years. The backdrop is marked by illiteracy, male dominance, casteism, deep-rooted cultural beliefs and values which do not encourage women’s assertion but want them to be in their traditional roles as dependent spouse, mother and housewife.

Article 15 (3) to the Constitution of India empowers State to make special provisions for women. This constitutional mandate is recognition of the fact that women in India need to be empowered socially and economically so as to ensure their full participation in social, economic and political activities of the country. However, to make use of potential of women and also to empower them, 73rd Amendment Act 1992 (73rd CAA) for the first time provided one-third reservations for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and thus ushered a new era of women’s participation in the local governance in India. However, journey of political empowerment of women in Panchayats has evolved gradually. BalwantRai Mehta Committee Report (1959) had suggested only that the 20-member PanchayatSamiti should co-opt or nominate two women interested in work among women and children.

The Ashok Mehta Committee Report (1978) recommended a two-tier panchayat system, in which the two women who polled the highest number of votes in the panchayat elections would, even if they failed to actually get elected, stand co-opted into the panchayat. Where no women contested elections, any two women known to be active community workers, could be co-opted. National Perspective Plan for Women (1988) recommended 30 percent reservation for women in these bodies. Meanwhile, some states had already proceeded to provide reservations for women. In 1985, Karnataka introduced 25 percent reservation for women in the MandalPrajaParishads, with a further reservation for women belonging to the SCs and STs. Andhra Pradesh, too, had in 1986 provided for reservation of 22-25 percent for the Gram Panchayat (GP), with two women to be co-opted in the PanchayatSamitis, in addition to the elected women members.

Article 243D of the Constitution of India introduced through above-mentioned 73rd CAA provides that one-third of the total number of seats and offices of the Chairpersons in PRIs at each level shall be reserved for women to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat. Such reservations of seats and offices of the chairpersons for women are also within the reservations for SCs and STs in all three tiers of PRIs. That mean not less than one-third of all seats and offices reserved for SCs and STs. Although 73rd CAA provides for only 1/3rd reservation for women in PRIs, as many as 19 States (Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana) have raised reservation of seats and offices of chairpersons to women to 50%. Efforts are on to increase the reservation from 1/3^rd to 1/2 all over India. There are approximately 13.45 lakh Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) in PRIs which constitute 46.14% of total Elected Representatives (ERs).

Reasons for participation

The usual method of political participation is to exercise the right to vote in the elections. Yet a large number of people are averse to political participation. Political scientists have determined four reasons for such aloofness. First, there may be apathy, which would mean the individual’s indifference towards or abstention from electoral affairs. Such a mentality stems from a lack of interest in political affairs. Second, there may be a certain “cynicism” rooted in suspicion towards and distrust of the motive and activities of others. This attitude develops because of the feeling that politics is a dirty game and that the politicians are, usually, unscrupulous persons. Third, there may even be a degree of “alienation” or hostility towards politics. In such cases, the person keeps a distance from the active political system. Then, there is also a sense of “anomie” — a feeling of personal ineffectiveness and divorce from the society.

It is because of these reasons that some people keep themselves away from the centre of affairs. It is significant that in the parliamentary election of 1984, the voter participation was the highest (64 per cent), but subsequently, the figures remained between 55.3 per cent and 62 per cent. A recent report reveals that the voter-participation in some provinces has reached 70 per cent, but the overall figure is not at all sufficient when compared with the 80 to 90 per cent polling in Western countries.

Obviously, there are some cogent reasons for this poor turnout. Politics in India has, in recent years, often become a dirty game and this is one of the reasons why many honest take no interest. Moreover, people often feel that sometimes crime and politics go hand-in-hand and the mafia-dons have polluted the atmosphere by their unholy alliance with the ruling party leaders. But if a large number of people stay away from the polling booths, democracy surely becomes a misnomer. Modern democracy has become an indirect system due to the enlargement of territory and population. So, people’s rule through elections has come to the fore. Naturally, it requires the active and full-fledged involvement of the people in electoral affairs. Hundreds of thousands of people remain away from polling booths and some others turn up only to cavil that they do not support any candidate fielded in the particular constituency. Hence they press the NOTA (None of the Above) button. Indian democracy is now suffering from a chronic ailment and it urgently needs to recover. Instead of blaming the absentees, it is imperative to purify our democracy so that it can serve the real interests of the people.

Challenges before EWRs

EWRs continue to face many challenges. Important among these challenges are:

(i) Patriarchy: Except a few tribal societies, particularly in north-east, Indian society in general continues to suffer from patriarchy. Many EWRs continue to work as a rubber stamp for their family members and also at times as proxies of rural elites. Their male co-workers show insensitivity and refuse to cooperate. Burden of household responsibilities, purdah (veil) system and domestic violence negatively affect their functioning.

(ii)Caste System: Hierarchical caste system in rural India makes it difficult for women from SC and ST communities to function independently and effectively. Community or Khappachayats functions parallel to panchayats and pressurizes EWRs to act in a particular way.

(iii)Lack of Cooperation from Line/Sectoral Departments: EWRs, particularly the firsttimers find it very difficult to deal with officialsof block/district administration and of line/sectoral departments. Bureaucratic apathyand corruption is rampant which makes theseEWRs de-motivated and disenchanted from thepanchayati raj. People’s expectation to delivercoupled with non-cooperation of administrationfrustrate these EWRs so much so that many atimes they are unwilling to contest for the nextterm.

(iv)Inadequate Capacities: Majority of EWRs enters into public life for the first time and do not have enough knowledge and skills to handle affairs of panchayats. Training programmes conducted by government training agencies are unable to cover all elected representatives in time. A large number of ward members do not get an opportunity to attend any training in their entire term. At times they are also not allowed by their family members to travel and stay alone during the residential trainings. Lack of education also puts constraints on EWRs. (v)Rotation of Terms: Policy of reservation for only one term and rotation of reserved seats and posts of chairperson also hinders consolidation of leadership qualities among EWRs as it takes time for them to learn the skills of handling and negotiating various conflicting interests within the panchayat. By the time they learn these skills and start functioning effectively, their term is over. Main reason behind their not being elected to PRIs cited by EWRs is de-reservation of seats and offices of chairpersons. So far only five States namely Chattisgarh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka have already made provisions for two term reservation of seats and offices of chairpersons.

(vi)Encroachment and Non-Payment of Taxes/ Fees: Elected representative in general andspecially EWRs face resistance from communityif they want to remove encroachment frompanchayat land/properties. Many a timesthey are subjected to violence from powerfulelements of the society. Many rural householdsdo not want to pay taxes and fees on timewhile expect panchayats to deliver public services and good in time. Insistence by EWRs is resisted at times by violent protests.

(vii)Two Child Norm:A few States are still continuing with the two child norm for contesting panchayat elections. In rural areas women hardly have any say in the number of children in the family and such laws restrict their entry into panchayats.

(viii)Inadequate Women Panchayat Functionaries: EWRs are more comfortable with womenfunctionaries. However, there are very few women panchayat functionaries. Patriarchal mindsets make it difficult for EWRs to freely interact with male functionaries at times whenit is required. To help EWRs overcome these challenges tobe able to contribute effectively in bringing positivechanges in rural areas, the Government of Indiaalong with State Governments has undertakenseveral initiatives.

Role of women in Panchayati Raj System

Panchayats have been the backbone of grass root democracy in the Indian villages since its beginning. Gandhi had aptly favoured the panchayati raj and his dream got translated with the passage of the Constitution (73rdAmendment) Act, 1992 (or simply the Panchayati Raj Act), which introduced the three-tier Panchayati Raj system to ensure people’s participation in rural reconstruction in general and that of women in particular. It came into force with effect from April 24, 1993. 

Role of Women in Panchayats

1. Participation in election: The Act provides for the reservation of not less than one-third of the total number of seats for women. It is an attempt to ensure greater participation of women in election process directly and indirectly. It would be the nursery of creating women politicians for national politics. Even the participation of common women citizens in various activities such as attending Gram Sabha meeting, etc. has reportedly increased (68-78 percent).

2. Participation in rural development: Women are actively participating in rural development as per their capacity right from labourers to policy- makers. 

3. Participation in decision-making: The participation of women as elected as well as non-elected members are rising due to reservation for women. It acts as pull factor for women to participate in meeting. They give their suggestions for various works and problems faced by them.

4.  Agent of social revolution: Women are acting as an agent of change in the society and raising voice against injustice and atrocities. 

5. Reducing corruption and violence: Due to women representatives nexus of officers and male elected representatives are breaking, which has a direct impact on reducing corruption. The role of local muscle power has substantially reduced due to active participation and awareness of women about their rights and power. 

6. Reduction in violence against women: Domestic violence has substantially declined due to women pradhan or surpanch. These women representatives take pro-actively take up such violence. The victims also feel free to share their grievances to women representatives.

7. Reduction in violence against Dalits: The dominance of upper caste patriarchs are substantially declined, hence the shackles of caste is subsiding.

8. Practising participatory democracy: Growing participation of marginalised section in general and women in particular, is transforming our democratic setup from representative democracy to participatory democracy.

 Difficulties faced by women representatives in PRS 

1. Political intervention in the functioning of Panchayats. 
2. Women act as proxies for men. 
3. Husband’s intervention of elected woman in her functioning.
4. Lack of political awareness among the women in rural areas.
5. Negative public opinion regarding women’s leadership capacity. 
6. Illiteracy or low standard of education among the women in rural areas is a stumbling bloc.
9. Politically motivated violence against women have seen an increase.
7. Lack of training courses especially for women representatives. 
8. Dominance of elected male members of the Panchayat.

Achievements of Women in PRIs

Due to patriarchy and perceived threat of male losing their domination of the political system, potential and achievements of elected women in PRIs was not recognized in the beginning. They were dismissed as proxies of their husbands and other male members of their families and at times as proxies of elites in the village. Their capacity to understand the process of governance and to lead the affairs of panchayats was questioned. However, many women elected representatives have made their mark in bringing positive changes in their areas.

These elected women-now role models to the other women in their communities- are altering the development agenda to address issues critical to village life. The success stories number in millions. Women throughout India- from Orissa to Assam to Uttar Pradesh to Bihar- are ensuring that roads are repaired, electricity is brought to their villages, schools are built, latrines installed, medical services are available, water sources are made safe, local savings groups are formed, and the list goes on and on.”5 India Spend study 2017 in six districts of Tamil Nadu has found that 60% women elected representative of PRIs are functioning independently of their male family members or colleagues. All that elected women representatives of PRIs have been able to achieve does not mean that all the hurdles have vanished.

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