: Madhya Pradesh Villages First Sarpanch Solves Decades-Old Water Woes in 6 Years #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers For decades, women in Ghatgara village of Madhya Pradesh spent half of their daily lives fetching

Madhya Pradesh Villages First Sarpanch Solves Decades-Old Water Woes in 6 Years #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers
For decades, women in Ghatgara village of Madhya Pradesh spent half of their daily lives fetching water. But in the past six years, every house has a water tap, well-used toilets, and two dug wells and a community water tank.
All thanks to the village’s first lady Sarpanch 34-year-old Maya Mausariya.
Maya Mausariya is from Sindona village near Indore. She moved to Ghatgara after she got married about two decades ago. “There was no water in the village and women spent half the day fetching water from a single distant source,??? she said.
Ghatgara is located in Badnawar block of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh and is about 100 km from Indore. The village is quite distant in terms of development and any relief from difficulties in agriculture, water and education.
The difficulties do remain. For example, Maya had to set up a fixed time to speak to me for this interview, as she had to ensure she remained in an area where the mobile phone network was best for the duration of the interview.
“We woke up at 5 am and walked to fetch water. It would be only in the early afternoon that women returned with water for the day,??? Maya said. “There used to be regular discussions about the water woes, and there seemed to be no solution in sight,??? Maya said.
Never had a woman Sarpanch.
Maya Mausariya is first woman Sarpanch in the village
In 2014, gram panchayat elections were slated to be held in the village, and Maya decided to take matters in her own hands. “I decided to contest elections. Many Sarpanchs have got elected in the past, but none addressed the issues of women,??? she says.
“With class X certification, I was the highest qualified woman in the village. I spoke to my women friends and promised to solve the water issues in the village,??? Maya recollects saying. Fortunately, they agreed.
After she discussed the idea with her husband, he fully supported her.
“It wasn’t easy. Men said there has never been a woman Sarpanch in the village. But in the Gram Sabha (village meeting), we insisted that Maya be allowed to contest the elections and we would only vote for a woman candidate,??? says Kiran Rathod, one of the village residents.
“A male Sarpanch has always served the village, but none of them addressed the issue of the water crisis. We knew that only a woman could understand our problems and would help to solve them. Maya promised that she would relieve us from the turmoil,??? she told The Better India.
The elections were held in 2015, and Maya was elected the Sarpanch for the next five years. Maya said the first thing she did was to dig two wells in the village and build a community water tank.