http://www.deccanherald.com/content/149177/indian-sarpanch-dazzles-un-meet.htmlhttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/indian-sarpanch-chhavi-rajawat-dazzles-at-un-meet/767941/0
Indian sarpanch dazzles at UN meetUnited Nations, Mar 27 (PTI)
There was a sense of disbelief among ministers and ambassadors from diverse
nations when the chairperson of the 11th Info-Poverty World Conference held at
the United Nations introduced the jeans-clad Chhavi Rajawat as head of a
village in India.
For, from a distance one could easily mistake Rajawat, an articulate,
computer-savvy woman, for a frontline model or at least a Bollywood actress.
But she is sarpanch of Soda village, 60 kilometres from Jaipur, in backward
Rajasthan and the changing face of growing dynamic rural India.
30-year-old Rajawat, India's youngest and the only MBA to become a village head
-- the position mostly occupied by elders, quit her senior management position
with Bharti-Tele Ventures of Airtel Group to serve her beloved villagers as
sarpanch.
Rajawat participated in a panel discussion at the two-day meet at the UN on
March 24 and 25 on how civil society can implement its actions and spoke on the
role of civil society in fighting poverty and promoting development.
It is necessary to re-think through various strategies of action that includes
new technologies like e-services in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in an era where resources have become limited, she told the delegates of
the international conference.
"If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65
years since independence, it just won't be good enough. We'll be failing people
who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am
convinced we can do it differently and do it faster.
"In the past year alone, I and the villagers in Soda have brought about a
radical change in the village purely through our own efforts. We have had no
outside support - no NGO help, no public, nor private sector help," she said.
On achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Rajawat said she sought full
support from outside agencies and the corporate world. "I thank United Nations
Office for Partnerships (UNOP) which had deputed its senior adviser in India Mr
Babu Lal Jain to visit Soda and extend all support in the opening of the first
bank in the village. That made all the difference."
"In three years I will transform my village. I don't want money. I want people
and organisations to adopt projects in my village as often projects fail owing
to lack of a local connect and that is what I am here to provide by bridging
that gap.
"I want the conference to help bring about faster change so that this
generation can enjoy that kind of life that I - and you in this audience - take
for granted," she said to thunderous cheers from the delegates.
