IT is the wedding season in Gugar, a village dominated by the Sahariya tribe in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. But Jayanti has no time to participate in the festivities. She has to resolve problems related to the midday meal in the Bhadora primary school, two kilometres from her village. After that, she needs to meet government officials in the block office in Talbehat regarding old age pension cards. This means walking another eight kilometres. But nothing deters Jayanti from carrying out her duties as gram pradhan. She has never shied away from hard work, even when she worked as a daily wage labourer until a year ago.
This change would not have been possible had Jayanti not shown the courage to withstand pressure, particularly from powerful castes in villages here. Jayanti stood her ground despite threats and coercion to withdraw from the elections. Even the announcement that she had lost by four votes did not break her spirit. She exercised her right to a recount and was vindicated when she was declared the winner by a thin margin of six votes.