Garima creator text Bihar Journal of Public Administration monographic eng

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19(25), Jul-Sep, 2022: p.157-163 The ‘political participation’ is a major indicator of political empowerment of a section of our society. Broadly speaking it is not related to only ‘Right to Vote’ but to participate in decision making process, political activities, political consciousness etc. It has emerged a phenomenon of proxy leadership in case of women panchayat representatives (WPR) commonly known as ‘Mukhiya Pati’ phenomenon. Situation of WPRs of SC category has been more vulnerable. But as some studies show that with the passage of time since 2001, there has been gradual rise in self-assertive roles played by WPRs. As the Scheduled Castes (SC) women ‘bear the triple burden of caste, class and gender’, the assessment of their political empowerment seems essential for study after two decades of democratic experiments of panchayati raj in Bihar. As such it becomes an imperative to assess the actual political participation among WPRs of SC category in rural Bihar. With this view in mind, the present paper has endeavoured to assess the same at micro level. A quick survey was conducted in Hajipur Block of Vaishali District, Bihar. The aim of the study is to explore whether a quantitative rise in the participation of scheduled caste women in political decision making at grassroots level can transform into qualitative changes in the political empowerment of women. – Reproduced Political participation Bihar Journal of Public Administration 230607