‘Panchayat’, being “Local government”, is a State subject and part of State list of Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India. Clause (3) of Article 243D of the Constitution ensures participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions by mandating not less than one- third reservation for women out of total number of seats to be filled by direct election and number of offices of chairpersons of Panchayats. As per the information available with the Ministry, 20 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have made provisions of 50% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions in their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts. A statement showing the number of elected women representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country, State/Union Territory-wise is given at Annexure.

 

Further, in terms of clause (4) of Article 243D of the Constitution, the offices of the Chairpersons in the Panchayats at the village or any other level shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide, provided that the number of offices of Chairpersons reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the Panchayats at each level in any State shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of such offices in the Panchayats at each level as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State, provided further that not less than one-third of the total number of offices of Chairpersons in the Panchayats at each level shall be reserved for women.

However, specific details of representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, such as ‘the total number of women who hold the position of Sarpanch in the country’, ‘the total number of Sarpanch posts which are occupied by a member from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe’, ‘the total number of Scheduled Caste members on non-reserved seats in Gram Panchayats’, ‘the number of Gram Panchayats where more than one-third Panchayat council leaders are women’ etc., are not maintained by the Central Government.

 

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today.

 

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APS/SG/RC

 

ANNEXURE

 

Number of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country, State/Union Territory-wise

 

State / UTs	Total PRI Representatives	Total EWRs
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	858	306
Andhra Pradesh	156050	78,025
Arunachal Pradesh	9383	3,658
Assam	26754	14,609
Bihar	136573	71,046
Chhattisgarh	170465	93,392
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	147	47
Daman & Diu	192	92
Goa	1555	571
Gujarat	144080	71,988
Haryana	70035	29,499
Himachal Pradesh	28723	14,398
Jammu & Kashmir	39850	13,224
Jharkhand	59638	30,757
Karnataka	101954	51,030
Kerala	18372	9,630
Ladakh	NA	NA
Lakshadweep	110	41
Madhya Pradesh	392981	196490
Maharashtra	240635	128677
Manipur	1736	880
Odisha	107487	56,627
Puducherry	NA	NA
Punjab	100312	41,922
Rajasthan	126271	64,802
Sikkim	1153	580
Tamil Nadu	106450	56,407
Telangana	103468	52,096
Tripura	6646	3,006
Uttar Pradesh	913417	304538
Uttarakhand	62796	35,177
West Bengal	59229	30,458
Total	3187320	1453973

NA- Not Available

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