In a remote village in Nanded, Maharashtra, IAS officer Minal Karanwal is leading a transformative initiative to empower young girls and combat prevalent social issues such as age-old infectious diseases, alcoholism, child marriages, and pollution.

This trailblazing project, known as the Balika Panchayat, is making significant strides in improving the lives of girls in the community and challenging deeply ingrained social norms.

One of the key objectives of the Balika Panchayat is to provide a safe space for girls to voice their concerns and ideas, enabling them to become agents of change in their communities.

The Balika Panchayat mimics a regular gram panchayat, consisting of five officeholders, one of whom acts as a sarpanch (village head).

The participants learn about their rights, develop leadership skills, and gain the confidence to stand up against harmful practices. Today, at least 300 girls in Nanded are taking leadership roles to eradicate ill-practices from their villages.

The impact of the work is evident. These young girls, aged between 11 and 18 years, have started demanding their rights from the government.

“They have started questioning authorities about why eggs were not given in mid-day meals, or holding them accountable for conducting regular health camps,” Minal says.

“They are even asking why bicycles aren’t given to reach far-off schools. The initiation of such conversations itself is a success for us. These girls tell me how villagers have started listening to them. Just developing such leadership was my ultimate aim,” she adds.

To motivate other gram panchayats, the Nanded district administration has awarded gram panchayats — Yerdi, Sawargaon Mal, and Amgavhan — for efficiently running the initiative.

Seeing the success of the first phase, Minal launched the second phase of the project in June, which aims to focus on suggesting resolutions for gram panchayats.