But one has also heard stories of women panches and sarpanches in several states of the country being asked by husbands to sit at home while they themselves attend the panchayat meetings by proxy.
Although society has by and large accepted the concept of women in the panchayats, in socially conservative areas, women sarpanches face obstacles every day in their work.
The sarpanch (village headman) assured them that nothing will happen and took them to his house.
With the support of the sarpanches of the village panchayats these children have passed a directive that shopkeepers who sell gutka to children will be fined heavily.
After the empowerment of the panchayats, they are being asked by the department to get the clearance certificate from the sarpanches concerned before getting salaries.
Origin
From Urdu sar-panch, from sar 'head' + panch 'five'.