Being The Change

Change and progress go hand in hand. Meet Chhavi Rajawat, who gave up the comforts of the city and an alluring corporate career to be the harbinger of change. MARWAR finds out more about this dedicated sarpanch and her plans and vision for her beloved village in Rajasthan and its people.

- Aanchal Kataria

IN A COUNTRY WHERE WOMEN FACE A LOT OF limitations and resistance in all spheres of functioning and are relegated to merely an ornamental role, Chhavi Rajawat has surely come a long way. An alumni of Rishi Valley and Mayo College Girls’ School, she graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, and pursued a business management degree in marketing from Pune. She ditched her corporate career and a cushy job with one of the country’s biggest telecom firms in 2010 to become the sarpanch of her ancestral village, Soda, located in the Tonk district of the desert state of Rajasthan.

The beginning

Rajawat recalls her vacations at Soda as filled with fun and frolic. Away at her boarding school, she looked forward to her vacations. Soda was hence always her home and the villagers were like one big extended family. She shared a strong emotional connect with them, especially with the village elders who pampered her.

However, her original career aspirations were different and she had never thought of taking up governance or entering politics. Rajawat shares, “The decision to make me the sarpanch was that of the villagers. I was in the corporate sector and in the phase of transitioning into taking over my family-run hotel in Jaipur. I had also started a horse-riding academy in Jaipur in 2009, to promote the sport and fulfil my dream of owning horses.”

Destiny had other plans for her.The villagers implored her to take charge, with many turning up at her home in Jaipur to convince her. The Soda seat was reserved for women in 2010 and she also could see that there had not been much development in the village since her grandfather, a retired brigadier, had served as the sarpanch around two decades ago. In March 2010, Rajawat was elected as the youngest sarpanch with an MBA degree in the country.