Women Participation through Local-Self Government: A Comparative Study between Pandua and Bairgachhi-l Gram Panchayat, District of Malda, West Bengal

Political participation has been defined in various terms in social sciences. It has been said that political participation refers to those activities, by which members of a society take part in the selection of rulers and directly or indirectly in the formation of public policy and activities. These activities typically include voting, seeking information, discussing and proselytizing, and attending meeting, contributing financially to party fund and communicating with representatives. This paper is basically descriptive-analytical and empirical in nature. The present study is intended to identify the impact of Women Participation and Social development in Local Self-Government: A Comparative Study between Pandua and Bairgachhi-l Gram Panchayat in Gazole Block district of Malda district. For the purpose of identifying the same, the primary and secondary data are used. The data used in it is purely from primary and secondary sources according to the need of this study. The objectives of this comparative analysis of the two Gram Panchayat reports prepared on the basis of status of women in local government in Pandua Gram Panchayat and Bairgachhi-l Gram. In this paper it is explored the developmental process in Pandua and the Bairgachhi-l Gram Panchayat. The government took a number of initiatives and ‘best practices’ for improving social conditions and social opportunities. It can develop the women participation. One of the key elements of Gram Panchayat is women’s representation in policy-making forums, local authorities and civic organizations in society. Unless women are involved in the decision and Policy-making process of local level changes in women’s political and to some extent social and economic status, will continue to be marginal.