Rethinking capacity building and sarpanch-pati syndrome in panchayats

Recently, on March 8th, 2026, the Government of India initiated the Say No to Proxy Sarpanch Campaign. It immediately picked up the pace on digital platforms using symbolic hashtags like #NoProxySarpanch and posting short videos, reels, and grassroots storytelling. This encouraged public identification of proxy practices and community-level social pressure against male interference. This leads us to revisit the institution of Sarpanch Pati Syndrome and how it has become a policy concern within Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

Even with the campaign picking up the pace with greater public participation through the usage of digital media, if it is unable to urge the policymakers to implement and enhance robust training systems in the Capacity-Building and Training (CBT) programmes of PRIs, Proxy Syndrome is unlikely to be eradicated systematically. Absence of strong monitoring and training systems would render symbolic campaigns like this futile. Thereby, understanding the socio-cultural roots of this problem before combining it into a digitalized campaign is important.

Based on the training processes enlisted in the National Capacity Building Framework introduced by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in 2014, it aims to strengthen its training ambit using advanced technology and state of the art resources. Even though the NCBF document highlights its efficiency in touching various rural regions of the country and establishing robust training mechanisms, what needs more attention is the ability to measure the impact of such trainings on women.

Based on the Unstarred Question No. 2550 raised by Shri Gaurav Gogoi on August 5th, 2025, regarding Reservation for Women in PRIs, Women’s reservation is constitutionally mandated by the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, requiring at least one-third (33.3%) of seats and chairperson positions to be reserved for women based on Article 243D. Over 20 states in India have increased this to 50% to enhance grassroots participation, as answered by Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel.

Based on an article: “Women’s Political Participation and Changing Pattern of Leadership in Rural Areas of Uttar Pradesh” by S. Waseem Ahmad, Nilofer, and Gazala Parveen, it argues that how women’s role in political processes in grassroots governance has observed a paradigmatic shift in recent years as more women are entering the political arena and challenging traditional gender roles. Affirmative action policies such as reservations for women in local government bodies, increasing literacy rates, growing awareness of women’s rights, and the influence of women’s self-help groups are the notable factors.

Thus, a basic question emerges for every reader: “What are the core policy issues here that we need to address?” The first major factor causing hindrance to participation of women in such programmes is the issue of Proxy Syndrome, otherwise known in local lingos as the “Sarpanch-Pati Syndrome”. In simpler terms, this refers to a practice where a woman, pertaining to a political position e.g. Sarpanch, is replaced by her husband or any male member of her household, who takes decisions on her behalf. Women still experience prejudice and stereotyping in the political arena despite laws and constitutional obligations supporting gender equality.

This bias appears in PRIs when elected women representatives are reduced to symbolic positions and male family members or proxies make decisions in their place. This, henceforth, damages women’s credibility and efficacy inside PRIs by maintaining the assumption that they are unsuited for leadership roles. The Committee on the Status of Women in India highlights the inadequate representation and impact of women in the political process, attributing it to a lack of political education and mobilization, with political parties often viewing them merely as appendages to male voters.

From an independent research study undertaken in 2024 from Panchayati Raj Institute of Training (PRIT), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, taking in 102 responses, out of which 66 respondents were women, notable data highlights are brought to light. The female trainees notably described the nature and duration of their training and also the number of times they have been trained and their additional expectations from the training.

Most notable highlight from their responses was that even though majority of them have been trained 2-3 times in various training sessions, the existence of gender biased norms in the workplace continue to be a major obstacle in their work. The field data highlights the persistence of gender biases even after improvement in training programs.

On the other hand, when we look at the 36 male trainees, 10 out of them were a proxy of their mothers, sisters, wives, mother-in-law and so on. We should note that this is one data from a particular point of training period in the aforementioned institution, and also, the number of trainees trained versus the number of trainees to be trained emphasizes major policy concerns. This finding is just a portion from a much larger share of data which requires more thorough inspection into proxy syndrome. Therefore, it shows how the programmes still lack the proactive approach to engage larger participants from rural regions.

The audit systems pertaining to institutional training frameworks is a major policy concern which demands stricter auditing protocols. The respective State government enables the training institute to prepare a training itinerary to train the trainees and set a target for such training. Since the NCBFs implementation in 2014, there has been an observable deficit of people trained in these programmes, with women being trained less as compared to their male counterparts.

Hindrances like attendance of the trainees, checking into the credibility of the candidates attending the training session if they are the actual candidates meant to attend the training, exhaustive time duration of the training sessions constitute minor, yet important parts of such programmes. Therefore, only equipping robust audit systems is not sufficient. Accountability towards managing these audit systems is also important in ensuring greater participation and no oversight.

The absence of the real candidates, particularly female, explains the operational effects of proxy practices. Even though the data on papers seem to qualify the generalised idea that CBTs across PRIs have improved, the ground reality gives an entirely different picture. Upon researching about such constraints causing hindrances in the trainings, the major causative agents were reported to be time constraints, distance factors, resource constraints, understaffing, absence of robust attendance systems and vice versa.

Even though present day Panchayat Training Institutes are well equipped with attendance systems like Biometric Authentications, digital illiteracy amongst trainees from rural regions still enables them to use ID Card and Notebook attendance systems which highlights systematic technological failures.

Thus, more robust and efficient technological systems should be employed to address these institutional deficits and strengthen the backbone of PRIs. Mandatory verified attendance based on strict biometric authentications and regular audits of such attendances are required to be undertaken with great responsibility and efficiency so that greater participation of trainees can be accounted for with efficacy and transparency.

Linking training completion to fiscal transfers or tenure validation is a best way to help with incentivization of the trainees attending the training sessions so that more participation towards these trainings can be fostered. Such additions towards the programmes by the respective State governments would be a significant step.

The absence of capacity-building initiatives specifically designed for women representation inside PRIs exacerbates this. Many women lack the abilities and know-how required to carry out their elected duties in an efficient manner, including the ability to comprehend financial management, policy creation, and governance procedure.
A critical angle affecting women’s participation in Panchayat politics demands urgent attention. The normalization of such subjugation by the male members of their community has led women in rural regions to not participate into such programmes as well as in the meeting proceedings of the Panchayats.
Strong monitoring systems and incentives promote sincere participation among all stakeholders are essential for mitigating proxying difficulties. The results of the independent research emphasized the significance of policy interventions targeted at advancing inclusion and gender equality in Panchayati Raj training initiatives.

Gender sensitive curriculum development, focused outreach programmes, and female participation incentives are a few notable strategies that can assist close gender gap in governance training and promote more inclusive and functional governance structures within PRIs. Therefore, addressing the socio-political aspects linked to such loopholes of CBT systems demand significant attention.

A classic case example where the aforementioned Syndrome in Panchayats is efficiently addressed is about the State of Kerala. It has provided 50% reservation for women in PRIs and truly the representation has transformed into actual authority. Kudumbashree Network serves as the social capital backbone of the state’s women’s self-help network integrated with local governance.

This network has transformed women from individual political actors to a collective political force. Regular trainings conducted by Kerala Institute of Local Administration has initiated robust training curriculum ranging from a wide range of topics like Budgeting, Planning, Governance Procedures, Scheme Implementation, Legal Awareness and vice versa.

What makes Kerala the state which has outperformed other states is its well-designed capability cum confidence model, which involves fusion of informal institutions with formal institutions, leading to more acceptance of women as leaders in political processes. Even after such efficient mechanisms, proxy syndrome still exists, yet, Kerala has set an example when it comes to strengthening grassroots level governance based on Capability and Efficient Mechanisms.
However, significant efforts to strengthen women’s autonomy as regulated by the government should not be ignored while addressing Proxy Syndrome. In addressing such challenges, initiatives like Swashakti, Swayamsiddha, and Swadhar have sought to empower women economically and politically. These programmes aim to enhance women’s skills, provide support for entrepreneurship, and foster greater participation in decision-making processes.

To strive towards eradication of this Sarpanch Pati Syndrome, the government should focus more on robust training mechanisms aiming for more participation of women in such programmes, and more inclusive policies aimed at increasing political participation of women in grassroots governance. Reservation alone is insufficient, and building of institutional capacity should be the prime focus of government in strengthening the PRIs.

Alignment of social norms with legal norms, promotion of participatory governance, implementation of robust legal mechanisms to prohibit and punish proxy syndrome is the critical need of the hour. From a policy perspective, implementing strong gender sensitized curriculum equipped with robust incentivized systems is a strong requirement. Rethinking capacity building programmes structured with efficient mechanisms must become a policy priority.

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