Soda village, Rajasthan – Chavi Rajawat

About: Chavi Rajawat, Dr. Chhavi Rajawat is the Sarpanch- elected head of the Village Council of Soda located in the District of Tonk, Rajasthan, India. She was first elected Sarpanch in February 2010 and re-elected for a second term in February of 2015 courtesy the demand of the village residents. During her first term, Sarpanch Rajawat was successful in bringing transparency into the council office, water to a drought-hit region, constructing toilets, promoting plantation, construction of roads, opening a bank and encouraging women and girls to also open accounts and inculcate the habit of saving, forming self-help groups, providing better infrastructure to the government-run girls’ school, saving a girls’ college in the village from shutting down, mobilizing parents to educate their children, providing electricity to every household and, introducing a waste management project among other accomplishments. Sarpanch Rajawat’s focus during her second term is on improving the quality of education, introducing vocational training to help provide alternate sources of income, improve the ecological balance and, agricultural practices. Sarpanch Rajawat is an alumna of Rishi Valley and Mayo College Girls’ School. She graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and followed it up with a degree in business management from Pune. Sarpanch Rajawat is an Aspen Fellow and a Young Global Leader with World Economic Forum. Sarpanch Rajawat received the First Ladies National award from the President Ram Nath Kovind and Ministry of Women & Child Development in 2018. She has been honoured with ASSOCHAM-Ladies League’s Grassroots Women of the Decade Achievers award; Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Shakti National award; All India Woman Achiever’s award; honoured on Technology Day by Former President Lt. Shri APJ Abdul Kalam.