On a pleasant Sunday in January this year, as the nation was celebrating the 65th Republic Day, a 32-year-old woman was fending off 100-odd men at a panchayat meeting in Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated Jhabua district.As the sarpanch (head) of Khalkhandvi gram panchayat, Vandana Bahadur Maida is used to such heated exchanges. But on that day, tempers had run high.

However, Vandana, who belongs to the Bhil tribe, has fought enough battles in life to back off.Mixing firmness with mollycoddling, she had made the men see reason and assured them that their demand for electricity, more hand-pumps and ponds would be fulfilled. For Jhabua’s woman of steel, it was just another day in office. Through sheer determination, Vandana has given woman a voice in this remote part of Jhabua district, around 170km west of Indore and nearly 250 km from capital Bhopal.

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