MBA, sarpanch & loving it! 
She quit a buzzing corporate career to return to her roots
Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service

Soda (Tonk), March 11
Even as the entire political class is busy mulling a Women’s Reservation Bill, a young woman is charting her own course in the dusty bylanes of this non-descript village in Rajasthan’s Tonk district.

Chhavi Rajawat, a topper in business management from Pune, quit a lucrative corporate career to be the sarpanch of her native village. Ask her about the drastic shift and the Lady Shriram College graduate says, “By serving my fellow villagers I’m only fulfilling the wish of my grandfather, Brig Raghubir Singh, who, too, had won the sarpanch’s election three times in a row.”

Before contesting the panchayat poll, she worked with five companies in various capacities but that didn’t come in the way of adjusting in a rural milieu. “I belong here. My ancestral house is here, I grew up playing with the kids of village farmers,” says Chhavi, who schooled at the prestigious Rishi Valley in Bangalore.

Attired in jeans and a T-shirt, Chhavi chairs NREGA meetings in her village and takes keen interest in development works. She feels that her MBA is a big help in managing village affairs better. However, it is not just her village that is benefitting from her management skills. She is also looking after a hotel her family runs in Jaipur and running E-quest, a riding school, in Jaipur.

Talking about her priorities, Chhavi says, “Water is a big problem here because of its high fluoride content. My focus is on ensuring clean drinking water for each villager. I’m already holding talks with a firm that deals in reverse osmosis (RO).”

Unemployment is another major concern and Chhavi wants to increase jobs for local youth. She also intends to usher in a modern approach to farming. “I would like to see farmers make the most of modern agriculture techniques and grow crops best suited for this area,” she says.

Villagers, too, have high expectations from Chhavi. “We were not happy with the previous sarpanch and decided to field Chhavi against his wife in the recent elections. She is the daughter of our village and we knew she would not let us down,” say villagers.