Indian sarpanch dazzles at UN meet

Jeans-clad Sarpanch from India dazzled ministers and ambassadors at the 11th Info-Poverty World Conference held at the United Nations.

The 30-year-old Chhavi Rajawat, who could be mistaken for a frontline model or a Bollywood actress, is India's youngest and the only MBA to become a village head - a position mostly held by elders - , after quitting her senior management position to serve her beloved village of Soda as sarpanch.

Rajawat participated in a panel discussion at the two-day meet at the UN on March 24 and 25 on how civil society can implement its actions and spoke on the role of civil society in fighting poverty and promoting development.

"If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65 years since independence, it just won't be good enough. We'll be failing people who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am convinced we can do it differently and do it faster.

"In the past year alone, I and the villagers in Soda have brought about a radical change in the village purely through our own efforts. We have had no outside support - no NGO help, no public, nor private sector help," she said.

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