Muslim woman Iram Chauhan, became the youngest village head in Uttar Pradesh’s Gurana village of Shamli district. Iram considers the development of the village as the first priority and wants to come forward and talk about the issues of women in the village, ChalChitra Abhiyaan reported.
In May 2021, Iram Masrur Khan from Gurana Villlage created history by becoming the youngest Gram Pradhan at the age of 21 years. She always had the vision to improve her village.
In an interview with the ChalChitra Abhiyaan, she said that she was always motivated to do something for her village. “Since chidlhood I have always been motivated to do something for my village, but my age didn’t allow me to do anything. Now that I have reached the age and spoke to my father, he supported me. He appreciated my efforts to work for the village and made me run for the elections,” she added.
She said that she faced a lot of problems at beginning. “But now it feels good, I got support from the villagers as well. Initially they weren’t fine with the idea that girls should enter politics. Even my father heard stuff but now I’m getting much support from them,” Iram noted.
“Men in the gram meetings generally give good response. They listen to what a young literate girls has to say. I’ve heard them whisepring to each other saying we should listen to her opinions as well. As it’s rare to see a girl amongst them, they feel an educated girls will bring some new points. They focus on my opinions,” the youngest Gram Pradhan said.
There are few who say bad stuff and comment on her clothes and her being a girl, she added.
Iram’s father, Rao masrur Khan said, “My kid was always active from a very young age, but she wasn’t eligible then, but as soon as became eligible, 6 months ease was given for elections due to which she got the chance . So she stood for elections,” he added.
“Although villagers used to say why are you making a girl the head and other stuff. We hear all this time from the society but some people were helpful. They voted for her, she won the elections and worked hard for the village. Later, we got more support from them,” Iram’s father said.
Iram Khan is the youngest Gram Pradhan of the Gurana Villlage, which has a population of more than 4500. She leads the village in all the meetings at block level and police stations. Currently she is pursuing a degree in BBA and later she will do MBA. She aspires to became an IAS officer, “It’s my dream,” she said.