Chhavi Rajawat First Lady

Chhavi Rajawat (born 1980) is the sarpanch of her village Soda, 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Jaipur. Though holding an elected post, Chhavi is not affiliated to any political party. The Panchayats are officially supposed to be non-partisan and Panchayat elected representatives thereby, do not fit into the bracket of main stream politics.

Early life

Chhavi Rajawat was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She is from a small village called Soda in Malpura tehsil, Tonk district. She is an alumnus of Rishi Valley School (Andhra Pradesh), Mayo College Girls School (Ajmer). Lady Shri Ram College (University of Delhi).

Personal life

Chhavi Rajawat divides her time between her village, Soda, and Jaipur where she lives with her parents.
Chhavi Rajawat, studied at Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh; Mayo College Girls’ School in Rajasthan and Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. After her MBA from Pune, she worked for companies such as Times of India, Carlson Group of Hotels, Airtel, etc. Today, she is the Sarpanch (elected head of the Village Council) in Soda village, Tonk district, Rajasthan. She may be the first woman Sarpanch in India with an MBA degree, but a career in politics is not on her radar.

Career

An M.B.A from Pune, Rajawat left her corporate job and city life to help develop rural India. She became the Sarpanch (Head of a Village) of Soda, a village sixty kilometers from Jaipur, Rajasthan. Her grandfather Brig. Raghubir Singh had been Sarpanch of the same village 20 years prior to Chhavi's elections. She is very good in meeting with people and she is taking a lead in development of Soda village. After becoming the Sarpanch of the village, she has implemented many projects successfully i.e. rain water harvesting, toilets facilities in most of the houses, etc.

The Times of India, a leading English newspaper in India, credits her as the changing face of rural Rajasthan.
On 25 March 2011, Rajawat made a well-received address to delegates at the 11th Infopoverty World Conference held at the United Nations.

Rajawat was honoured by former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at the Technology Day function at New Delhi.

Chhavi Rajawat was honoured "Young Indian Leader" by IBNLive.