He dictated when the VDC could meet, and dominated the meetings. Women members would constantly defer to his word when in his presence. Despite this uncooperativeness, microplanning was successfully completed in the village.

But three to four months after the microplanning had been completed, actual physical work had yet to begin in Degam. Villagers began to complain that so much time was spent on planning, and when it came to actually start work, nothing happened. The problem, as SEWA viewed it, was that the poorest of the poor would not benefit if work began in Degam at this time. To this the sarpanch replied that if SEWA kept focusing on the poorest of the poor, no work would ever begin in his village. In his opinion, poor people were lazy and undeserving. Nevertheless, he agreed to the reformation of the VDC. Two of the more well-to-do members of the committee were dropped, making the composition of the committee 80 percent poorest of the poor members and 20 percent financially secure members. The selecting the president and secretary, however, was not such an easy task. Two men came forward to fill the positions, and initial resolutions were passed in their names. But Jeevika regulations stipulate that these positions must be filled by women only. When told that this was in violation of Jeevika principles, the men simply replaced their names with those of their wives. In their view, the women’s names were nothing more than a mere formality, while all the administration would continue to be done by the men!

For the next three months, no progress was made resolving this issue. The wealthier members of the village did not like the idea of being subjugated to the poorer residents of their village, finding it unbecoming of their social standing. The initial resolution, needed to open a bank account in the name of the VDC, was not passed. Finally, after three months, the sarpanch telephoned the SEWA District Coordinator unexpectedly and stated, “The resolution is ready, shall we go to the bank to open the account?” The District Coordinator agreed, and met them with the required documents at the local bank. Upon arrival, however, the District Coordinator began to suspect that things were amiss. The women present to open the accounts were dressed in impressive clothes and ornaments. It was quite obvious that these two women were not from poor families. One of them was actually the sarpanch’s relative, one who owns a chocolate factory on the outskirts of the village.
When the District Coordinator asked the villagers present, “With whose signature will the account be opened?” the sarpanch of the village immediately indicated these two women. “How have you selected these two women?” enquired the District Coordinator. To which the former leader of the village replied, “These two women are able to read and write, so it will help the work in progressing.”