Rakhi Paliwal

Rakhi Paliwal is only 23 years old but she is a pioneer in her community. Not only is Rakhi the youngest Vice President of the Upli-Oden Panchayat, Khamnore Block in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, but also the first woman in her community who has studied law and drives a motorcycle.

Rakhi travelled 50 kilometres every day to attend her law college in Udaipur and is determined to ensure no one in her village defecates in public. Currently, more than 50 per cent of her village does not have access to private toilets. Today, Rakhi is active in social media, where she regularly shares her Panchayat activities and hopes to create websites and connect all the Panchayats in Khamnore virtually. She wants her Panchayat to achieve complete sanitation standards by the end of 2013.