In what could be described as 'incentive-driven' empowerment of women, as many as 254 villages in Gujarat have entrusted their panchayats entirely to the women; to college-going girls in one case.

All panchayat members including the sarpanch in these villages are women, elected unopposed under the state government's 'samras' scheme.

The number of such all-women panchayats has risen from 20 in the last elections to 254 this time, said deputy rural development commissioner, M S Vyas.

Elections to 10,405 village panchyats in the state will be held on December 29. But in 2,147 villages, which have opted for samras scheme, panchayat members have been declared elected unopposed, and 254 of them have all-women panchayats.

The objective of samras is to avoid inter-village enmities which the election politics creates.

The government had declared a reward of Rs 3 lakh for all-women panchayats for villages with under-5,000 population, and of Rs 5 lakh for villages with above-5,000 population.

Siswa, in Anand district, has opted for samras, and handed over administration to educated young girls for the next five years. All the twelve members of the panchayat are college-going girls.

"Although financial incentive must be a reason for the villagers to empower women in this way, this is a development as women will get training in running the administration. In the long run, they will be ready to handle bigger responsibilities," said rural development and panchayat minister, Narottam Patel.

But political analyst Achyut Yagnik believes that this is not really a total empowerment of women.

"We know that in villages the actual administration is run by the husbands of the women who are in power in panchayats. This is not a total empowerment.." Yagnik said, "...but this is a baby step which may help women in the long run."

Opposition Congress says that empowerment through samras undermines the democratic process.

"The constitution has given voting rights to all the citizens of the country so that they can participate in a democratic process. But under the samras scheme it is undermined," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

"We are not against empowerment of women. Rajiv Gandhi had taken the historic decision of introducing 33 per cent reservations for women. The problem with samras is democratic process is being compromised, which, in the long run, may have a negative impact," Doshi added.

But women are not complaining.

Hinal Patel (22), nominated for the post of sarpanch of Siswa village under samras, said it was a proud moment for her. "I want to educate all the villagers and eradicate illiteracy from Siswa," Hinal said.