New Delhi, July 22 -- Three decades after India reserved a third of Panchayat seats for women, many of them still don't get to govern. The ministry of panchayati raj has confirmed to Parliament that "proxy representation," where male relatives of elected women Pradhans effectively run their offices, remains a real problem in local self-government, despite years of reservation and training programmes meant to fix it. The disclosure came in a written reply submitted to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, in response to a question by BJP MP Smita Uday Wagh on capacity-building for women elected representatives. Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh, said a Supreme Court-directed advisory committee, formed in September 2023, examined the issue a...