Punjab's youngest sarpanch interacts with PM; gets praise

Punjab's youngest sarpanch Pallavi Thakur was surprised on Friday morning when she received a phone call from the Prime Minister's Office informing her that Narendra Modi would talk to her in the next half an hour.

She was sent a link and an IT team from the Prime Minister's Officer checked for video and audio quality. Thakur was asked to be ready by 10:15 am.

"It was really a surprise for me," said the 21-year-old, who was one of the many members of the panchayati raj system Modi spoke to on Panchayati Raj Diwas.

Thakur, who belongs to a family of agriculturists, was elected as the head of Hara village in Pathankot district's Dhar block when she was 19 years old. Hara has a population of around 2000.

The prime minister and the sarpanch spoke about the different measures being taken at the village in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and on the use of fertilizers and urea.

Thakur, whose father Kewal Singh owns a few acres of land on the foot of the Shivalik Hills, said, "It was a great moment that can't be explained."
Thakur has two younger brothers and an elder sister. She is a good orator and people have faith in her, the sarpanch's father Kewal Singh said