Chhavi Rajawat

Rural Governance Leader

Chhavi Rajawat is a rural governance leader who made history in 2010 by leaving her corporate career to contest the sarpanch election in Soda, her ancestral village in Rajasthan’s Tonk district. India’s first MBA sarpanch, she served two terms, navigating a decade of village councils, land disputes, and water crises.

Under her leadership, Soda gained piped water, its first bank branch where many women opened their first bank accounts, and a girls’ college that was saved from closure. Her work transformed the village into a national model of rural governance.

A graduate in English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College, Chhavi is an Aspen Fellow and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. She has spoken at the United Nations, the Harvard India Conference, TEDx, and leadership forums across India.

Among her many honours, she was recognised by President Ram Nath Kovind as one of India’s “First Ladies”, a distinction celebrating women who broke new ground in their respective fields. She has received CNN-IBN’s Young Indian Leader Award and was also felicitated by the late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. She currently serves on the boards of EIH Limited (The Oberoi Group) and the Miracle Foundation.