The Earth And Her Daughters

This is India바카라�s shameful secret, as it is the world바카라�s. The 바카라�formal바카라� economy바카라�where human toil and its fruits are counted and put on graphs바카라�has always had an area of darkness. A very large area that it pretends doesn바카라�t exist. 바카라�Women hold up half the sky,바카라� goes the revolutionary phrase. What it really means is that they till and sow and tend to half of earth, toiling just as hard as men바카라�if not actually more. We wouldn바카라�t know. No one has really counted. It바카라�s invisible labour, just like slavery was. 바카라�Invisibilisation바카라� doesn바카라�t mean no one can see women working바카라�we see it all the time. The classic image of paddy sowing is rows of women, ankle deep in mud, bent over, working all day, giving birth to our food. Tropes abound.

Women walking miles with pots of water on the head in the arid north Indian plains. Women threshing and winnowing. All of it the subject of art and folk music. Hindi cinema even has a woman with a plough, brow dripping with sweat, as one of its iconic images. But neither Mother India nor traditional songs about Krishna teasing women while they fetch water from the Yamuna changes the way our mind is set: we think of the 바카라�kisan바카라� as a man, just like the 바카라�jawan바카라�. In common metaphor, in calculations of wages and the GDP, in thinking legally about who owns the earth, we erase the daughters of the earth. It is here, after we ­extract the fruits of her labour, that we make her invisible.

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It is, in reality, a collective gender crime of unquantified proportions. All of us are guilty of it. A sign that even the higher judiciary was not immune to this common ­perception came the other day. 바카라�Why are women and ­elders (being) kept in the protests?바카라� Chief Justice S.A. Bobde had occasion to ask, while adjudicating on the ­ongoing farm protests on January 11. The phrasing there, as media reports were quick to note, implied two things. Women being 바카라�kept바카라� at protest sites evokes an image of ­automatons devoid of will and agency. Being clubbed with 바카라�elders바카라� makes of them weak, invalid dependents. 바카라�Let the women go and the men can sort out this matter바카라�, as a way of thinking, belongs to a time when women were chattel. Not real people with views or stakes.

Stakes? That바카라�s where Indian society and law, still steeped in patriarchy, exacts its real toll. Women바카라�s stakes are deemed to be in the emotional realm, given over for the well-being of family, part of their dharma. Nothing ­material is ever to be demanded by them, in return for work. That바카라�s only for men. Our landscape is littered with examples of this collective larceny.

Take Harminder Kaur, a woman farmer of Punjab, the same land from where the farm protestors are streaming out asking for their due share. Life came to standstill for her when she lost her husband two years ago. She was just 28 then. With two children in tow, Harminder had to return to her ancestral house in Bhatinda as her in-laws threw her out even before the last rites were over. Harminder has no land in her name though she had toiled along with her ­husband since her marriage in 2005. Fourteen years of hard labour, yet she could not ask for her due.

바카라�From sowing to cutting the crop, I used to spend hours on our land. Most of the work was done by me,바카라� says Harminder. Now fighting for her share with the help of an NGO, she is unsure about the outcome. Back at her natal house, it바카라�s more work. She cultivates wheat and pulses, but again, no stakes. She바카라�s aware that she is not entitled to the land she tills. 바카라�I don바카라�t want to claim land from my father as I fear it will strain our relationship. I have no idea what to do next,바카라� says Harminder.

She바카라�s only among uncounted lakhs of women farmers in India who remain on the fringes of the formal economy, with no land ownership. Sukhwinder Kaur, state committee member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), Punjab, knows it all too well. She has been fighting for land ownership for women for decades, and it바카라�s not some ­abstract ideal for her. The challenge is as personal as it is social and political. Sukhwinder doesn바카라�t have a land title, but the 53-year-old바카라�s life revolves around the 10-acre land owned by her husband. 바카라�Right to property is the most pressing issue for women farmers. A daughter may get the land only after her father바카라�s death and the wife gets only after her husband바카라�s death, if at all. We practically have no rights,바카라� she says. This is true of a majority of India바카라�s women farmers바카라�they simply aren바카라�t included in the definition of a 바카라�farmer바카라�. That바카라�s a very material issue: despite the law taking baby-steps towards a more inclusive notion, at a practical level only landowners are considered farmers.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18 (PLFS) says 73.2 per cent of rural women workers are ­engaged in agriculture in India, but women own only 12.8 per cent of landholdings. 바카라�The majority of even those are widows, to whom ownership passed after their spouse바카라�s death,바카라� says Anu Verma of Gujarat-based Maldhari Rural Action Group (MARAG). 바카라�It바카라�s very important to delineate the identity of the farmer and bring land into the equation. Land is at the core of everything. Our experience is that it바카라�s a struggle for women to get property inheritance, leaving aside a few widows.바카라� 바카라�Land to the tiller바카라� was a slogan central to the last century바카라�s peasant struggles. Every study report shows us that essential inequality continues바카라�in gendered ways. Women had long taken over the task of cultivating the family landholding, as a SEWA study found in Bihar, a state that sees near-perennial migration of the male ­workforce and hence would offer a good case-study of what they call the 바카라�feminisation of agriculture바카라�. And yet, no ­ownership. So they are not real 바카라�farmers바카라�.

Kavitha Kuruganti, who바카라�s associated with the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), rues how women farmer바카라�s contribution is obliterated. 바카라�We see a huge disparity in land ownership. The definition of a farmer is linked to land ownership, and patriarchal notions about who is a farmer control that. That leaves women out of the very concept or definition,바카라� she says. Only gender-­disaggregated data will clear the real picture, she adds. That will also bring out other complications바카라�categories besides widows, like divorcees, or abandoned wives.

Take Sunita Choudhary, from Nawada village in western UP. Life rolled some tricky dice for her three years ago when her husband 바카라�went missing바카라�바카라�with the Rs 3 lakh they had earned from that year바카라�s harvest. The 45-year old now struggles to repay the mounting debts. Her daily schedule starts at 4 am and stretches till 8 at night. 바카라�My husband mortgaged the land to someone. Whatever I earn from the crop, I have to pay back to the moneylenders,바카라� says Sunita. And yes, she has no entitlement over the land바카라�she바카라�s not a 바카라�farmer바카라� legally! There바카라�s plenty labour, and plenty dignity in that labour, ­backing Sunita when she says it바카라�s about time things changed.

This awareness is growing gradually. Usha, 49, has been farming in her village in UP바카라�s Hapur for the past 30 years. She says women work harder than men in the fields, ­especially in labour-intensive processes. Sowing, tilling, winnowing, harvesting, Usha is hands-on like her peers. But despite the multiple roles women play, discrimination is stark, she says바카라�especially on account of a misperception that heavy lifting on farms is done by men. 바카라�A bunch of ­sugarcane comes to around 80-90 kg. It바카라�s the women who cut it. Still, we aren바카라�t considered equals. The government should make it mandatory that land titles be written jointly to include women,바카라� she says. Sashi, also from Nawada, knows the word 바카라�farmer바카라� only evokes a picture of 바카라�a man toiling in the field바카라�.

바카라�The popular imagination of a 바카라�kisan바카라� is that of a male. But the irony is that the work is done by females. It바카라�s the man who gets the kisan credit card, subsidy, all that. Unless we are acknowledged, and get ­access to technology and ­government schemes, women will remain unseen,바카라� she says.

The political consciousness is still quite new. When Sulekha Singh of ActionAid undertook a project piloted by Oxfam among UP바카라�s women farmers in 2011, she was taken aback by how much the gender bias was internalised by women. 바카라�None of the women were ready to identify themselves as farmers. They said that though 70 per cent work is done by them, it바카라�s the men who are in charge. The entrenched patriarchy and its connection with land runs deep,바카라� says Singh. There바카라�s a visible change now, she says, especially after bouts of training she helps impart on technical and other aspects of farming. 바카라�Now women have started questioning. They know what to cultivate, they know the crop. We give them meticulous training, which empowers them. But the real change will happen only when the government starts recognising women as farmers. It must move all PM Kisan payments into the ­accounts of women farmers after expanding the scheme to all farmers with or without land ownership,바카라� she says.

To be sure, a more comprehensive and inclusive definition came in 2007, with the Centre바카라�s National Policy for Farmers. This document defined a 바카라�farmer바카라� as 바카라�a person ­actively engaged in the economic and/or livelihood activity of growing crops and producing another primary ­agricultural commodity and will include all agricultural ­operational holders, cultivators, agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, tenants, poultry and livestock rearers, ­fishers, beekeepers, gardeners, pastoralists, non-corporate planters and planting labourers, as well as persons engaged in various farming-related occupations such as sericulture, vermiculture and agro-forestry.바카라� But for all the fine words, nothing changed on the ground, say women farmers.

Prof Abhijit Sen, agriculture expert and former Planning Commission member, says the 바카라�contribution of women in agriculture and rural economy is pretty high, though there바카라�s a section that believes in denying the value of women바카라�s role in the farm sector바카라�. Denial adds to the vagueness. There바카라�s no proper estimation of which particular sphere in farming women contribute more towards바카라�it also ­varies according to region, crop and socio-economic conditions. At a minimum, as a rule, it바카라�s certainly over one-third and, in some cases, around two-third. In a 바카라�normal바카라� scenario, where ­everyone sticks to prescribed gender roles, anywhere ­between 33 per cent and 50 per cent of all of India바카라�s farm work is done by women.

Add to that household work, ­including cooking and ­tending to the elderly and children. That generally means women work up to 10-12 hours a day while men work around 8-9 hours a day, says Sen.

Around 90 per cent of farmers in our country have small- or ­medium-sized landholdings. This necessitates working extra on others바카라� fields or in allied sectors to supplement incomes. No one has a problem counting women here, when there바카라�s work to be done. 바카라�They work on their own farms and also in the fields of other farmers, and also do backyard farming and non-farm activities,바카라� says agroeconomist P.S.M. Rao. The problem comes only when paying for that labour바카라�women바카라�s farm labour earns them lesser wages than men. Rao feels it바카라�s a calculated denial. 바카라�If you take into account their multiple roles at home, on the farm and allied activities, women바카라�s share would be equal to if not more than that of men,바카라� he says.

The Farm Widow

This is a story by itself. One invisible face of India바카라�s agrarian crisis is the widow of the farmer who dies by suicide. The latter are a well-known category바카라�even if it바카라�s a tale of ­despair, everyone has at least heard it. But no one ever talks of, or thinks about, how life has crafted anew out of that bleakness by the widows they leave behind. Especially ­because only a few of them even manage to get the land title transferred to their names, say activists.

E. Rajeswari, of Talapula village in Ananthapur district, is only 28, but has already seen all sides of life in a ­dozen-odd years. She got married at age 16, back in the unified Andhra Pradesh of 2003, and plunged headlong into cultivating on the four acres owned by her father-in-law. The acuteness of the Deccan바카라�s farm crisis soon caught up with them and her husband killed himself in 2016, after he failed to pay back a Rs 4 lakh loan to moneylenders. Rajeswary neither got ownership of the land nor any ­government assistance. She now works as a dailywage ­labourer to fend for her four-member family, including two children. 바카라�Earlier I used to work on my farm. Now I work on other바카라�s farms to make a living,바카라� she says, simply.

The National Crime Records Bureau records a total of 10,281 farmer suicides in just 2019. And a study by the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch (MAKAAM) shows that 40 per cent of women widowed due to suicides over 2012-18 did not receive rights to their farmland. This is besides their other struggles, the social stigma and harassment from moneylenders. N. Ademma, one such farm widow, works as a farm labourer. Her land is untenable for farming, 바카라�but the moneylenders are trying to grab it from me since I am unable to repay the loan my husband had taken. My son dropped out of school,바카라� she says. But she says women have learned to overcome the challenges.

Not all farming women, though. Bhanuja, who works with Rythu Swarajya Vedika, an umbrella association of farm NGOs, says women farmers too end their lives in despair, though there바카라�s no accurate data on the phenomenon. 바카라�Usually women farmer suicides are reported as matters of domestic violence and such like, since women are not recognised as farmers,바카라� she says. Bhanuja also says availing compensation due to a widow is a cumbersome process as they need to produce a slew of documents. 바카라�The land ownership laws for women remain on paper,바카라� she says. There are indeed rules stipulated for inheritance. The Hindu Succession Act (HSA) says land has to be divided among the widow, the mother and the children of the deceased. Muslim women, under personal law, get one-third of the share in the property (men are entitled to two-thirds)바카라�though, in some states, that doesn바카라�t include agricultural land. And Christian widows are entitled to one-third of the property; the remainder being divided among the children.

But you guess right. More often than not, patriarchy and social norms win over legal rights. Says Bhanuja: 바카라�If, say, the land is not registered in the name of the husband and is still in the name of the father-in-law, it바카라�s up to the ­latter바카라�.바카라� The usual script can then be imagined. In Maharashtra, says Pratibha Shinde of Lok Sangharsh Morcha, land rights are mostly observed in the breach. 바카라�Sometimes an alcoholic husband will sell off the land without informing the wife. Under the Forest Rights Act, both husband and wife have equal rights. We want the same in agricultural lands too,바카라� says Shinde.

The agrarian crisis is further invisibilising the role of women, says Seema Kulkarni of MAKAAM. 바카라�We are seeing that a lot more unpaid work is being done by women because of the agrarian distress. Farmer ­suicides also put a lot of stress on women; they바카라�re forced to work without any kind of claim to the ­resources,바카라� she says. Dalit women remain the most marginal, adds Kulkarni. 바카라�Even data is not available on Dalit women farmers.바카라� And tribal women farmers ­remain cut off from the government schemes meant for them, while they do hardly remain untouched by the larger tragedy. When Vaishnavi Samale바카라�s husband died by suicide in 2018, he left a huge debt for his wife to repay. The family바카라�s 3.5 acres, in Maharashtra바카라�s Parbhani district, is in the name of her mother-in-law. Vaishnavi cultivates soybean and cotton there, but has no access to government schemes or markets to sell her produce. 바카라�I work as a farm labourer as I have two school-going children to look after,바카라� she says.

Y.K. Alagh, agroeconomist and former minister, says women바카라�s participation in certain farm activities is as high as 70 per cent. This is more so in the case of Dalits and Adivasis. In many cases, Adivasi women play the very key role of decision-makers, especially where menfolk have migrated in search of wage employment. 바카라�These women play a very important economic role, yet our system, including the judiciary, does not recognise their contribution. While the law recognises women farmers바카라� rights to own land, in practice there바카라�s little attempt to enforce the law,바카라� says Alagh. In Meghalaya바카라�s matrilineal tribal societies, part of that equation is inverted. Since it is the women who have property rights, the men, devoid of any personal stake, are popularly seen to be less than enthusiastic about work. Gambling and alcoholism are common. Indeed, even in rural Uttarakhand, the trope of the 바카라�lazy man바카라�, given over to leisure, is a common one. Women never get any off-days anywhere.

Land바카라�s Caste

The balance is particularly tilted against Dalits, says Paramjit Kaur, a land rights activist from Punjab. According to the 2011 census, 71 per cent of Dalits work as farm labourers, while they own only an abysmal nine per cent of farmland. 바카라�No wonder Dalit women are the most exploited. The dominant caste landowners expect them to sleep with them. Sexual harassment is rampant,바카라� she says. Kaur recounts many women breaking down, talking about their ­bitter experiences, during a land rights movement she was part of. Consequent to that, Dalit women now jointly tend to common land along with other families. 바카라�In two ­villages in Sangrur district, we have taken up a contract for farming in women바카라�s name. We have started a ­system where women share all farm responsibilities,바카라� she says. Raj Kaur, a 38-year-old farm ­labourer from Sangrur, is a beneficiary of that movement. 바카라�Our dominant caste landlords would harass us while we worked in their fields. Now there바카라�s a huge difference,바카라� says Kaur.   

Claiming their rightful stakes, making decisions, forming associations바카라�this is a future worth striving for. Kanchanben Ranshi, 54, owns 10 bighas in her native Ahmedabad ­district, Gujarat. She has been associated with the ­community-based organisation Sanand Mahila Vikas Sangthan for the past 20 years. She says she is in charge of the entire process바카라�from deciding the seed to marketing and selling. 바카라�Women spend most of their time on the land and work harder than men. If we are not considered farmers, who else will be?바카라� she asks. Ushaben, an Adivasi farmer in Gujarat바카라�s Narmada district, too is an inspiration to her villagers. Associated with the Navjeevan Aadivasi Mahila Vikas Manch, she helps women farmers claim land rights바카라�over 500 women have benefited till now. 바카라�Earlier, I didn바카라�t even know a woman could own land. There was a perception that a girl would anyway be married off. Why should she need land when her husband already owns a plot? When I started speaking about the issue, I got quite a lot of backlash. But I was not discouraged. Our Constitution says girls and boys are equally eligible to inherit land,바카라� she asks.

Bridging the gender gap can yield significant ­results, as a 2011 UN report indicated. Under its group farming initiative in Kerala, the women바카라�s ­self-help group Kudumbashree was able to bring around 28,500 hectares under cultivation. 바카라�Kudumbashree ­acquires barren land. Loans are facilitated through ­cooperative banks. We ensure huge participation of women,바카라� says All India Kisan Sabha vice-president S.K. Preeja, who is also a block panchayat president.

The 바카라�feminisation바카라� of agriculture as a result of growing rural-­to-urban migration by men became a point of debate after the Economic Survey of 2017-18. The vital presence of women in multiple roles바카라�as cultivators, entrepreneurs and labourers바카라�is now beginning to be recognised, says economist Renana Jhabvala, chairperson of SEWA Bharat. 바카라�In the case of small farms, especially where men opt to work in factor­ies, the transport sector etc, women do the farming on the family landholding,바카라� she says. However, NSSO surveys show a decline in employment in agriculture for women. There바카라�s plenty regional variation. 바카라�In some pockets, there is feminisation바카라�for instance, in Uttarakhand and Himachal. But, overall, there also seems to be a trend towards defeminisaton in counted numbers,바카라� says Kuruganti. The picture is also cloudy due to the overall transitions in play. For instance, an increased focus on cash crops impacts women바카라�s relationship with agriculture, says Ishan Aggarwal of the Foundation for Ecological Security, which works in Madhya Pradesh. Women tend to possess traditional knowledge on crop ­varieties and seeds, so changing farm practices affect that. At a time when farm laws are a national debate, and rights and their denial are finally being talked about, and Indian agriculture looks towards a saner tomorrow, this is a darkened ­corner of the field that must finally come into light.

***

Woman with a Rain Gun

N. Parameswari, Tamil Nadu

N. Parameswari became a farmer only after her marriage. 바카라�I used to help out initially in the fields, but now I manage all the farming activities full time. My husband, Natesan, takes care of our powerloom business,바카라� says this woman farmer from Kollapatti village in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu. She now grows cane and groundnut, and it is the latter she finds both challenging and interesting. The groundnut crop is usually rain-fed and requires more preparation before the rains arrive. This demands weeks of soil conditioning in the four acres used to cultivate groundnut. Since Parameswari, 48, switched to organic farming 12 years ago, groundnut farming has become even more taxing, she says. 바카라�But the result is equally good as we get a bountiful crop that is healthy in every way without any trace of chemicals. As we sell only the nuts and not the whole groundnut, there is a huge demand for our crop. At the end of each crop, we earn about Rs 18,600 as profit per acre. Even our groundnut creepers fetch a good price as cattle fodder because they contain no chemicals,바카라� she points out.

As poor rains are bad for groundnut cultivation, Parameswari overcomes the deficit using a local innovation바카라�the rain gun. The 10-feet-tall contraption is essentially an oversized sprinkler that sucks water from a well or borewell and sprays it over a ­radius of 60-80 feet. It can be moved around to cover the entire field.

When the five-month-long groundnut cultivation season is over, she uses the field for growing red maize, which provides excellent fodder for cattle바카라�her own and those of others. Other than managing these crops and the cane field spread over another 15 acres, Parameswari also tends to half-a-dozen milch cows owned by her family.

Asked if women farmers like her face any difficulty, she says: 바카라�Once everyone sees our involvement and willingness to put in long hours in the field, they show us the same respect that is accorded to male farmers. Even the traders treat us well when they see the healthy produce we have ­cultivated.바카라�

By G.C. Shekhar in Chennai

Landless and Alone

Mangala Devi, UP

Text and photo: Tribhuvan Tiwari

As the biting cold wind blows in from the north, shaking the morning dew off the sorghum or chari grass grown to feed cattle, 75-year-old Mangala Devi hobbles to the fields with her handy sickle. The widow doesn바카라�t own the land she tills; works for a landowner at Khedi village of Ghaziabad, UP. Says her husband owned two bighas but lost them, she knows not how. She lives alone바카라�her two sons have moved away with their families. 바카라�Women work as farmers, but their work is not recognised,바카라� says Devi, who fends for herself when women of her age 바카라�lead a comfortable life surrounded by family바카라�. She works the fields three-four hours a day, every day, for her food and supplies; does all the household chores; takes care of a cow she calls her friend.

How Kisan Chachi Broke Taboos

Rajkumari Devi, Bihar

Agriculture has been an all-male preserve especially among the privileged castes in Bihar. But ­Rajkumari Devi, popularly known as Kisan Chachi, broke the ­patriarchal glass ceiling in the feudal society by ­taking to farming at a time when women were not even allowed to venture out of their homes. ­Married to an unemployed man from a Bhumihar family of ­Anandpur village in Muzaffarpur district in 1974, ­Rajkumari ­realised soon after the wedding that her ­in-laws expected her to do little besides traditional household chores. But she longed to go out to the agricultural fields바카라�a scandalous aspiration for the daughter-in-law of an orthodox family.

Conferred Padma Shri in 2019, Kisan Chachi says she was drawn to agriculture primarily because of her farmer father, who used to take her to his fields in her childhood. 바카라�I was always fascinated by farming,바카라� she adds. In the beginning, even her mother and brother frowned upon her for 바카라�working like a man바카라� in the fields in her in-laws바카라� village. Her husband too was not supportive enough then. Everybody tried to dissuade her바카라�her brother, in fact, promised to send her money every month if she stayed away from the fields. Her father-in-law, miffed with her for having 바카라�brought shame to his family바카라�, separated her from their joint family, giving her only three bighas of land. This proved to be a turning point for Rajkumari, now 65. Determined to prove a point to her family, she started growing cash crops like tobacco along with seasonal fruits in the area ravaged by annual floods. She also began making pickles and fruit jam, which found many takers.

Riding a bicycle through muddy lanes, she formed a group of poor women and inspired them to take to farming and cattle-rearing for becoming financially independent. Later, she set up many self-help groups with the help of local officials of the agriculture dep­artment. It was not long before she caught the attention of Nitish ­Kumar when he became CM in 2005. Today she also sells pickles online ­under the brand name of Kisan Chachi.

By Giridhar Jha

Cash from Compost

Chennamma, Karnataka

At the entrance to Chennamma바카라�s farm, just next to where half a dozen cows graze, is her ­vermicompost patch. Beneath the layer of dung, wiggling worms are hard at work creating a ­nutrient-rich mixture바카라�for Chennamma, a farmer from Antharahalli village near ­Doddaballapura, about 50 km north of Bangalore, they are a ­lifesaver. Every three months or so, the ­family sells manure at about Rs 5,000 per tonne, ­fetching a sum that helps to keep things going. 바카라�The returns from selling vermicompost helped to put our two daughters through college,바카라� she says. Chennamma received a best woman farmer award at a Krishi Mela in 2007 and since then has kept a keen eye on progressive ­farming ­practices. In her mid-40s now, she and her husband ­Hanumantharaju C., 52, manage their six-acre farm together.

Chennamma says the worry of raising a family on agricultural income motivated her to attend training sessions conducted by the local Krishi ­Vigyan Kendra (KVK). Over the years, she has been a resource person for other women farmers as well. 바카라�We only buy sugar, coffee and pulses. Everything else we need...vegetables, flowers, fruits...all come from our field,바카라� she says. A few years ago, the KVK recognised her as a success story in cultivating french beans.

Currently, Chennamma is cultivating arecanut, ­banana, guava and other fruits바카라�longer-term crops that would save the daily trip to the market to sell produce, economise on labour and also get good returns. 바카라�Everything has two sides to it, even agriculture. We have burnt our fingers too. But if we farm scientifically and if we find a ­market for our produce, it will not be too difficult to make a living out of farming,바카라� she says. Her elder daughter Rakshita is studying engineering, while the other daughter, Harshita, is doing a BSc Horticulture course. 바카라�We are proud of what our mother has achieved. She has been independent from a young age and has worked hard,바카라� says Rakshita.

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore

Homemaker, Not Farmer

Nikki Tomar, UP

Text and photo: Tribhuvan Tiwari

Like most full-time women farmers, Nikki Tomar is not counted as a farmer...but as a housewife. And like most rural homemakers from a farming family, the 24-year-old mother of two has the twin responsibility of, in her words, homework and fieldwork. She works more than seven hours on the 80-bigha farm, tilling the soil, cultivating, irrigating fields. She has in-laws to take care of, the family바카라�s livestock, her children, husband바카라�cooking, doing the dishes, washing, cleaning and more. 바카라�I can ride a bike, and a tractor바카라�I do farming too,바카라� she says. Does she own land or is her work as a cultivator seen as equal to men? She won바카라�t comment. The profound feudal veil stops her, like those many voices of India바카라�s invisible women farmers confined to the margins.