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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | In UP, women own just 2.6% of farm land -Swati Mathur

In UP, women own just 2.6% of farm land -Swati Mathur

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published Published on Mar 11, 2015   modified Modified on Mar 11, 2015
-The Times of India

LUCKNOW: Girija devi was reduced to being an ordinary farm hand in Jalaun after the demise of her husband. As a widow, she was told she had no ownership rights to the land her family had held for many years. For years, she continued to till the land and worked on it as an agricultural labourer. Then, a local civil society organization helped her regain control over her family land.

Girija Devi's story is not alone. In India, lakhs of women work as agricultural labourers on family owned or rented land, but are denied land rights and recognition as farmers. A recent study on land right among women by civil society organizations Landesa and Oxfam suggests that despite their role in agriculture, women farmers in India hardly own any land.

In UP, less than 3% of agricultural land belongs to women, and in Kerala, where the percentage is highest among all Indian states, the figure is no more than 14%. The price of this dispossession is deep. Without land titles, women have limited access to credit, and are often barred from government agriculture schemes and extension programmes to support farmers.

Sanjoy Patnaik, country director, Landesa, said, "Land rights for women not only enhances their own value within family, but also positively affects the family's nutrition and food intake and allows children to access education, and dream for a better future."

Owning land has long-term impact. It results in the social, economic and political empowerment of women. Studies have also shown instances of domestic violence have lessened in cases where women owned land. In the absence of land right, however, an Oxfam study in UP in 2006 showed that women were able to participate in only 1% of government-run agriculture programmes, and only 2% got access to institutional credit, even though their overall contribution to agriculture was significantly higher than their male counterparts.

"The gender bias in land rights is nothing new. While the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, made a few amendments in 2008 to make it more favourable for women, the gender bias still persists. The recent UP Revenue Code 2006 has once again pushed women down in the priority list," said Prashant Trivedi, assistant professor, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow.


The Times of India, 11 March, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/In-UP-women-own-just-2-6-of-farm-land/articleshow/46522621.cms


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