"I am the first woman farmer in my block who started cultivation 15 years back," said 45 years old Aisha Begum Khatoon of Hridaypur village in Ambedkarnagar district. When she picked up the hoe for the first time, all the villagers rebuked her for treading on a man's domain. However, she decided to move forward, despite all odds, in order to look after her three daughters and one son.
Her husband lives in the city and takes no interest in agricultural activities. She owns a mere half acre land, but by resorting to organic farming, she is able to provide bread and better to her family of five members. She is now able to produce more than 20 varieties of crops, thanks to organic farming, and has become a role model for other women farmers of her area. Aisha Begum is grateful to the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), for teaching her multi-layer cropping patterns, as well as time and space management.
Organic farming has provided her with a sustainable and economically viable model of agriculture production. She is also involved with Ekta Self Help Group and is the President of NARI Manch (this forum provides agriculture related information to women farmers). She has also been successful in creating more than 250 self help groups. Now her husband and her other family members take pride in her work. The Uttar Pradesh state agriculture Minister, Mr Chaudhari Laxmi Narayan, awarded her recently, during the Kisaan Sansad (Farmers' Parliament), in recognition of her excellent work in agriculture production.
Women farmers, despite being one of the biggest labor forces in India, are still fighting for their rights and identity. In India more than 84 per cent of women are involved in agricultural and/or allied activities. The agricultural sector provides employment to nearly 4/5 of the total women work force in India. One third of the agricultural laborers are women and 48 per cent of the women farmers are considered self employed in the agriculture sector.
According to a study conducted by GEAG, in Uttar Pradesh, 70 per cent of the state's population is involved in agricultural activities, making it a food surplus state. Women family members of about 80% of small and marginal farmers are involved in agricultural activities.Yet land holding rights of women farmers are a mere 6.5 per cent out of which a majority of them (81 per cent) got their land after the death of their husband, while only 19 per cent got it from their mother's side.
Neelam Prabhat, State Coordinator, Aaroh Abhiyaan, (a campaign for the empowerment of women farmers and their rights) working in GEAG, Uttar Pradesh said, "despite the tremendous contribution of women farmers in agricultural sector ,they have always been marginalized and denied their rights, not only by their family and society ,but by the policy makers as well. In general, they are treated as the assistants of male farmers."
She further said, " According to a recent report published by The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 40 million people have been pushed into hunger this year mostly due to soaring food prices, and the number of undernourished people worldwide is approaching the 1-billion mark. We can reduce this number if we empower women farmers and give them land holdings rights and joint bank accounts with their husbands."
The total number of hungry people has risen to 963 million this year, up from 923 million last year. FAO has cautioned, in the latest edition of its global hunger report, that this number could rise further as a result of the ongoing financial and economic crisis. In view of this we should strengthen production in a comprehensive way and should give the rights, long over due, to women farmers. In this way they will become an asset, not only to their families but also to society and the entire country.
PermalinkSubmitted by rakib ahmad on Sun, 28/03/2010 - 15:14
Thanks Amit, for the inspiring story of a marginalised woman farmer in UP. I am working at grassroots level in Assam. Separation of land patta in favour of daughters sh be completed by fathers in their lifetime. 2ndly' Issuing landholding certificates by circle officers/ tehsildars in favour of woman sh be legally made mandatory, within say, 100 days of application. Due to lack of land papers, woman farmers find it difficult to form acceptable groups for subsidy.
Amarjyoti Kalita has been sent to jail after police produced the prime accused in the gory GS Road molestation incident before a lower court on Tuesday. Amarjyoti’s police custody ended on Monday. He was produced before the Kamrup CJM court on Tuesday where he was remanded to judicial custody. Notably, police got remand of Kalita after he was brought back to Guwahati from Vanarash where he surrendered.
Much to a major concern grew about the healthcare of the displaced people, there is report of death of three persons in relief camps in Dhubri. According to officials, a 32 year-old person died of fever at the Belapara school camp at Tamaharhat in the district. This was followed by the death of a 72-old-year women at the Kamadanga HS Madrassa relief camp. This is apart from the death of an infant died within minutes of its birth at Tilapara ME Madrassa at Suparighat. Inmates at the camp alleged that the trio were not provided any medical assistance.
Law and order seems to have improved in BTAD areas. Curfew was relaxed in Kokrajhar for two more. But night curfew continued in Chirang and Dhubri district. There was no fresh incidence of violence anywhere and curfew in Kokrajhar would be in force between 8 evening and 6 in the evening. Health and Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also visited Kokrajhar and assured that adequate medical facilities for relief camps inmates would be ensured. He said free text books and other educational materials would be provided to students.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday faced slogan-shouting refugees at one of the three camps he visited this morning in Dhubri district, which had witnessed ethnic violence. Chidambaram, who left for Dhubri early in the morning from Guwahati in a special chopper and landed at the Panbari BSF camp, visited two other camps - Borkanda and Takimari. In Lakhiganj, the refugees shouted slogans against the administration and demanded that the government act fast to confiscate arms of the former Bodo Liberation Tiger militants. They also alleged that basic facilities like healthcare were inadequate in the camps. The Home Minister, who arrived in Guwahati, is on a two-day trip to the lower...
ULFA’s anti talk has claimed responsibility of the Goalpara the blast that killed an army jawan. In an email statement, assistant information and publicity secretary of the outfit said that the blast was carried out by its members. He also claimed that three Army personnel were killed and nine others injured in the attack.
An Army jawan was killed and six others were injured when a powerful IED exploded in Goalpara district on Tuesday. The blast took place near the Naranarayan Setu at Jugigupa at around 10.20 in the morning when an Army convoy was passing.
A vehicle in the convoy, which was on its way from Kokrajhar to Agia, was also blown off in the explosion. The injured jawans have been shifted to the Basistha Army Hospital in Guwahati.The blast exploded when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and senior BJP leader L K Advani are on a stock taking visit to the BTAD areas.
Normal life in Assam remains heavily disrupted following large scale power cuts after the regional grid tripped because of heavy load. It took place following the collapse of Northern and Eastern grids.
According to sources, there was heavy load and power frequency came down from the normal 49.9 per cent to 38.34 per cent leading to the collapse of the grid.
The collapse led to power cuts throughout the state. But the situation is likely to improve with additional power inputs from Samaguri, Kathalguri and Namrup Thermal Power Plants which has so far been unaffected by the grid failure.
BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Tuesday said took on Delhi nd Dispur alleging inaction in dealing with the influx problem that has resulted in the on going ethnic clash in BTAD areas. During his visit to the refugee camps in Dhurbri on Tuesday, he said that the situation has arisen mainly because of criminal delay in dealing with the situation.
Advani hoped that no other community is made a refugee in their own country like Kashmiri Pandits.He urged Prime Minister, the Congress president and Assam Chief Minister to introspect on how this situation arose.
BJP veteran L K Advani on Monday blamed border influx for the on going ethnic clash in BTASD areas. Advani, who is here on a two-day visit, said that its not a group clash. According to him, the problem arose due to large scale infiltration of illegal immigrants. He called distressing that in 2012 these kinds of things are happening. He said that if the situation was not taken care of in time it could deteriorate. His visit follows a fact-finding tour by a BJP team led by party's national general secretary Vijay Goel.
The government has shunted out Kokrajhar and Chirang deputy commissioners just before Union home minister arrived in the violence hit BTAD areas. Kokrajhar DC D Gilfilon and Chirang DC U N Bora have been moved out in the name of administrative reshuffle following the violence in the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts. Rastriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan Mission director Jayanta Narlekar has been named as the new DC of Kokrajhar. Commissioner of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Puru Gupta been named as the new DC of Chirang.
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