Swadhina

  LAND RIGHTS AND LIVELYHOOD

A Seminar on the theme was held at Ghatsila (East Singbhum, Jharkhand) on 8^th November, 2013. This was a pre-project event for thematic introduction of the forthcoming year-long Land & Livelihood project under the NES. The NES or National Engagement Strategy Programme of International Land Coalition is a collaborative effort through which land and land based issues are addressed. It is a platform through which 5 issues pertaining to land rights like – Comprehensive Land Reforms, Forest Rights, Commons/ Pastorals, Commercial pressures on Land, Land and Livelihood and Women’s Land Rights are addressed.

The event was attended by local Citizens, Academitians, Panchayats representatives and civil societies activists from across the district.  This was also an occasion for media-advocacy on the issues of land rights which was quite effective.

Supta Mukerji (Founder Treasurer- Swadhina) in her inaugural note explained that

Swadhina has been a part of this programme on the sub-theme of Land and Livelihood under the lead organization SARRA.

Saswati Roy (Secretary-Swadhina) said that  Swadhina’s main work has been concerning women – ensuring their rights and empowerment. One of the prime concerns in this regards has been the right of Indian women over the agricultural land. We know that agriculture is the major contributor to Indian economy. And we also know that the major contributor to agriculture in India has been  women. However it is a known truth that though women contribute the

maximum to agriculture their right over land and property is very limited. Laws has been amended and new reforms are being introduced to ensure that women get their due rights but the practical picture is very grim. But we do not understand is that the right over land is very crucial to ensure a gender balanced society. Because the issue of land and livelihood are inter-related. And with livelihood comes the question of better living and better survival. It is our aim to ensure that the women are not robbed of their due land rights and in the process their livelihood is secured.

Prof.Badal Chandra Bhakat (Professor, Ghatsila College): Whenever we talk about land and property we cannot bypass the fact that the seed of discrimination is sowed in the very childhood. Parents begin to discriminate against the girl children of the family. This manifests later on as a discrimination in terms of land. Also there is the huge problem of differences in terms of law of succession in different religion and castes. While the succession laws of some religion recognize equal rights, in some the women still do not have equal rights. But irrespective of any law, an Indian woman ceases to have any right over the land owned by her father once she gets married. We cannot even imagine giving equal land rights to our sister. One reason is due to social norms, the other reason being that most of the people are not aware about equal rights of men and women over land. There is a need to build mass-sensitivity about the issue.

Another important area of discrimination is regarding land-based livelihood. Whenever we refer to a farmer we know that we are talking about a man. For us any agriculturist is necessarily a man though it is the woman who does the majority of the agricultural work. Actually it is a common notion that the ploughing rights are reserved for the men and hence ploughing and agriculture are equated. In Jharkhand especially it is the women who are responsible for the cropping of paddy, Rabi crops and even growing vegetables. For this they have to out in

tremendous amount of effort but when it comes to the rights over the land, a woman’s right is not recognized. And in addition her enormous physical strain of having to manage both the agriculture and the household work puts a toll on their health. Especially for families where their men migrate to the cities or other areas in search of jobs. This continues as a social system for ages.

Dr.Prabal Sanatani (Senior Journalist- Hindustan Times): Land rights, especially women’s land rights has emerged as a very important issue today. It is because land rights and exploitation are closely associated subjects. The root cause to every exploitation is the fact that there are no land rights. This is true for most Indian women. While there are laws promoting equal rights, the mechanisms to enforce these are not strong and there is a grave lack of awareness about these laws. It is because of the fact that there is not much consciousness about the level of contribution of women towards agriculture that the right over the productivity and the income through sale of agro-produce is also limited – it is the men who enjoy the maximum rights and benefits from the income of the farmland. And most of the men, when they get hold of the money, spend the money behind drinking and gambling. On the other hand when a woman has the control over the income from agricultural land she spends it for the benefit and welfare of the family. In our country where land is the major source of income, this is a big limitation for the women. And because the women have no monetary control their decision-making power in the family is also limited. And hence the empowerment process also becomes slow.

Ms.Beate Kachhap (Former Principal, Govt. High School): Women’s rights is a concept that is a reality only in papers and documents. It is a glaring truth that women’s rights are still not recognized – whether it is a right to her land or livelihood. One of the prime reasons for this is

the lack of literacy among women. Due to lack of literacy and legal knowledge many land belonging to women are wrongly taken away through fraud. When a woman’s husband dies, the rights over her husband’s land is automatically bestowed on them but how many women know their legal rights? They do not even know the contents of the legal documents. So it is important to provide them the access to knowledge about different documents and lay stress on education for women. It is also important to train and understand about the different livelihood options. Other than regular animal rearing, pisiculture, apiculture are some of the different options that women can opt for. But to take up such livelihood options too a basic investment is required. For this it is important for women to have monetary control. So it is very important for women to have economic rights with which they can actually improve the economic condition of their families.

Ms.Alochana Mahato (Farmer and Grass-root leader): The right over land and livelihood for women is still not practiced – especially in the rural areas. Our social system is made such that the family itself promotes discrimination – if it is a boy child he will eat first, if it is a girl child she will eat later on. This discrimination is seen in every sector – education, health, income-generation opportunities…The role of a woman is chalked out by her family and society – you have to cook, take care of children and also take up the agricultural work but when it comes to income from agriculture, it does not belong to you – then you have no right. We see such examples in our village every day and experience this discrimination every moment. No man likes it if his wife has a bank account all in her name. But through Swadhina we have tried to promote this in our area. We have encouraged local women to open bank account in their names so that they

can have savings in their name and they can utilize the savings to improve their economic condition. Many women of our village now have access to the livelihood of their choice through these SHG groups. Moreover the level of awareness that we had generated in our villages regarding right of women over their land have been very fruitful – most of the women are conscious now of the fact that they cannot be evicted from their land just like that. This has happened due to the sustained awareness campaigns.

Ms.Rita Munda (Mukhiya-Panhayat) : A lot of discussion is going on about awareness about the equal rights of women. But sometimes it is not about awareness alone, the policies and systems of implementation are also so much flawed and still so full of discrimination that it becomes difficult to ensure equal rights at times. For instance caste certificate is an important document related to government schemes and even purchase and sale of land. Being the head of the Panchayat (grass-root governance system) I have the authority to sign the certificates and refer to the block office. In these cases the caste inheritance from the father’s side is recognized as legal forefathers, the ownership or caste status from the mother’s side is never recognized. Many a times there are cases where I’ve tried to promote cases with the land inheritance documents from the mother’s side. I sign the relevant documents as required but when it goes to the block level it is not recognized. This is a vital gap which needs to be addressed. Though the agricultural work is done by women the system followed is a patriarchal system. It is surprising that within India itself we see the prevalence of matriarchal systems like in Manipur or Nagaland where the contribution of women to agriculture is given due respect and she becomes the head of the family. Why can’t we promote the same system everywhere? Why is it that till date most of the documents require the father’s name where it is the mother who actually runs the family? As a people’s representative I am putting my best effort to promote equal land rights of women and recognition of women as an independent identity.