Chairperson’s Note

Prof. Vibhuti Patel

Tho National conference in Kumaon University has chosen the most appropriate theme,
"Gender & Development in the World of Work & Health- with focus on Globalisation
and Women Workers in the Agrarian Sector". The Sub Themes are focusing on Macro
Economic Policies and Predicament of Women in Agriculture, Women in Subsistence
Sector, Women in Commercialised Agriculture, Health and Nutrition of Agrarian Women
and Social Security and Social Protection Provided by the Nation States to the Agrarian
Women.

Though MGNREGA has ensured 100 days of work @ Rs. 120/- per day, it does not solve
gigantic problems confronted by rural women in the context of non-existence of
comprehensive social security and social protection measures. Trade unions and women’s
rights orgasnisations from M.P., Punjab and Bihar have repeatedly conveyed that even under
NREGA pay disparities are reported by women. Though NAREGA provided job to over 6
million, they are assigned the most unskilled and low paying tasks. Development economists
and feminists have demanded that NAREGA be turned into an Earn-While-You-Learn plan
through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that creates an on the job training module
aimed at up gradation of skills of women working at the sites.
The most ironic impact of the new economic policy has been on the environment and forest
development. Collection of fuel, fodder and water, livestock-raising and kitchen gardening take
away 4-5 hours of women’s labour for unpaid care economy. Women are employed in
wasteland development, social forestry and desert development programmes on a large scale.
Smokeless ‘chullas’ must be enthusiastically promoted among rural and urban poor women
because they are less harmful to women's health thro’ increase in the Government's budget for
funding this project. In the context of a wood-fuel crisis, alternate energy resources like biogas
and solar energy equipment gain major importance.
Arjun Sengupta Committee report has highlighted feminisation of poverty in the agrarian
sector and has also shown that the burden of poverty falls more heavily on the rural women .
Of the total households, around 11% are supported by women's income alone. In other words
they are 'Women-headed households' (WHHs) i.e. households supported totally by widows,
single unmarried women, deserted or divorced women. The combined effects on these
households of price rises, reduced quotas for PDS, reductions in health-care facilities and
educational facilities are deplorable. The fact that the WHHs and poverty go hand in hand has
been established. Children of the WHHs will suffer more from nutritional deficiency and
inadequate primary health care facilities and cuts in expenditure for the primary and non-
formal education.
Dismantling of PDS has heaped enormous misery on the poor agrarian women. The reason
lies in onslaught on agriculture and food-security. 84% of all economically active women are
in agriculture, majority into subsistence farming. Opening up of market since 1-4-2000 for
729 new commodities (240 are agrarian products including rice, meat, milk powder, fruits)
that can be imported unrestrictedly have resulted in enormous tragedies resulting into

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suicides and starvation deaths among farmers and weavers. Prices of rubber, cotton, coconut,
coffee, cardamom, pepper, tomatoes, sugarcane and potatoes have crashed.

Agrarian women’s land and housing needs must be understood from the point of view of
women’s rights to dignified life. The local self government bodies should reserve 10% of all
houses/ flats/ industrial units/ shops in the market places for women. Schedule Caste Plan
and Tribal Sub Plan financial allocation must have women’s component in development
schemes. Half-way homes for special needs of elderly, disabled and mentally ill women
should be created in the community/ neighbourhood. For formulation of gender-sensitive
policies, Gender experts and CBOs working on the housing-land-water and sanitation must
be inducted in the apex bodies of rural and tribal housing projects. Half Way homes and
Elderly Women’s Homes must be provided in every district. Pension Scheme for old,
disabled women is implemented only in 4 or 5 states such as Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamilnadu. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) must be motivated to provide an
extensive data base on 60 + women in their areas. For widows or elderly women, creation of
community-based half way homes, fully equipped with counseling facilities, temporary
shelter, get-to-gather, drop-in-centre, skill building/ up gradation and technical training, is
far more humane way of providing social security rather than doling out money that gets
snatched from them by the bullies or wicked relatives.
Women in the agrarian sector are the most neglected in the fast changing globalised world.
The employment elasticity of output in agriculture has reduced to 0.64%. Reduction of subsidy
and credit in agriculture has affected small and marginal farmers negatively. Unemployment
and underemployment in the rural areas have gained serious proportion. With increasing
immiserisation, rural women supplement their income by forming Self Help Groups (SHGs)
for micro-finance for micro-enterprise. If human miseries inflicted by farmers’ suicides,
starvation deaths among tribals, climate change, liberalization of agriculture are to be
eliminated, the macroeconomic policies will have to give serious consideration to the interests
of women workers in the agrarian sector.