NEW DELHI: With the share of female workforce in agriculture increasing, including a rise in the number of households headed by women, the government is working out new plans to ensure better land rights and infrastructural support to the fairer sex.

The ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is devising an entirely new range of initiatives to provide better land access to women through land reforms. This will include giving individual or group title to women in all government land transfers, providing credit support to poor women for land purchase or lease, and ensuring legal support to women in inheritance rights.

“In order to correct the gender bias in the field of agriculture and to promote women farmers, the government will adopt a two pronged strategy,” said an official of the ministry. The first will ensure effective and independent land rights to women through an amendment in land inheritance rights, which as yet do not provide women any right on agricultural land, and the second will be to strengthen her agricultural capacities.

Accordingly, women will now be given better share in the Gram Samaj and government lands (pattas) which were hitherto a male domain. The government’s thrust will also be on skill development training, credit marketing facility etc. to increase the number of women farmers.

Women’s names would be recorded as cultivators in revenue records of family farms where though women operate the land, the ownership is in the name of male members. Special incentives and subsidies will be provided for land owned by women. Women’s cooperatives and other forms of group effort would be promoted for the dissemination of agricultural technology and other inputs, as well as for marketing.

There will be a special scheme to prevent women’s vulnerability resulting from farmer suicides owing to crop failure. The issue of their inability to repay loans too will be addressed. “In case of displacement, a sensitive rehabilitation policy, which provides for a fair share of land to women is being devised. Special schemes are also being worked out to identify and help women in the states that are facing agrarian crisis, including those in ravaged families,” the official said.

While supporting the move, women organisations are keen that gaps in the Hindu Succession Act are addressed. “While the amendment in the Hindu Succession Act in 2003 covered almost all aspects of property inheritance rights for women, their rights on agricultural property were left out. In order to provide better access to land, this too has to be brought under the legal purview,” said Sudha Sundaram, general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA).

“Since they do not own land, it is difficult for the rural women to access credit and the cycle of misery continues,” Sundaram added.

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