Steps to Strengthen Women’s Rights on Farmland: Minister Venkataramanan

Chennai: “The state government is considering measures to provide incentives and strengthen women’s rights over agricultural land”, said Food and Civil Supplies Minister P.V. Venkataramanan, stressing the need to bridge the gender gap in ownership and access to land.

“We hope to discuss ways to offer incentives and improve women’s land rights, either in this budget session or the next,” Mr. Venkataramanan said at the valedictory session of the annual conference of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

Emphasising the importance of women having secure rights over land, the Minister said lack of awareness remained a major challenge. While gender equality was frequently discussed across different forums and sectors, he said the conference had provided a deeper understanding of gender issues in agriculture.

“We often discuss gender equality in different forums and sectors, but this session definitely offered a deeper perspective on gender in the area of agriculture, and I hope that our future policies and schemes will focus on empowering women in agriculture.”

The focus of this year's conference on the birth anniversary of Prof M.S. Swaminathan, founder of MSSRF and one of the architects of India’s Green Revolution, was ‘Building Gender-Just Food, Land and Water Systems’, against the backdrop of the United Nations’ International Year of the Woman Farmer.

MSSRF chairperson Dr Soumya Swaminathan said the two-day conference witnessed detailed discussions on food, land and water systems while also highlighting several gaps that needed to be addressed. Dr Swaminathan said the discussions also focused on the impact of climate change and extreme heat on women.

Kanta Singh, deputy country representative, UN Women, India Country Office, stressed the importance of ensuring greater economic control and resources for women. “Any money in the hands of women is good money,” she said, while calling for faster and more coordinated planning by State and Central governments to address climate change and its disproportionate impact on women.

Dr N.R. Bhanumurthy, Director of the Madras School of Economics, described India as facing a public policy crisis, particularly in addressing nutrition challenges.

“Many programmes have been implemented across states, but we are still unable to address the nutrition challenge,” he said, stressing the need for targeted nutrition programmes for women and the girl child.