By Garima Taneja, Suchiradipta Bhattacharjee & Manya Dikshit
Out-migration is a prominent trend in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand. Young and educated men are increasingly migrating to other states seeking better employment opportunities. Young women are left with the children and the elders to look after the home and the farm.
Growing burden on young women
With majority of men away, young married women in the region have taken up a wide range of responsibilities. They are responsible for managing agricultural tasks, caring for livestock, looking after children and handling most of the household work. Activities include cultivating rice, maize and vegetables primarily for self-consumption. Most households keep cows, and 4-5 goats, with women taking on the bulk of farming and livestock duties. Women are actively involved in rice transplanting and harvesting. Apart from engaging in agriculture and allied sectors, women also work as wage labor in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Collecting firewood is another task mostly carried out by women. In these reserved forests, felling trees is strictly prohibited, but men still tend to cut the branches. The often-resulting reprimand by forest guards leads to fewer men being interested in the task.
Women end up managing not only household activities, livestock and agricultural labor but also firewood collection. Educated young women may often remain unemployed, either because their families are reluctant to send them away for jobs or because they are unwilling to take up unskilled labor jobs available in the region.
Empowering rural women through self-help groups
The increased workload of women in the region has put a considerable strain on their physical health, time and other resources. Food, land and water sector policies, such as the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) are attempting to address this. NRLM forms self-help groups to strengthen women’s institutional and financial capacities in the region. These groups have helped women to purchase subsidized farm equipment and learn new skills leading to income generation. They provide better information on government programs and schemes. Women have also become more involved in their communities and started working together.
The Sale of Articles of Rural Artisans or SARAS outlets promoted by NRLM provide much-needed market linkages to the items produced by these groups. The outlet, which is managed by women entirely, acquires products in bulk from eight self-help groups with 10% of the income generated from sales used to run the outlets and pay salaries.
Opportunities for better implementation
Although self-help groups in the region have led to women coming together and receiving training in different agricultural activities, there are issues relating to their formation and operation. Some of the groups have become inactive, owing to the marriage-related migration of young women members. The NLRM currently has no strategy in place to revive inactive groups. Inter-loaning operations have ceased due to repayment defaults. While the groups provide training in livelihood activities, follow-up on the trainings leave a lot to be desired.
Village Water Sanitation Committees, formed under the Jal Jeevan Mission, are responsible for the planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply infrastructure in the village. While it has a 30% target for women’s participation, no meetings have been held, meaning there have been no opportunities for participation.
While the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has equipped women with job cards there are no employment opportunities as yet. Decisions in village councils on developing the Gram Panchayat Development Plan are taken primarily by male members.
The scheme introduced by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to provide LPG connections to poor women also has issues. Women in households who do not get the LPG connection allotted to them, lend their connection out to other people to earn extra money while continuing to use firewood for cooking.
Policy recommendations
Women involved in self-help groups with well-defined objectives and incentives are more aware, engaged and are more influential in local governance. These groups should be strengthened by establishing mechanisms to enable their participation in local decision-making processes such as development planning. It is essential that members of the group acquire leadership and advocacy skills through training and capacity building activities. It is imperative to facilitate collective farming and improve market access for specific products of these groups. Policy guidance can also extend to financial assistance and credit facilities for women-led enterprises in the agriculture sector. It is of utmost importance that the partnerships between government departments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector are strengthened to support the development and sustainability of self-help groups.
This research is part of the CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies, which aims to explore the effects of energy policies on women and livelihoods in the border regions of India and Nepal.
