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Who keeps India’s farms going?

Women constitute nearly 60% of India's farm labour and yet they are rarely-ever identified as farmers. At the heart of this challenge is land ownership. Will Maharashtra's new legislation bring this long delayed recognition to women farm workers?

Aishwarya Mohanty

Sanshey Biswas

NEEMUCH, Madhya Pradesh: In the year of the rural women farmers, we take a look at how India’s farms have depended on labour from women. But despite this contribution, women farmers across the country have not received due access to decision making power, schemes and capital. Since 2011, attempts have been made to reduce this inequality but haven’t seen success. Now a law passed in Maharashtra might show the way forward.

Authors

  • Aishwarya Mohanty is a Special Correspondent with The Migration Story and her work amplifies voices from India’s heartlands. Her reporting spans gender, rural issues, social justice, environment, and climate vulnerabilities. Formerly with The Indian Express, her work has appeared in Mongabay, The Migration Story, Behan Box, Article-14, Frontline, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and others. She is also the recipient of the ICRC-PII Award for climate change reporting (2021), the Laadli Media Award for gender-sensitive reporting (2023 & 2025), the Sanjay Ghose Media Award for grassroots journalism (2023), and the Odisha Women in Media Award (2024). Along with this, she co-owns a permaculture farm, Routes to Roots Natural Farms, with her partner in Nimach, Madhya Pradesh.

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  • Sanshey Biswas
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