Lakshmi is a woman farmer with a small holding in Gadsingapur village of Pargi mandal in Vikarabad district. She is left with two children, both girls, after her husband committed suicide a few years ago unable to bear the burden of mounting debts.
She grew paddy and groundnut in her one acre land for some time, but later has been forced to travel to mandal headquarters everyday to work as construction labourer.
“My in-laws have not divided the property between their two sons. Though they allowed me to till my husband’s land for a year, they have now given it away to his brother,” Lakshmi says.
No mercy shown
Undivided landholdings in joint families are a rankling issue widowed women farmers are forced to endure, besides the loss of their life partner. More often than not in rural Telangana, parental property is not divided among siblings while the parents are alive. In case of a son’s death, little mercy is shown to the daughter-in-law, resulting in her and her children being pushed into destitution.
Even in cases where they are allowed to till their husband’s share of land, unwillingness is rampant to share the benefits accruing thereof, such as subsidies, loans, insurance and others. Most often, reason lies in the poor and deprived condition of the in-laws too.
Rythu Bandhu is one such scheme which few women have benefited from, at least in Vikarabad district. Not even one woman farmer, among the 30-odd who attended the workshop organised for their benefit by ‘Our Sacred Space’ at Dharur, has received the entitlement under the Rythu Bandhu scheme.
Ch. Jayamma from Bompalle of Doma mandal, lost her husband two years ago. She was allowed to till her husband’s share of land for her and her two children’s sustenance. However, her mother-in-law, in whose name the land is, refused to part with the title.
“She has taken the Rythu Bandhu benefit distributed before elections, and not given me even one paisa,” Jayamma says.
Sale proceeds
There are many other opportunities they stand to lose owing to the title issues, one among which is marketing. Accounts for online transfer after the crop sale at government market-yards are linked to the passbooks, and hence, are not accessible to these women. Owing to this, they are forced to sell the crop to local middlemen, losing heavily in the bargain.
“Not only that, owing to title mismatch, they are not even getting Rythu Bima insurance amount, as their husband’s deaths is not officially recognised as farmer suicide. Government considers only the pattadar passbook as the valid entitlement document,” related Sangameshwar, field coordinator of Kisan Mitra, which is part of the NGO Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and one among the partners for the workshop.
T. Sreeharsha, State coordinator, says absence of proper titles is pervasive in other districts too as a major problem haunting widowed women farmers.
