Meri Mitti Challenge
A majority of rural and tribal women contribute to India’s economy through land-based livelihoods including agriculture, forestry, fisheries and pastoralism, yet, they constitute barely 14% of the country’s landowners, and rarely have control over the land they work on. Women, when they are landowners, are more economically independent, physically safe, and their families have improved nutrition and health outcomes.
The unequal playing field of access to land for rural and tribal women is exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence from previous disease outbreaks suggests that when the male head of family passes away, widows are susceptible to land-grabbing by male relatives during property division. As guardians of household food security, when food is scarce, women and girls may decrease their caloric intake in the favor of male family members.
As the pandemic progresses, there is an urgent need to empower rural and tribal women, and enhance their social protections and welfare through secure rights to land.