Episode 24- Putting Food on Your Plate: Women Farmers in Uttar Pradesh Dream of Land

In Mahoba’s Kabrai, on 8 July, Shobha found herself widowed as her husband took his life due to tension about shortage of food, and the marriage of his young daughters. During the lockdown there was no employment and getting do waqt ki roti (two meals a day) had become a challenge. Despite their near 5 bighas of land, the fields were barren due to drought every year, Shobha said. The family had been running on daily wage labour.  This Friday, October 15th was celebrated as Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas, but the mahila kisan, ‘woman farmer’ has a long history of being magicked out of land records, employment data and even the title of ‘farmer’. The half-life of image is long;