SumArth redefining ‘Sons of the soil’ to ‘Daughters of the soil’
According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, the agricultural industry employs more than 50 percent of the total workforce in India and contributes around 17-18 percent to the country’s GDP. Talking about women, India’s agricultural industry employs 80 to 100 million female farmers. From preparing the land, selecting seeds, transplanting the seedlings, applying manure/fertilisers/pesticides and then harvesting, winnowing and threshing, women work harder and longer than male farmers. Despite all their hard labour in the field, National Commission for Women ’s data suggests that Bihar’s agricultural industry employs 85% of female but they are not officially treated as farmers, and are either labelled as “agricultural labourers” or “cultivators”. It is rare to hear narratives of women working in agriculture and its allied activities in Bihar. Be it farmers’ suicide or drought or flood or any government scheme, whole media is seen flooded with male farmers’ visuals only. But here I w