Climate Change Makes The Hard Life Of India’s Invisible Women Farmers Harder DISHA SHETTY 26 Jan 2022  13 min read Share

Death by suicide among women farmers in India is substantially underreported, as the labour of women on farms is often invisible even to their own communities. As global temperatures rise, we report how India’s beleaguered women farmers now battle climate change along with enduring stigmas and harassment.

One in every three (36.6%) women who dies by suicide globally is an Indian woman, according to a 2018 Lancet study. The majority of these, when broken down by profession, are registered under the category of ‘housewives’.

Death by suicide among women in India 2014-2020

Women Farmers & Farm Suicides: MAKAAM  (mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch) Policy Brief March 16 2021

Recommendations:

A. “RECOGNITION” OF A SUICIDE IN A FARMING FAMILY – HAVING A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY IN PLACE

B. RELIEF & REHABILITATION FOR THE WOMEN IN FARM SUICIDE FAMILIES

C. OLD/PENDING CASES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN SUPPORTED BY GOVERNMENTS FOR VARIOUS REASONS

D. PREVENTION OF FARM SUICIDES

There is of course a need for an overhaul of many policies related to agriculture credit, agri-commodity pricing and procurement, export-import policies and free trade agreements, agriculture insurance and disaster compensation packages etc.

Download Full report from Makkam drive: