Speaking at the South regional consultation on ‘Women’s Land and Housing Rights’, which was inaugurated in the City on Monday, social anthropologist, Prof A R Vasavi, of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) said, there are four grave national issues that haven’t been addressed so far in their entirety.

“These are land, caste, religion and gender. Land is seen more in terms of an economic category, which is not right. One needs to look at the trends, state of agriculture in rural India. The green revolution displaced several people and led to feminisation of agriculture and labour,” said Prof Vasavi.

Professor Vasavi added that the revolution changed the way agriculture in India was taking place, from community-based to individualistic enterprise.

“The result was that the collective rhythm of agriculture was diversified and State started withdrawing support leaving it open for the market forces to enter,” she added.

Earlier, at the inauguration, noted social activist Devaki Jain said women’s land and housing rights should be seen in the wider context of SEZs, where large portions of lands are being given to the corporate houses. She said the 11th five year plan does focus on women’s rights on land and property.

The three-day consultation is being organised by the Indo-Global Social Service Society (IGSSS).

“Government has a structural difficulty when it comes to social delivery. Legislations should be implemented. As of now, there’s no data on the land rights of women. Since land is a State subject, we are going to compile the State-wise data in a compendium, which will have three sections: on legal provisions in each State regarding women’s land rights, on what can be done in terms of legislation and the third section will have follow up action with a list of NGOs, who can continue the campaign,” said Mr K P Fabian, president, Indo-Global Social Service Society.

Anitha Ratnam of Samvada gave an overview on women’s land rights and law of inheritance.

 “Women play the role of home makers but don’t have access to land. They are submissive and have no control over the available resources,”  said Ms Ratnam.