Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Briefly explain urbanisation and associated phenomena of migration
• Mention in brief how rural-urban migration due to urbanisation is causing feminisation of agricultural sector
• Discuss its socio-economic impacts
• Conclude by suggesting some measures to empower women in rural India

Introduction

Urbanisation refers to the process of urban growth i.e., the proportion of a total population living in cities and towns at a given point of time. It also denotes a distinct way of life, which emerges in cities due to their large, dense and heterogeneous population.

Body

With urbanisation there is an increase in the rural-urban migration in India leading to feminisation of agricultural sector with increasing number of women in multiple roles as cultivators, entrepreneurs, and labourers.

Rural-Urban migration is causing feminisation of agricultural sector in India

• The economic opportunities offered by the urban areas has contributed to rural out migration, most of whom are male members of the family.
• The nature of work such as construction labourers, rickshaw pullers, etc and pitiful and unsafe living conditions in rural areas force the rural men to leave the family behind in the villages. Male out migration has led female members to take added responsibilities for agricultural roles.

Socio-economic impacts of feminisation of the agricultural sector

• It is a serious cause of social exclusion and injustice as women are forced to sacrifice education and skill development opportunities to manage both household and agriculture.
• Out Migration of male population led to compounded burden of productive and reproductive work on women which caused adverse impact on their health.
• Increasing feminization of agriculture has a deep and wide-ranging impact on agricultural productivity as women are left alone to arrange all inputs including labor, seed, and fertilizer.
• This in turn will have direct implications for household food security.
• Moreover they do not have control over economic resources and experiences dealing with these services which were previously managed by their male counterparts.
  Negative social changes such as family stress, family breakdown, children growing up without their father among others have further pushed rural India into backwardness.

Way forward

• The differential access of women to resources like land, credit, water, seeds and markets needs to be addressed.
• Focusing on women Self-Help Group (SHG) to connect them to micro-credit through capacity building activities and to provide information and ensuring their representation in different decision-making bodies.
• Initiating women centric activities to ensure benefits of various beneficiary-oriented programs/schemes reach them.