Good afternoon, good morning, good evening- depending on where you are.
The khaps are at it again. Asking women not to venture out without a male escort. And they have found support from politicians as well as a section of the educated illiterate which hides behind the sham label of "common man" while living the lives of callous monsters.
Let me provide some relevant stats.
A study titled The Role of Women in Agriculture reveals that "women comprise just over 40 percent of the agricultural labour force in the developing world, a figure that has risen slightly since 1980 and ranges from about 20 percent in the Americas to almost 50 percent in Africa. The global average is dominated by Asia. Within Asia, the sub-regional averages range from about 35 percent in South Asia to almost 50 percent in East and Southeast Asia. The Asian average is dominated by China, where the female share of the agricultural labour force has increased slightly during the past three decades. The female share in India has remained steady at just over 30 percent". From the same study: "Information provided to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) from 86 countries indicates that in 2008, 5.4 million women worked as fishers and fish farmers in the primary sector. This represents 12 percent of the total. In two major producing countries, China and India, women represented a share of 21 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of all fishers and fish farmers". Some facts released by the Indian Government: 48% of India’s self-employed farmers are women. There are 75 million women engaged in dairying as against 15 million men and 20 million in animal husbandry as compared to 1.5 million men.
Another study titled Feminization of India’s agricultural workforce by Anuradha Talwar and Swapan Ganguly states that "amongst rural women, the percentage of 'marginal workers' (defined as working for less than 183 days per year) has increased significantly from 8.1 per cent in 1991 to 14.2 per cent in 2002".
A 3rd study, which seeks to point out the benefits of using bio-mass fuel by rural women starts out by pointing: "The overall pattern of time spent on such activities is analyzed for over 5,000 women in rural India. Women spend about 40 minutes per day collecting fuel and almost one hour fetching water. They spend almost two hours pursuing income-earning activities. 64 percent of the surveyed women engage in some kind of income-generating activity".
I spent some time collating census data and found the following % breakup for male and female "Agricultural Laborers" in 4 states of India which are relevant to this discussion: Haryana (56%, 44%- which means that 44% of all female laborers in Haryana are females), Goa (45%, 55%)- this is what happens when males spend their days sipping fenny, Uttar Pradesh (62%, 38%) and Rajasthan (42%, 58%)- 58 PERCENT OF AGRICULTURAL LABORERS IN RAJASTHAN ARE FEMALES.
If you are still awake, what this implies is that a large proportion of rural women work on the farm, fetch water, catch fish and perform other income-generating activities, which they can't do by staying inside their homes. Moreover, as per a recent FAO report, if women had the same access to productive resources as men they could increase their yields by 20-30 per cent. This would raise total agricultural yields in developing countries between 2.5-4 % and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100-150 million. And here we have the glorious khaps asking women to stop doing all of these till the menfolk get rid of their hangover and are ready to escort them. Well, asking women not to go out because the same khaps have done NOTHING to improve the human quotient of the rapists in their villages is like asking people not to buy vehicles because the roads in the villages are only going to get worse, or asking them not to have children because of the high infant mortality rates in the country, or better still, asking villagers not to pass excreta because the sanitation facilities in the villages are inadequate. Whoopsy daisy!
These same khaps pass judgments censuring people from specific castes, issue orders for DIShonor killings and routinely defy the Constitution of the country. Defending them is the same as stating that the Taliban should be respected because they help people in times of earthquakes!!!
Good night and God Save us, wherever you are!!! Btw, God chose not to save Manoj and Babli as 5 old mules in Haryana smoking hukkas brayed and asked for them to be killed.
The khaps are at it again. Asking women not to venture out without a male escort. And they have found support from politicians as well as a section of the educated illiterate which hides behind the sham label of "common man" while living the lives of callous monsters.
Let me provide some relevant stats.
A study titled The Role of Women in Agriculture reveals that "women comprise just over 40 percent of the agricultural labour force in the developing world, a figure that has risen slightly since 1980 and ranges from about 20 percent in the Americas to almost 50 percent in Africa. The global average is dominated by Asia. Within Asia, the sub-regional averages range from about 35 percent in South Asia to almost 50 percent in East and Southeast Asia. The Asian average is dominated by China, where the female share of the agricultural labour force has increased slightly during the past three decades. The female share in India has remained steady at just over 30 percent". From the same study: "Information provided to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) from 86 countries indicates that in 2008, 5.4 million women worked as fishers and fish farmers in the primary sector. This represents 12 percent of the total. In two major producing countries, China and India, women represented a share of 21 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of all fishers and fish farmers". Some facts released by the Indian Government: 48% of India’s self-employed farmers are women. There are 75 million women engaged in dairying as against 15 million men and 20 million in animal husbandry as compared to 1.5 million men.
Another study titled Feminization of India’s agricultural workforce by Anuradha Talwar and Swapan Ganguly states that "amongst rural women, the percentage of 'marginal workers' (defined as working for less than 183 days per year) has increased significantly from 8.1 per cent in 1991 to 14.2 per cent in 2002".
A 3rd study, which seeks to point out the benefits of using bio-mass fuel by rural women starts out by pointing: "The overall pattern of time spent on such activities is analyzed for over 5,000 women in rural India. Women spend about 40 minutes per day collecting fuel and almost one hour fetching water. They spend almost two hours pursuing income-earning activities. 64 percent of the surveyed women engage in some kind of income-generating activity".
I spent some time collating census data and found the following % breakup for male and female "Agricultural Laborers" in 4 states of India which are relevant to this discussion: Haryana (56%, 44%- which means that 44% of all female laborers in Haryana are females), Goa (45%, 55%)- this is what happens when males spend their days sipping fenny, Uttar Pradesh (62%, 38%) and Rajasthan (42%, 58%)- 58 PERCENT OF AGRICULTURAL LABORERS IN RAJASTHAN ARE FEMALES.
If you are still awake, what this implies is that a large proportion of rural women work on the farm, fetch water, catch fish and perform other income-generating activities, which they can't do by staying inside their homes. Moreover, as per a recent FAO report, if women had the same access to productive resources as men they could increase their yields by 20-30 per cent. This would raise total agricultural yields in developing countries between 2.5-4 % and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100-150 million. And here we have the glorious khaps asking women to stop doing all of these till the menfolk get rid of their hangover and are ready to escort them. Well, asking women not to go out because the same khaps have done NOTHING to improve the human quotient of the rapists in their villages is like asking people not to buy vehicles because the roads in the villages are only going to get worse, or asking them not to have children because of the high infant mortality rates in the country, or better still, asking villagers not to pass excreta because the sanitation facilities in the villages are inadequate. Whoopsy daisy!
These same khaps pass judgments censuring people from specific castes, issue orders for DIShonor killings and routinely defy the Constitution of the country. Defending them is the same as stating that the Taliban should be respected because they help people in times of earthquakes!!!
Good night and God Save us, wherever you are!!! Btw, God chose not to save Manoj and Babli as 5 old mules in Haryana smoking hukkas brayed and asked for them to be killed.
