A small Himalayan town on the route between Pithoragarh and Dharchula in Uttarakhand in India, Askot is located on the Gori Ganga- Kali river divide. Pine and Rhododendron trees dot the landscape with the backdrop of Chhiplakot and Panchchuli peaks. The town has Almora to the west, Kali river and Nepal to the east, Tibet to the north and Pithoragarh to the south. I was in Askot to document the Oracle funded Actionaid project on Socio-economic Empowerment and inclusion of Dalit women farmers.
As part of an Oracle-supported project implemented by Association for Rural Planning and Action (ARPAN) and ActionAid India, women’s farming collectives were formed across many villages in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand.
Difficult terrain and hard to reach villages that are not connected by road magnify the hardships faced by Dalit women farmers. Acquiring basic commodities for family and cattle as well as selling farm are a challenge in these poorly connected villages.
From cattle grazing to selling milk produce, farming and managing households, the women display amazing grit and tenacity. When the grass is less, a Dalit woman farmer sources grass for the cattle from Nepal across the river Kali. She is an active member of the women’s group crusading for ownership of landrights for women.
Women are vocal about their rights and hope that their collective voices create a movement that brings about change. Shakuntala Devi, a Dalit woman farmer, strongly advocates that land rights should be jointly shared with the women who work on the land and male inheritance must stop. She supports her daughters-in-law who are fighting for land rights transfer to women farmers.
Most women continue to work on the fields as farm help while ownership rests with the men. Dalit woman farmer Seetala Devi has been facing the challenges of terrace farming in the hills for the past 65 years. She has inherited the land ownership as her family has no surviving male members. She has merged new knowledge from the project workers with old practices to better her crop yield.