The Neoliberal Push and Women-Led Farm Households: Understanding the Need for Gender Mainstreaming in Policy and Planning

In 2017, the government of India pushed neoliberal reforms for the agrarian sector in form of three bills that were cleared in Parliament in 2020 through a voice vote. The three farm laws sorted relaxation in the state-centric restrictions on the sale and purchase of the farm produce. The laws guaranteed corporations and private players a direct access to the produce, bypassing the Agricultural Produce Market Commitee- a bargaining space for the farmers and the buyers regulated by the state government. The restrictions on storage and stocking of goods were eased. With the globalisation of finance and the emergence of neo-transactional structures, the ambition of glitch-free trade at reduced costs became indispensable. The resolutions were at par with the neo-liberal ambitions seeking a further withdrawal of the state with the least interference from the pricing and procurement institutions. India, a surplus economy, has excellent potential in the international markets. With the rapid technological progress, the world has become an integrated financial capital seeking speedier production and delivery of goods. However, the preparedness of agrarian families for these expansive reforms was overlooked. Much worse is the condition of the women-led families who grow up in an extremely patriarchal set-up and weaker bargaining position. This paper analyses what these laws could have entailed in the lives of eighty farm widows interviewed during a four-year-long engagement with field in Vidharbha, the region with the highest suicide rates amongst farmers and agrarian labourers in Asia.