BharatNotes Framework: Why This Matters
The UPSC GS1 syllabus explicitly names "Role of women and women's organisations" as a core sub-theme under Indian Society. The theme is cross-cutting: it pulls in history (19th-century reform), polity (73rd Amendment, 106th Amendment), economy (Female Labour Force Participation), and governance (NCW, DAY-NRLM). Examiners routinely frame prompts around (a) whether legal equality has translated to substantive equality, (b) the autonomous vs state-led character of women's activism, and (c) the class-caste intersections inside the movement.
The chapter organises the terrain chronologically (reform → suffrage → autonomy → intersectional) and institutionally (organisations, movements, state architecture).
Waves of Feminism in India
Indian feminism does not map neatly onto Western "waves," but the three-phase framework is widely used in academic and UPSC literature.
| Wave | Period | Core Concern | Representative Figures / Landmarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| First wave | 19th c. – 1915 | Social reform; sati, widow remarriage, child marriage, women's education | Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Savitribai Phule (first Indian woman teacher, opened girls' school at Bhidewada, Pune, 1848 with Jyotirao Phule), Pandita Ramabai (founded Arya Mahila Samaj 1882; Sharada Sadan 1889), Tarabai Shinde (Stri Purush Tulana, 1882 — India's first modern feminist text) |
| Second wave | 1915 – 1970s | Nationalist mobilisation + post-independence equality | Sarojini Naidu, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay; AIWC (1927); Hindu Code Bills (1955-56); Towards Equality Report, 1974 |
| Third wave (autonomous) | Late 1970s – 1990s | Autonomy from parties/state; violence against women; personal-is-political | Mathura rape case (1979 SC verdict) → Forum Against Rape (1980), later Forum Against Oppression of Women; Anti-dowry agitations (Delhi, 1979-83); Shah Bano (1985) |
| Contemporary / Fourth | 2000s onwards | Digital, intersectional, queer, labour | Pink Chaddi campaign (2009), Slutwalk Delhi (2011), Nirbhaya protests (2012), MeToo India (2018), Shaheen Bagh (2019-20), farmers' protest (2020-21) |
Key exam cue: the Towards Equality Report (1974) — produced by the Committee on the Status of Women in India, chaired by Dr. S. Nurul Hasan (Phulrenu Guha and Vina Mazumdar were members) — is widely regarded as the document that revived the women's movement in independent India by exposing that two decades of planned development had worsened the sex ratio and female workforce participation.
Pre-Independence Reform & Organisation
| Year | Reform / Event | Lead Figure / Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| 1829 | Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829 — abolished sati in Bengal Presidency | Lord William Bentinck; Raja Ram Mohan Roy |
| 1856 | Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 — legalised widow remarriage | Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar; Lord Dalhousie's Council |
| 1848 | First indigenous girls' school, Bhidewada, Pune | Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule |
| 1875 | Arya Samaj founded — campaigned against child marriage, promoted widow remarriage and women's education | Swami Dayananda Saraswati |
| 1882 | Arya Mahila Samaj (Pune) | Pandita Ramabai |
| 1891 | Age of Consent Act, 1891 — raised age of consent for girls from 10 to 12 | B. M. Malabari's advocacy |
| 1917 | Women's Indian Association (WIA), Madras — first major women's organisation with political demands incl. franchise | Margaret Cousins, Annie Besant, Dorothy Jinarajadasa |
| 1926 | National Council of Women in India | — |
| 1927 | All India Women's Conference (AIWC) — first conference at Fergusson College, Poona (5-8 Jan 1927); President: Maharani Chimnabai of Baroda | Initiative of Margaret Cousins; Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (early secretary) |
| 1929 | Child Marriage Restraint Act (Sarda Act) — minimum age 14 (girls), 18 (boys) | Harbilas Sarda; AIWC advocacy |
| 1929 | Women's vote: Madras Presidency extended franchise (following earlier Bombay and Madras municipal 1921) | — |
Brahmo Samaj (founded 1828 by Ram Mohan Roy; reorganised 1843 by Debendranath Tagore) campaigned against polygamy, purdah and caste restrictions; Keshab Chandra Sen's faction pushed the Native Marriage Act / Special Marriage Act III of 1872 (civil, inter-caste marriage legalised).
Post-Independence Major Organisations
| Organisation | Year | Founder / Affiliation | Headquarters / Reach | Core Agenda |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) | 4 June 1954 | Aruna Asaf Ali and leaders of Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti; affiliated to CPI | New Delhi; pan-India | Peace, anti-imperialism, economic rights of working women; WIDF affiliate |
| Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of India | 1875 (India council 1896); international 1855 | Part of World YWCA | Delhi (national HQ) | Hostels, skilling, counselling, anti-trafficking |
| Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) | 12 April 1972 | Ela Bhatt (1933-2022), under the Textile Labour Association (TLA); president Arvind Buch | Ahmedabad | Registered trade union of informal-sector women workers — vendors, headloaders, home-based workers; largest single-state union of informal women workers in India (2.1+ million members across 18 states) |
| Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) | 1980 | Vina Mazumdar, Lotika Sarkar (both "Towards Equality" members) | New Delhi; ICSSR-recognised | Feminist research and policy advocacy |
| All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) | 10–12 March 1981 (first national conference, Madras) | Affiliated to CPI(M); building on state-level bodies (e.g., Pappa Umanath's Tamil Nadu Democratic Women's Association, 1973) | 23 states; membership 1.1 crore+ | Class-gender intersection; anti-violence, anti-dowry, food security |
| Joint Women's Programme (JWP) | 1981 | Initiative of the Church; ecumenical | New Delhi | Rural women's collectives, legal aid |
| Mahila Dakshata Samiti | 1977 | Led by socialist women after Emergency | Delhi | Anti-dowry, anti-rape campaigns |
Landmark Movements
| Movement | Period | Location | Core Issue | Women's Role & Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shahada Movement | From Jan 1972 | Shahada taluka, Dhulia district, Maharashtra | Bhil tribal landless labourers vs non-tribal landlords | Women's wing took on wife-beating, alcoholism; marched village-to-village smashing liquor pots |
| Chipko Movement | 1973 onwards (first action: Mandal village, Chamoli, April 1973) | Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand | Commercial logging; ecological rights | Organised by Chandi Prasad Bhatt (Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal); Gaura Devi led 27 women of Reni village (26 March 1974) to hug trees against contractors — the iconic image of the movement; Sunderlal Bahuguna took it nationwide with a 5,000 km trans-Himalaya padyatra (1981-83). Outcome: Indira Gandhi's 15-year ban on green felling above 1,000 m in UP Himalayas (1980) |
| Anti-Price Rise Movement | 1973-75 | Bombay | Inflation, essential commodities | Mrinal Gore, Ahilya Rangnekar (CPI, CPI(M), Socialists) — cross-party women's front |
| Nav Nirman Andolan | 1974 | Gujarat | Corruption, price-rise | Women students joined mass protest; toppled Chimanbhai Patel government |
| Mathura Rape Case Agitation | 1979-80 | All-India | Custodial rape; SC acquittal (Tukaram vs State of Maharashtra, 1979) | Open letter by Upendra Baxi, Lotika Sarkar, Raghunath Kelkar, Vasudha Dhagamwar → Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983 (Section 114A Evidence Act shifting burden of proof; closed trials; higher sentences) |
| Anti-Arrack Movement | Oct 1990 onwards (peak 1992-93) | Dubagunta village, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh → statewide | Country liquor (arrack) addiction ruining rural families | Triggered by post-literacy class readings (Akka Mahadevi story); Rosamma and Dubagunta women's resolution. Outcome: CM K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy imposed arrack ban from 1 Oct 1993; total prohibition from Jan 1995 (NTR government) |
| Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) | 1985 onwards | Narmada valley (MP/Gujarat/Maharashtra) | Submergence, displacement by Sardar Sarovar / Narmada dams | Medha Patkar as convenor; disproportionate displacement of tribal and adivasi women; tied into larger question of "development vs rights" |
| Vishaka Case | Led to SC judgment 13 August 1997 | Arose from Bhanwari Devi gang-rape (Bhateri, Rajasthan, 22 Sept 1992) — a saathin under the state Women's Development Programme who was attacked for stopping a child marriage | Sexual harassment at workplace | PIL by Naina Kapur / Sakshi and other groups; Bench: CJI J.S. Verma, Justices Sujata Manohar, B.N. Kirpal. Vishaka Guidelines binding until replaced by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("POSH Act") |
| Nirbhaya Protests | December 2012 – Jan 2013 | Delhi, nationwide | Gang-rape and murder of 23-year-old physiotherapy intern (16 Dec 2012) | Justice J.S. Verma Committee (report 23 Jan 2013) → Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 — new offences (stalking, voyeurism, acid attack), death penalty for repeat offenders, age of consent raised to 18; Nirbhaya Fund established in Budget 2013 |
| One Billion Rising India | Valentine's Day every year since 14 Feb 2013 | Global (Eve Ensler); V-Day campaign adapted nationwide | Ending violence against women and girls | Cultural mobilisation — dance, flash-mobs; network with Sangat, Jagori, Breakthrough |
| MeToo India | Broke out Sept–Oct 2018 | Media, entertainment, bureaucracy, academia | Workplace sexual harassment | Triggered by actor Tanushree Dutta allegations (Sept 2018); journalist Priya Ramani's naming of M.J. Akbar (Union Minister; resigned 17 Oct 2018); landmark Priya Ramani acquittal, 17 Feb 2021 (Delhi court) — "right to reputation cannot be protected at the cost of right to dignity" |
| Shaheen Bagh | 15 Dec 2019 – 24 March 2020 | Shaheen Bagh, Delhi | Protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and NRC | Muslim women-led, intergenerational sit-in; longest women-led protest in India's post-Independence history; ended with COVID-19 lockdown |
| Women in Farmers' Protest | Nov 2020 – Dec 2021 | Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur (Delhi borders) | Three farm laws (repealed 29 Nov 2021) | SC noted women's role (Jan 2021); International Women's Day 2021 managed entirely by women farmers; dismantled stereotype of farmer = male |
Exam tip: Examiners frequently ask how women's movements have changed law — line up Mathura → 1983 CrPC Amendment; Vishaka → POSH Act 2013; Nirbhaya → 2013 Criminal Law Amendment; Bhanwari Devi → Vishaka Guidelines; anti-arrack → AP prohibition.
The SHG Movement and DAY-NRLM
The Self-Help Group (SHG) model — pioneered by NABARD's SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (1992) and state experiments — is today the world's largest women's collective enterprise.
| Programme / Entity | Year | Key Fact (latest verified 2025-26) |
|---|---|---|
| NABARD SHG-Bank Linkage | 1992 | First micro-finance linkage in India |
| Kudumbashree (Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission) | 1998 | State-level women's empowerment network; ~46 lakh members; model for NRLM |
| Mission Shakti (Odisha) | 2001 | Odisha's state SHG programme (distinct from Centre's 2021 umbrella scheme of the same name) |
| National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) | 2011; renamed Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – NRLM (DAY-NRLM) from 29 March 2016 | Ministry of Rural Development; CSS |
| SHG Coverage (DAY-NRLM) | As of 2025-26 | 10.05 crore rural households mobilised into 90.9 lakh SHGs; 9 crore women reached |
| Lakhpati Didi Yojana | Announced Independence Day 2023; target scaled from 2 cr → 3 crore (Interim Budget Feb 2024) | 3.01 crore women have crossed ₹1 lakh annual household income (milestone achieved 2025, ahead of the earlier 2027 timeline); new target 6 crore by 2029-30 (announced Feb 2026) |
| Drone Didi (Namo Drone Didi) | 2023 | 15,000 women SHGs to operate agricultural drones by 2025-26; ₹1,261 crore outlay (2024-25 to 2025-26) |
| Centre's Mission Shakti (umbrella) | 2021-22 to 2025-26 (15th FC period) | Two sub-schemes — Sambal (safety: One Stop Centre, Women Helpline 181, BBBP, Nari Adalats) and Samarthya (empowerment: Ujjwala, Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, PMMVY, Palna creches) |
Governmental Institutional Architecture
| Body / Policy | Basis / Year | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) | Department set up 1985 under MHRD; upgraded to Ministry on 30 January 2006 | Current Minister: Smt. Annpurna Devi (since 10 June 2024) |
| National Commission for Women (NCW) | National Commission for Women Act, 1990; established 31 January 1992 | Chair + 5 Members; Current Chairperson: Vijaya Kishore Rahatkar (9th; assumed charge 22 Oct 2024). Statutory, recommendatory |
| State Commissions for Women | State Acts (from 1993 onwards) | 29 states/UTs have SCWs |
| National Policy for Women (Draft, 2016) | MWCD | Replaces 2001 Policy; seven priority areas (health, education, economy, governance, etc.); still in draft as of 2026 |
| Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) | Launched 22 January 2015, Panipat (Haryana) | Tri-ministerial (WCD + Health + Education); SRB improved from 918 (2014-15) to 933 (2022-23) |
| POSH Act | Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act, 2013 | Codifies Vishaka Guidelines; Internal Committee mandatory for ≥10 employees; Local Committee at district level |
| Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act | 2017 | Paid maternity leave raised from 12 to 26 weeks (first two children) |
| Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act | 2019 | Criminalised instant triple talaq (3 years imprisonment) |
Women's Political Participation
| Milestone | Year | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Universal adult franchise | 1950 | Article 326 — women voted on equal terms from first general election (1951-52) |
| 73rd Constitutional Amendment | 24 April 1993 | Article 243D(3) — not less than one-third of Panchayat seats (including Chair positions) reserved for women. 20 states/UTs have subsequently raised this to 50% (Bihar 2006 pioneered) |
| 74th Constitutional Amendment | 1 June 1993 | One-third seats in urban local bodies for women |
| Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 | Passed Sept 2023; received Presidential assent 28 Sept 2023 | Inserted Articles 330A, 332A, 334A — 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and Delhi Legislative Assembly (SC/ST sub-quotas included). Operational after the first census and subsequent delimitation — widely expected to apply from the 2029 general election |
| Women in 18th Lok Sabha | Elections June 2024 | 74 women MPs (13.6%) out of 543 — down from 78 (14.4%) in 17th Lok Sabha (2019, highest ever). 797 women contested (<10% of candidates); strike rate 9.3% |
| Women in Rajya Sabha | April 2026 | ~13% (varies; around 31-33 members) |
| Women in State Assemblies | 2024 avg | ~9% nationally |
| Women voter turnout | 2024 LS | 65.8%, marginally ahead of male turnout (65.6%) — continuing trend since 2019 |
Paradox for Mains: India's panchayat-level reservation has placed ~14 lakh women in elected local office (highest globally in absolute numbers), yet legislative representation (13.6%) lags the global average (~27%) — highlighting the need for Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam's actual operationalisation.
Gender Indices & Data (2024–26)
| Indicator | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global Gender Gap Index 2024 | India: Rank 129 of 146 (score 0.641, i.e. 64.1% of gap closed); 5th in South Asia after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan | WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2024 |
| Political Empowerment sub-index | Rank 65 (declined) | WEF GGGR 2024 |
| Economic Participation sub-index | 39.8% parity (among lowest globally) | WEF GGGR 2024 |
| Female Labour Force Participation (15+, usual status) | 41.7% in 2023-24 — up from 23.3% in 2017-18 | PLFS Annual Report 2023-24 (MoSPI) |
| Rural FLFPR | 47.6% (2023-24) vs 24.6% (2017-18) | PLFS 2023-24 |
| Urban FLFPR | ~25.4% (much slower rise) | PLFS 2023-24 |
| Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) | 933 (2022-23) vs 918 (2014-15) | HMIS / BBBP data |
| Total Fertility Rate (TFR) | 2.0 — below replacement | NFHS-5 (2019-21) |
| Female literacy (age 15-49) | 71.5% | NFHS-5 |
| Women with own bank account | 78.6% (up from 53% in NFHS-4) | NFHS-5 |
| Child marriage (women 20-24 married before 18) | 23.3% (down from 26.8% in NFHS-4) | NFHS-5 |
| Lifetime spousal violence (women 18-49) | 29.3% | NFHS-5 |
| Women participation in household decisions | 88.7% | NFHS-5 |
Contemporary Challenges
- Workforce paradox — The PLFS rise to 41.7% FLFPR is driven largely by rural unpaid helpers in household enterprises; formal wage employment for women remains stuck around 25%.
- Unpaid care work — Time Use Survey 2019 (India's first): women spend 299 minutes/day on unpaid domestic work vs 97 minutes for men.
- Workplace safety — A decade after POSH, NCW data (2024) show only 40% of private companies with ≥10 employees have constituted Internal Committees; Local Committees at district level under-reported.
- Digital gender gap — Women's mobile internet use (IAMAI 2024) lags men by ~20 percentage points; doxxing, trolling, deepfakes (e.g., Rashmika Mandanna case, Nov 2023) triggered IT Rules advisories in 2024.
- Honour-based violence — No specific central law; SC's Shakti Vahini v. UoI (2018) guidelines still patchily implemented.
- Missing women — Amartya Sen's 1990 LRB essay estimated 100 million "missing women" in Asia from sex-selective neglect; UNFPA State of World Population 2020 estimated India accounted for ~45.8 million of the 142.6 million missing women globally.
- Legal equality vs social reality — Uniform Civil Code debate (Uttarakhand enacted a UCC from 27 Jan 2025); personal law reform in Muslim, Christian, tribal contexts remains contentious.
Key Terms
- SEWA — Self-Employed Women's Association; registered as trade union in Ahmedabad, 12 April 1972, by Ela Bhatt; organises informal-sector women workers.
- AIDWA — All India Democratic Women's Association; founded March 1981, Madras; mass organisation affiliated to CPI(M); 1.1 crore+ members.
- Chipko — Literally "to embrace"; 1973 Himalayan forest-rights movement; iconic Reni village action led by Gaura Devi on 26 March 1974; Sunderlal Bahuguna's 5,000 km padyatra.
- Vishaka Guidelines — Supreme Court guidelines (13 Aug 1997) mandating workplace redress for sexual harassment, formulated in response to Bhanwari Devi's case; codified by POSH Act, 2013.
- Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023; reserves 33% of Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assembly and Delhi Assembly seats for women; operative after next census and delimitation.
- DAY-NRLM — Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission; flagship SHG programme covering 90.9 lakh SHGs and ~9 crore women (2025-26).
- Lakhpati Didi — Women SHG members crossing ₹1 lakh annual household income; 3.01 crore achieved (2025); new target 6 crore by 2029-30.
- NFHS-5 — National Family Health Survey, fifth round, 2019-21; flagship data source on women's health, violence, empowerment.
- Towards Equality Report (1974) — Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India; chaired by Dr. S. Nurul Hasan; revived the women's movement by documenting decline in sex ratio and female workforce participation.
Beyond the Book
- Towards Equality (1974) — The Committee was set up in 1971 by the Department of Social Welfare on the eve of International Women's Year (1975). Its finding that the sex ratio had declined from 972 (1901) to 930 (1971), and that female workforce participation had fallen since 1951, shattered the Nehruvian assumption that planned development was automatically emancipatory. Out of this came the Women's Studies programme at SNDT (1974) and the founding of CWDS (1980).
- Amartya Sen's "More than 100 Million Women Are Missing" (New York Review of Books, 20 December 1990) — applied sex-ratio arithmetic to estimate the demographic cost of anti-women discrimination; spawned a research field (Drèze & Sen 1995; Anderson & Ray 2010).
- UN Women Asia-Pacific (Bangkok; India country office, Delhi) — tracks SDG 5 (gender equality); its 2024 "Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals" finds Asia-Pacific is 68 years behind schedule on SDG 5.
- Ela Bhatt's We Are Poor but So Many (2006) — the canonical SEWA memoir; useful Mains quote material on "dignified work" and the informal economy.
- Bina Agarwal's A Field of One's Own (1994) — landmark on women and land rights in South Asia; underpins the 2005 Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act giving daughters equal coparcenary rights.
- V. Geetha's Gender (Theorizing Feminism series) — standard undergraduate primer.
Recent Developments (2024–2026)
Women's Reservation Act — 106th Amendment Implementation Timeline (2024–2025)
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) reserved one-third of Lok Sabha and state assembly seats for women (new Articles 330A and 332A), but only after the next delimitation exercise is completed. The Women's Reservation Bill became a landmark for the women's movement after being pending since 1996 through multiple failed Lok Sabha terms. Delimitation cannot begin until the Census is completed — the Census itself will conclude only by early 2027. Women's organisations, including the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) and the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), have demanded a fixed timeline for delimitation to prevent indefinite delay. As of 2025, women hold 13.6% of Lok Sabha seats — below the 14% held before the 106th Amendment — and reservation at state assembly level remains unimplemented. The disconnect between a constitutional mandate and indefinitely delayed implementation is a key current exam theme.
UPSC angle: Prelims — 106th Amendment 2023; Articles 330A, 332A; one-third reservation; post-delimitation trigger; NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar (since October 2024). Mains (GS1/GS2) — women's political representation gap; social movement history of Women's Reservation Bill (1996-2023); delimitation as implementation barrier; representation vs substantive empowerment.
Gender Budget 2025-26 and FLFPR Surge
The Union Budget 2025-26 Gender Budget Statement allocated ₹4.49 lakh crore (8.86% of total Union Budget outlay) towards gender-sensitive schemes — the highest on record. Key components include Mission Shakti (₹3,144 crore), PMMVY (₹2,517 crore), and enhanced allocations for Lakhpati Didi and SHG ecosystem support. The Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) rose to 41.7% in 2023-24 (PLFS Annual Report) from 23.3% in 2017-18 — reversing a long-term decline driven by increased rural women's employment in agriculture, SHG enterprises, and formal sector. Women's SHGs under DAY-NRLM now number over 9 crore members, and the Lakhpati Didi programme has created 1.15 crore women earning over ₹1 lakh annually through enterprise. However, women's organisations note that urban formal employment growth remains slow, unpaid care work data (NSO time-use surveys show women do 7x more unpaid care than men) is excluded from productivity calculations, and gender wage gap persists at approximately 28%.
UPSC angle: Prelims — Gender Budget 2025-26: ₹4.49 lakh crore / 8.86%; FLFPR 41.7% (PLFS 2023-24); Lakhpati Didi 1.15 crore; DAY-NRLM 9 crore SHG members. Mains (GS1) — women's organisations and economic empowerment; SHG as grassroots movement; gender budget as policy tool; unpaid care work and its exclusion from economic measurement.
Farmers' Protest 2024 — Women as Protest Actors
The 2024 Indian farmers' protest — launched on 13 February 2024 at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border, demanding legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) — marked a visible increase in women farmers' participation in organised movements. Over 50,000 farmers assembled at Shambhu and Khanauri borders; women's groups from Punjab, including members of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), held their own protest sub-camps highlighting the intersection of gender and agrarian distress: women's labour in agriculture is systematically underpaid or invisible, land is rarely registered in women's names, and crop insurance claims typically go to male landowners. The protest also triggered internet shutdowns in border areas — a state response that women's movements and media freedom advocates criticised under Article 19(1)(a). Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented barriers to peaceful protest, including barricades and tear gas use (February 2024).
UPSC angle: Prelims — 2024 farmers' protest; Shambhu border; started February 13, 2024; MSP legal guarantee demand. Mains (GS1) — women's participation in social movements; gender dimensions of agrarian crisis; intersection of class, caste, and gender in farmers' protests; state response (internet shutdowns) and right to protest.
Exam Strategy
Prelims high-probability facts:
- SEWA — 1972; Ahmedabad; Ela Bhatt; registered as trade union
- AIWC — 1927, Poona; Margaret Cousins initiative; Maharani Chimnabai first president
- NFIW — 1954; Aruna Asaf Ali; CPI-affiliated
- Chipko — 1973 Mandal; Reni 1974; Gaura Devi, Bahuguna, Bhatt
- Vishaka — 1997; Bhanwari Devi; CJI J.S. Verma
- 73rd Amendment (1993) — one-third PRI reservation; 74th — urban
- 106th Amendment (2023) — Nari Shakti Vandan; Articles 330A, 332A; post-delimitation
- Towards Equality — 1974; Committee set up 1971; Nurul Hasan, Chair
- NCW — 1992; Vijaya Rahatkar (since 22 Oct 2024)
- GGGR 2024 — India 129/146
- PLFS 2023-24 — FLFPR 41.7%
Mains keyword cues:
- "Role of women's organisations in India's democratic process" → link autonomous women's movement (post-Mathura) to Vishaka → POSH → Nari Shakti Vandan.
- "Evaluate impact of women SHGs on rural empowerment" → DAY-NRLM + Lakhpati Didi + Kudumbashree; use 3.01 crore Lakhpati Didi figure; counter with unpaid care work data.
- "The paradox of women's political representation" → 14 lakh women in local bodies vs 13.6% in Lok Sabha; 50% reservation in 20 states at PRI level vs 33% pending at Centre.
- "Women have been more victims than participants in India's development" (critical framing) → Narmada submergence, agrarian distress, sex ratio, FLFPR decline 1990s-2010s, before rural recovery post-2017.
Cross-paper connections:
- GS2 (Polity): 73rd, 74th, 106th Amendments; NCW as statutory body; POSH Act.
- GS2 (Social Justice): Schemes — BBBP, Mission Shakti, PMMVY, Sukanya Samriddhi, One Stop Centres.
- GS3 (Economy): FLFPR, unpaid care work, gender-responsive budgeting (Gender Budget Statement — Union Budget 2025-26 allocated ₹4.49 lakh crore / 8.86% of total outlay).
- Essay: "She the people"; "Gandhi, Ambedkar and women's equality"; "Empowerment begins at the polling booth — and ends there?".
Cross-link: For latest NCW orders, schemes, and current affairs on women and gender, see Ujiyari.com.
