{"id":7065,"date":"2025-12-04T16:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commongroundinitiative.in\/?p=7065"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:01:12","slug":"fighting-caste-and-patriarchy-how-women-farmers-are-reclaiming-commons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commongroundinitiative.in\/hi\/100-stories\/fighting-caste-and-patriarchy-how-women-farmers-are-reclaiming-commons\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Caste and Patriarchy, How Women Farmers Are Reclaiming Commons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dalit women in Punjab are reshaping access to agricultural common land by pooling money for auctions, resisting dummy bids, and bypassing upper-caste panchayats. Through collective farming and equitable sharing of produce, they are securing land rights long denied to them, paving the way for dignity, autonomy, and community-centered agriculture<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Sangrur, Punjab:<\/strong> On a rainy Thursday morning in July 2025, around 100 women gathered at the Guru Ravidas Gurudwara in Bhawanigarh town, Punjab. Some had infants wrapped in their arms. Many had travelled outside their village for the first time. The men who accompanied them were waiting on the sidelines of the courtyard.<\/p>\n

23-year-old Kamal Deep Kaur, the youngest among the women gathered, walked through the crowd and put up a banner she had painted. It read, \u201cZameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee, Aurat Wing.\u201d (Committee for struggle over land attainment, women\u2019s wing). The women sloganeered: \u201cJo zameen Sarkari hai voh zameen hamari hai,\u201d (What is the government\u2019s land is our land).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gathering has been called to raise awareness amongst Dalit women about their rights over common lands in Punjab,\u201d Amanpreet Kaur Deol, a member of ZPSC and an organiser of the meeting, said.<\/p>\n\n

ZPSC was started in 2014, but this was the first meeting establishing their women’s wing. \u201cThe struggle for equitable access to commons was always led by women, but their entitlements were not recognised,\u201d said Amanpreet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n

Caption: Kamaljeet Kaur is making the banner of ZPSC before the gathering of the women. Captured by: Shreya Bansal<\/em><\/p>\n\n

From margins to land custodians<\/strong>
Common lands in Punjab or \u2018Shamlat\u2019 lands are owned by the village Panchayat and allocated to farmers through an annual auction. The Panchayat Department allocates this land to farmers for cultivation through an annual open auction. Punjab has over 1.70 lakh acres of land across 8,000 villages, according to the Rural Development and Panchayat Department<\/a>. One-third of this common land (56,677 acres) is reserved to be distributed among Dalits according to rule 6(1)(a) of The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

In practice, however, reserved lands rarely benefitted the Dalit community. Instead, upper-caste farmers sent \u2018proxy\u2019 or \u2018dummy\u2019 Dalit bidders on their behalf at the open auctions, and once the land was allotted, they took it over from Dalit farmers. This practice has continued for years and has been well documented<\/a>. But a women-led movement is now helping Dalit farmers to access and utilise agricultural commons through innovative approaches to bypass caste and patriarchy.<\/p>\n

Dalit women farmers across villages in Punjab are helping the community organise \u2018joint biddings\u2019 or \u2018Sanjhi boli\u2019,<\/a> wherein a collective of both female and male farmers from a village contribute resources and bid together for a piece of land in an auction. As part of the collective, the farmers can pool money and bid a higher amount so they can lease out land reserved for them. By collectivising, they play a role in countering \u2018dummy auctions\u2019 in their village through protest and monitoring.<\/p>\n

According to the ZPSC, the movement is active in 55 villages as of 2020<\/a>. Once the land is acquired, the villagers protect it and use it through a \u2018collective farming model.\u2019 Under this model, residents collectively ensure smooth governance of the acquired common land for the benefit of the village. Decisions related to how much money will be contributed, the crops that will be grown and how a conflict will be resolved are taken by committees formed under the collective farming model.<\/p>\n

Amandeep Kaur Deol and many other women across villages in Punjab are leading this movement. \u201cWomen have come forward in Punjab and said we can take leadership,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Caption: Over 100 women gather to form the women\u2019s wing under the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee. Captured by: Shreya Bansal<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Reclaiming the Commons <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Commons\u2014shared lands such as forests, pastures, water bodies and mangroves\u2014 cover 205 million acres <\/a>or one fourth of India and form the lifeline for over 350 million people, including marginalised groups like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. Communities across India have traditionally protected, restored and managed these commons through customary self-governance practices. These customary rights and practices however haven\u2019t been formally recognised or recorded in many parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n

This, coupled with contesting demands over resources, caste and class hierarchies and environmental degradation has curtailed<\/a> communities\u2019 access to commons, leading to their over exploitation, climate vulnerabilities and rural distress. Marginalised groups such as Dalits and women have been disproportionately affected<\/a> due to long-standing social exclusion and gendered labour burdens.<\/p>\n\n

Despite these challenges, communities across India are showcasing that reclaiming, restoring and managing commons through customary self-governance practices can play a crucial role in their ecological, social and economic upliftment. Land Conflict Watch<\/a>, a Delhi-based research group, in collaboration with Common Ground Initiative<\/a>, a collaborative working on the commons is documenting such case studies of successful collective action of communities around common from across the country.<\/p>\n\n

The women-led movement of Dalit farmers is one such example where, through collective farming and equitable sharing of produce, the marginalised farmers are securing land rights long denied to them, paving the way for dignity, autonomy, and community-centered agriculture.<\/p>\n\n

Exclusion by design<\/strong>
Various instances of dummy auctions have been reported over the years for Dalit-resreved land in Punjab. In 2020, Members of the Dalit community in Punjab\u2019s Barnala district protested against dummy auctions taking place for at least 14.5 acres of shamlat<\/a> land that is reserved for them. In 2018, Dalit residents in Kaidupur village, Patiala, had also raised their voices against the wrongful auction of agricultural land reserved for them. The residents claimed that during the auction, the land was allotted to two fake bidders who were proxies for upper-caste men.<\/p>\n\n

The members of ZPSC, who have been fighting against dummy auctions since 2014, allege that while only a few instances are highlighted, they occur regularly across villages in Punjab. While women always led the struggle in ZPSC, Amandeep reflects on how women never had their entitlements recognised.
\u201cDalit women don\u2019t even know that there is common land in Punjab reserved for them,\u201d Amandeep shared.<\/p>\n\n

Changing the script<\/strong>
Jasveer Kaur, a 41-year-old farmer, has been working in Punjab’s Herike village for the past 25 years. Her main income came from growing fodder for cattle on the one acre of land that she leased from Upper-caste farmers in her village for \u20b920,000. Managing the land alone gave her no security, and she often faced caste based discrimination. In 2020, she joined the ZPSC.<\/p>\n\n

When she joined, Jasveer Kaur and other villagers protested a \u2018dummy auction\u2019 for the first time. \u201cWe didn\u2019t let the man who organised the dummy bidding get a hold of the land,\u201d she said. As a part of the protest Jasveer Kaur along with the villagers cultivated fodder on the allocated land to prevent it from being auctioned to upper-caste farmers through dummy bidding. Despite the efforts, dummy bidding repeated every year. The villagers continued their protest for five years and, eventually, were able to lease out that land.<\/p>\n\n

But \u2018dummy biddings\u2019 haven\u2019t stopped in Jasveer Kaur\u2019s village. After successfully leasing out land in 2025, members of the Dalit community, Herike, have formed a committee to continue joint bidding and protect and maintain the land leased. The committee, which has 7-8 members, holds monthly meetings, pools money for the auctions, tracks auctions for dummy bidding, and participates in the auctions based on feasibility to lease the reserved Shamlat lands. The committee also monitors for any dummy bidding in auctions in neighbouring villages, protesting every auction where there is a dummy boli<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

Joint model makes cultivation affordable<\/strong>
The joint bidding model has enabled Dalit farmers to not only compete with proxy candidates funded by upper-caste farmers, but also manage their own expenditure on the land. \u201cIf farmers practise individually, everybody will have to buy individual resources,\u201d said Jasveer Kaur. \u201cFor instance, a single farmer will have to hire a tractor for only 1 acre of produce, but together we can pitch in to buy a trolley for all farmers to reduce expenses,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n

Currently, the committee looks after 8.5 acres of land jointly leased by 15 families in the village, according to Jasveer Kaur. Each family contributes between \u20b95000 and \u20b97000 for the auctions. For each joint bidding, the committee decides on the amount of money that will be contributed by each family in the village. \u201cIf everyone contributes the same amount, the land is distributed equally. Sometimes, a household doesn’t want the land but instead want the fodder or grains cultivated on it. This family also contributes money to the bidding and their share of the cultivation is given to them,\u201d said Jasveer Kaur.<\/p>\n\n

The contributions are used to pay the daily wages of the farmers, to buy farm inputs. Profits are distributed proportionally, while some amount is saved by the committee for future use. Most of the land is acquired for short periods of one year, and is either used for growing fodder (chaara) to feed the cattle or to grow seasonal crops like rice and grains. If a land is leased for a longer period of five years, farmers are also able to grow other crops like corn or moong crops.<\/p>\n\n

Breaking barriers<\/strong>
The Dalit farmers’ committee does not seek any help from the Panchayat. Rather, the panchayat is actively opposed to the committee and the demands of the Dalit community, said Jasveer Kaur. \u201cThey are afraid of our large numbers and unity. They would rather have us work on their lands, than on our own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n

Her work as a farm leader also attracts taunts and criticism from those with power within the village. But she brushes it off. \u201cI don\u2019t care what people think about my work. Our situation has forced us to struggle. We don\u2019t care about going to jail or the police,\u201d Jasveer said.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cEven amongst the Dalit farmers, women spend more time and labour in the fields than the men. Women also have to look after the kids, the cattle and protect the farms,\u201d said Jasveer Kaur. \u201cOurs is a patriarchal country. Women understand the needs of women well, which is why we spread awareness among women across villages and make them understand the work ZPSC has been doing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n

Women at the centre of change<\/strong>
Similar success stories are being written in other villages, too.<\/p>\n\n

At Badrukhan, 25 km south of Herike, 41-year-old Raj Kaur leads a group of 35 Dalit families that jointly own five acres of land. They call themselves \u201c\u2018Punjab Parivar\u201d, where the committee is represented by women from each of the households.<\/p>\n\n

The women attend all auctions and land rights-related programs. The \u2018Punjab Parivar\u2019 maintains funds that can be used for the joint bid. An equal amount is collected from each family, and a record of the amount collected is maintained, said Raj Kaur.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Caption: Leader of the Punjab Parivar, Raj Kaur, 41, at her house in Badrukhan. Captured by: Shreya Bansal<\/em><\/p>\n\n

When the first auction was held in Badrukhan in 2018, only 15 families participated. Since then, the number of families has more than doubled. At the centre of this is Raj Kaur, who plays the important role of mediation if conflicts arise within Punjab Parivar. \u201cIf there are money conflicts between families related to land maintenance, I give money from the joint fund to sort it out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cA lot of people work for money, but for me, when a community of women is standing with me, money doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d said Raj. For her, the community of women who have shown trust over the years during this movement is the most significant result of the collective farming model. Raj shares how women, who cover a large percentage of the labour on the farm, are not only fighting for autonomy, but also for the safe space it offers them. \u201cWomen working on farms face sexual abuse regularly,\u201d Raj said.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Caption: Jasveer Kaur (R) being honoured as the president of the women\u2019s wing of ZPSC by professors from the chief guests. Captured by: Shreya Bansal<\/em><\/p>\n\n

A movement gathers speed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Jasveer Kaur and Raj Kaur are both present at the gathering on Thursday. They share their experience – of struggle and achievement – hoping to inspire more women to start and helm collectives.<\/p>\n\n

23-year-old Kamaljeet Kaur, whose hand-painted banner hangs at the front of the gathering, asks the audience to remember the contributions of Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh toward the liberation of the Dalit community.<\/p>\n\n

Jasveer Kaur is announced as the President of the \u2018women\u2019s wing\u2019 of the ZPSC, and the hope is that her experiences in Hireke will ring the clarion call of Dalit solidarity across the common lands of Punjab.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dalit women in Punjab are reshaping access to agricultural common land by pooling money for auctions, resisting dummy bids, and bypassing upper-caste panchayats. Through collective farming and equitable sharing of produce, they are securing land rights long denied to them, paving the way for dignity, autonomy, and community-centered agriculture Sangrur, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":7069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFighting Caste and Patriarchy, How Women Farmers Are Reclaiming Commons - Common Ground<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commongroundinitiative.in\/hi\/100-stories\/fighting-caste-and-patriarchy-how-women-farmers-are-reclaiming-commons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"hi_IN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting Caste and Patriarchy, How Women Farmers Are Reclaiming Commons - Common Ground\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dalit women in Punjab are reshaping access to agricultural common land by pooling money for auctions, resisting dummy bids, and bypassing upper-caste panchayats. 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