Land Rights, Livelihood and Women’s Empowerment in Assam: An Empirical Study of Rural Tiwa Women of Chowbori Village, Nagaon District

ABSTRACT

Gender-just society is a catalyst for preserving the basic human rights—the inherent rights of welfare, social and economic security for women. The issue of land ownership is central to the questions of social justice, economic stability, livelihoods and empowerment, particularly for women. A gender approach to land rights can enable the shifts in the existing imbalanced gender power relations, and assure that women, regardless of any caste, class, religion can be benefitted and can improve the government policies regarding women’s rights to land. Assam is a land of diversities—diversities, which exist in terms of population structures, cultures, traditions, food habits and most importantly the geographical differences like the Plains and the Hills. Though, hypothetically, it is said that the status and position of women in Assam is slightly higher in comparison to the same of the other states of India, the practical realisation of all the rights and privileges reveal a different picture. The enjoyment of all the rights including land rights remain limited due to the socio-cultural barriers and institutional shortcomings. While the formal legal frameworks exist and are working to ensure gender equality in land ownership but in certain studies carried by different scholars of the region reveal the opposite scenario in terms of the land rights of the women in Assam. In agrarian economies like Assam, where land is a primary resource for livelihoods, the patterns of ownership and access to land are deeply intertwined with gender dynamics.  The Tiwa community, one of the indigenous groups of Assam, has a distinct socio-cultural framework that influences the roles and rights of women in land-related matters.