Proverty and hunger
From recent poverty statistics, we see that 28.6 % of the population is poor (i.e. almost 300 million people, of which half or more are women). At present, rural India is suffering from neglect and apathy. Debt among rural farm families is escalating and small farmers are retreating into oblivion. Rural to urban migration has reached critical levels. Today, India has reverted back to the ranks of a net food importer, after having produced surplus food stocks for over 15 years.
There is an inextricable link between hunger which is still an overriding social issue, and the role of women in society. In India’s rural society women’s suppression is rooted in the very fabric of traditions, religious doctrine and practices, within the educational and legal systems and within families. Women suffer from hunger and poverty in greater numbers and to a greater degree then men At the same time, it is women who bear the primary responsibility for actions needed to end hunger: education, nutrition, health and family income.


The caste problem
Caste still retains its primeval hold in India, although it is legally abandoned already for more than 50 years. As an illustration one can look at the matrimonial advertisements in newspapers, arranged precisely by caste. Despite all laws against discrimination, caste discrimination against Dalits (lower castes) is rampant in India.
It is both a political reality and a social fact.
Dalits are subjected to violence, especially in rural areas, their women raped, and their land stolen. Dalits perform the most dangerous and odious forms of labour in Indian society, like in manual scavenging and work in tanneries. In the arranged marriages there is little social mixing of forward/upper castes with the Dalits. Residential areas tend to be segregated along caste lines, especially in rural areas where most Dalits still live.
Because of this, marketplaces and some roads through the villages are denied to them (to keep them ‘clean’).