Eye-opening study on Punjab's rural women labourers poses many questions in poll season

India, March 22 -- High debts, sexual exploitation, gender disparity, caste discrimination and exclusion from the political process continue to bedevil these mostly Dalit women

An eye-opening study released on March 19, 2019, on the plight of rural women labourers in Punjab, has brought to centre-stage, the issue of the failure of India's political system to deliver after more than 72 years of independence.

The document points at the marginalisation of these women, overwhelmingly belonging to Dalit communities, in politics, the economy and also their households.

While bringing out the vulnerability of these women to exploitation of all types, the study also brings out the dire need of programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employm...