Srinagar, June 27 -- June in Kashmir once carried the earthy scent of freshly tilled paddy fields, the rhythmic splashing of women's feet in flooded plots, and the chorus of song and laughter as women like Hajra sowed rice with a skill passed down through generations. Hajra, now in her late 50s, stands by the edge of her ancestral field in a village in South Kashmir, watching a group of Bihari men planting saplings with machine-like speed and coordination. Her hands-once her pride, toughened by decades of work-now stay folded behind her back.

She used to lead the transplanting season. Her feet could sense whether the soil was ready, her hands knew exactly how deep to press the saplings. "We used to start at sunrise and work till late aft...