ABSTRACT
Our study is an effort to understand women-led climate action in India. It examines the pursuit of livelihoods at local level through India’s two flagship programmes, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAYNRLM). Their main objective is to promote sustainable livelihoods in a climate-friendly manner. We have analysed the livelihood-sustainable work of women’s collectives under the DAYNRLM, a massive programme advancing microcredit-led rural livelihoods. It includes a programme for the promotion of women farmers under the Mahila Kisaan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and the Community Management of Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) scheme. These two sub-components of the DAYNRLM support community-centred, climate-resilient livelihoods. They do so in convergence with the MGNREGS, another programme of livelihood promotion, especially its water- and land-related components. We argue in this chapter that the two major schemes have resulted in large-scale, climate-resilient actions by local people across the states of India. Natural farming in Andhra Pradesh, organic farming in Sikkim, and plant nurseries in every Gram Panchayat of Telangana are noteworthy examples. Finally, we provide a roadmap for community-centric, climate-resilient livelihoods through agriculture and allied activities.
