Jal, Jungle, Aur Zameen: Kya Mahilao Ko Milega Unka Haq

Jal, Jungle, Aur Zameen: Kya Mahilao Ko Milega Unka Haq (2019) follows the testimonies of three women farmers from rural Uttar Pradesh: Rambati (President of the Kisan Union, Jhansi), Ramdulari (farmer in the Mabal village, Chitrakoot), and Gayatri Devi (farmer in Manikpur village, Chitrakoot). While the contours of the distress they face differ—Rambati deals with low-yielding land, Ramdulari labours alone in a field as her husband migrates for employment, and Gayatri Devi had been a widow for 12 years at the time of filming—they echo the same need for land ownership. Dwindling harvest, gendered outmigration, feminisation of agriculture, and widowhood form distinct textures of an underlying structural issue. None of these women owns the land they sow on, irrigate, and harvest. Their testimonies also highlight domestic labour and child-rearing as forms of unpaid labour, which is disproportionately their responsibility. As Rambati puts it, “We take care of the house and also of the land, but men get the legal rights on them both. Women get nothing under their name, neither the house nor the land.” Through the accounts of these three women farmers, the film offers a grounded, accessible entry point into questions of land ownership, labour recognition, and decision-making.