Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired a review meeting at Varsha Bungalow, Mumbai, on Friday, June 12, 2026, to assess the proposed Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Bill, 2026, which the state government intends to introduce in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the legislature. The bill aims to grant women farmers independent legal recognition and strengthen their standing within the state's agricultural ecosystem.

Context

Announcing the meeting on X, Fadnavis noted that women contribute more than 81 per cent of the agricultural workforce across Maharashtra, yet have historically lacked formal recognition as farmers in their own right. The proposed legislation, he stated, 'seeks to ensure that women engaged in agriculture and allied activities receive recognition, rights and opportunities.' He directed officials to finalise the bill's draft after incorporating all relevant suggestions.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, Minister Dattatray Bharane, Minister of State Adv. Ashish Jaiswal, and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), along with senior officials and other dignitaries. The presence of Dr. Swaminathan underscores the technical and policy depth being brought to the drafting process.

Policy Backdrop

The push for formal recognition of women cultivators has deep roots in Indian agricultural policy. The National Commission on Farmers, chaired by the late M.S. Swaminathan, submitted landmark reports between 2004 and 2006 that specifically recommended support mechanisms and formal recognition for women in agriculture. The MSSRF, a Chennai-based non-profit founded in 1988, has continued this work on sustainable agriculture, food security, and rural livelihoods.

Across India, women perform the majority of agricultural labour yet hold limited land titles and face constrained access to institutional credit, crop insurance, and government subsidies. National-level efforts, including gender budgeting in agriculture schemes and periodic land rights reforms, have moved incrementally. Maharashtra's proposed bill represents a more targeted, state-level legislative intervention in this space.

Stakeholders and Impact

Fadnavis specified that the bill's framework would extend beyond land-owning women farmers to cover those engaged in allied sectors, as well as landless farmers, tenant farmers, agricultural labourers, and migrant agricultural workers — a broad scope that could affect lakhs of women across the state. Key areas of focus include improving access to credit, technology, markets, crop insurance, agricultural subsidies, and social security benefits.

By granting independent legal identity, the legislation could enable women farmers to directly access government schemes, apply for institutional loans, and claim insurance payouts without routing claims through male family members. Tenant farmers and landless labourers, who are among the most economically vulnerable, stand to benefit from formal recognition that has historically eluded them under existing land-title-based frameworks.

What's Next

The immediate step is the preparation of a final draft bill incorporating suggestions gathered at the review meeting. The government has indicated the bill will be tabled in the Maharashtra Monsoon Session of the legislature. Once introduced, it will face scrutiny in debate, after which rules notification and budgetary provisions — particularly for credit access and insurance schemes — will be critical markers of implementation intent.

If passed and operationalised, Maharashtra's framework could serve as a model for other states grappling with the same structural gap, and may inform future central government policy on women's land and agricultural rights. The involvement of the MSSRF signals an intent to ground the legislation in evidence-based recommendations that trace back to the Swaminathan Commission's foundational work.