Right to land and forest resources still remains a distant dream for women across the country. This fact came to the fore during the concluding session of a two-day national conference on ‘Women, forest and community rights’ in Ranchi on Thursday. Around 100 women took part in the conference, which was jointly organised by Women Forest Right Action Committee, Jharkhand State Women’s Commission, Shramjeevi Mahila Samiti and National Centre For Advocacy. The speakers, who hailed from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa as well as Jharkhand, discussed the policies to save jal, jungle and zameen (water, forests and land). Under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, women enjoy the right to collect and sell forest produce like bamboos, tendu leaves and sakhuas to eke out their living. “But criminals who stake claim to forestland beat up and sexually exploit women when they visit forests,” said Madhya Pradesh-based activist Rani Kumari. Sushmita Devi from Malkangiri district of Orissa added: “Government schemes do not reach our district.” She added that she launched an ambitious campaign to provide rightful women owners to their land. “We have seen that much of the ancestral land belongs to females, but the males forcibly occupy them by branding them as witches. But my persistent efforts yielded results and some women got back their lands,” she said. This is not all. Female education is also a big challenge in rural areas as families discourage their daughters from attending schools. Echoing Sushmita’s view, Shanta Bhattacharya from Uttar Pradesh said: “Woman emancipation in rural areas is a farce as each woman faces lot of challenges while trying to achieve something in their lives,” Bhattacharya said.