The objective of this paper is to understand individual nutritional outcomes through an examination of gendered time use patterns. The analysis of the data from eight villages in the Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT), India confirm previous conclusions about the gendered influence of agricultural interventions, especially time demands on the rural poor. Agricultural interventions in the harsh, drought-prone environment of the SAT tend to increase the time burden on women. Sociological perspectives indicate that changes in time use patterns are also due to changing agricultural practices such as cropping patterns, type of productive work (farm to non-farm) among other factors, leading to variations in outcomes like nutrition for different members of the household. These changes demand innovative gender-responsive approaches and policies to leverage agriculture for nutrition and health. The paper concludes that empowering women through more information and control over income, assets and resources enhances their agency to make decisions for efficient time use, food consumption, sanitation and healthy practices. The authors opine that the context is important and policies must be based on sound data and rigorous analysis, including social and gender considerations.

Highlights Social and technical interventions related to agriculture, watersheds, and capacity building should enhance women’s awareness, access, and decision-making role in agrarian communities. Strict gender norms and relations hinder the empowerment of women in the Bundelkhand region and prevent women from participating in the decision-making process at the household, farm, and community level. When implementing watershed projects in a highly patriarchal context, as in the Bundelkhand region, advocacy of behavioral change communication must be implemented, addressing the diverse needs of women and men. Strengthening of systematic and gender-sensitive institution building, social engagement, and capacity development for global water security is needed for sustainable watershed interventions. ABSTRACT. This study examined gender perspectives on water security by exploring an integrated water management approach for agriculture, livestock, and human consumption. The data were generated in a watershed project to enhance drought resilience of farming through groundwater recharge and agroforestry interventions in the water-scarce Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh in central India. Post-intervention, a quantitative survey and qualitative gender and social analysis tools were applied to understand the benefits of the interventions for women, men, and the community as a whole. Quantitative data were collected from 700 individuals in five villages (three treatment villages and two villages where watershed interventions were not implemented). In addition, 33 semi-structured interviews and eight focus group discussions were conducted to understand local gender norms at the project sites. Data analysis revealed that the community benefits accrued from the watershed interventions included increased crop productivity and diversification of agriculture and livelihoods. However, strict patriarchal norms restricted the visibility, mobility, and communication of women within the household and community during the interventions. Considering gender diversity, this study identifies that women can benefit from participating in watershed interventions and provides a deeper understanding of the constraints and barriers to women’s participation in such projects, including economic, social, and cultural factors. The construction of check dams reduced women’s time per day for fetching water by about 29%. Groundwater level increases reduced the effort required of women to draw water from open wells and hand pumps. Female education is a significant factor related to the benefits of watershed interventions, and regression analysis indicated that households with higher levels of education of adult women were significantly more likely to benefit from the interventions than other households. To avoid perpetuation of the exclusion of diverse local knowledge and gender inequality at the community level, mechanisms must be developed and adjusted continuously such that whole communities, including men and women, are empowered to participate in the decision-making process at various levels and for different purposes. When implementing watershed projects in a highly patriarchal context, as in the Bundelkhand region where women are hidden behind the strong presence of men, advocacy of behavioral change communication must be implemented regularly. The community needs to be sensitized toward systematic and gender-sensitive institution building, social engagement, and capacity development for local as well as global water security. Keywords: Bundelkhand region, Gender, Social norms, Transformative, Watershed intervention.

This paper has presented evidence on the role of pulses in enhancing the nutritional status of the rural communities in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of India. The paper has used primary data from the ICRISAT VLS nutrition surveys (8 villages from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra) and the longitudinal panel micro-level data (for 6 villages of Telangana and Maharashtra) from 2009 to 2014. The study has revealed that there has been a decline in the area and production of pulses in the SAT villages of India, even though at the macro-level, pulses production has shown an increase. Pulses do contribute to the diversity in diets but the adequacy of protein from the pulses in the diet has not been analyzed in this paper. The regression analysis has indicated the importance and role of pulses in improving the nutritional status of the rural communities. The paper has concluded that there has to be a concerted policy and program action to reintroduce pulses into the cropping pattern in SAT-India and improve the consumption of pulses to the level that has a positive impact on human nutrition. Empowering women along the entire pulse value chain has been observed as one approach to enhance pulse productivity and consumption. Nutrition education, awareness generation and nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions for pulses are the ways forward to reduce malnutrition in India.