A number of national policies, programmes and schemes are implemented in the State level, dwarfing in some sense the quantum and resources of State-level policies and programmes. Several of these national level policies and programmes have a gender component but how far are these able to help women adapt? Especially when there is a move towards ‘greening’ of these policies by focusing them on activities that will help rejuvenate natural resources and improve livelihoods of people dependent on them.

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) include several existing policies, programmes and schemes across sectors related to climate change adaptation in agriculture and disaster management. These state-level policies and programmes are being analysed from a gender lens to understand how gender-responsive the SAPCCs are.

"Womens self-help groups can act as farmer producer groups to access credit, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)  provides for  this. The benefits of dairy programmes mainly go to women as they perform the major labour  though generally, I agree, more women-centric  schemes are needed.  It will be good to introduce gender budgeting as this will help departments evolve more gender-centric provisions." (May, 2013).

“Erratic rainfall is of no use to our agriculture. Men have started migrating because agriculture is losing productivity. So women have to look after their children, manage agriculture, livestock and fetch water which is becoming more and more distant. If women do not have time to take care of children, the children’s care, health and education will suffer. So clearly climate change will hit women harder." (November, 2012).

"Central sector insurance schemes for crops and livestock must address the holistic issue of climate change vulnerability, agriculture and gender through a portfolio insurance for livelihoods because adaptive farming is about a basket of diverse agriculture-based activities. Development sector schemes contribute towards coping with climate change but adaptation expenditure is about building ecological and livelihood resilience. We need to address this matter." (March, 2014).

“The Department of Women Welfare has been trying hard to bring all the women welfare related programmes and schemes under a single one. However, we have also been facing several challenges. Moreover, there is no interdepartmental coordination within the government. For instance, with regard to agriculture and livestock benefits for women, the Department of Women Welfare doesn’t have any linkage with the Department of Animal Husbandry.” (October, 2013).

"Gender Budgeting should start from the planning process so that women benefit the most. Only then will allocation of finance equal the labour put in by women, in all the different sectors that directly relate to them. Government has schemes that focus on the individual and those that focus on families. While women are very much part of families, there is a need to consider more individual focused schemes for women, rather than believing that all family-focused schemes will also benefit women." (September, 2013).

"There is now a lot of talk on climate change but agricultural impacts on women following climate change have been ignored. Women do suffer more than men. They do most of the back‎-breaking work. I do support the findings of Alternative Futures' research on this issue. If we talk about inclusiveness, then women need to be given more voice in capacity building, decision-making and ownership of land among other things. I feel more research should be carried out on this issue"  (March, 2014).

"Madhya Pradesh's climate action plan focuses on inclusive growth and takes into account the environmental implications and incorporates gender dimensions because this was done during the consultation stage itself. The training module Gender needs to be incorporated into the planning and budgetary process. Capacity building process should be such that anyone who engages with the planning process can understand and incorporate gender rather than rely on an outside expert to make a gender responsive plan. This will not work in the case of districts (zilla) and  blocks where gender budgeting needs to be well understood by those who make plans. The strategy should be to have the panchayat members come together and plan for adaptation while addressing gender issues."  (September, 2013).

"Seed is a very serious constraint after droughts when farmers are unable to plant crops in rainfed areas. In the last 10 years we have seen 3 droughts - very widespread, significant droughts. Availability of seed is critical to adaptation. I think farm-saved seeds are key for adaptation following droughts and women have a great role to play in this.” (March, 2014).