| Summary, etc. |
India is an agrarian society where 69% of its<br/>population lives in rural areas. Agricultural is the main source<br/>of livelihood for a large number of rural populations including<br/>women. Women constitute a major component of agricultural<br/>labor and contribute significantly to agricultural production<br/>yet they do not enjoy significant land ownership rights.<br/>Women's lack of ownership of productive resources such as<br/>land weakens their bargaining capacity within the household<br/>as well as in the public sphere. This further excludes them<br/>from socio-political and legal institutions and they continue to<br/>be discriminated against. Studies have shown that the land and<br/>inheritance laws in most of the states in India are biased.<br/>Similar situation may be seen in north eastern states where<br/>customary laws are in practice. There is a great need to revisit<br/>the land laws in order to remove the existing anomalies.<br/>For women's empowerment and emancipation,<br/>feminist movements have been gathering strength in various<br/>parts of the world in the twentieth century. Most of these<br/>countries have signed the Convention on the Elimination of<br/>all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDA) -an<br/>international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations<br/>General Assembly and expressed their concern and<br/>commitment for establishing gender parity. To ameliorate the<br/>condition of women, India has also taken several measures<br/>and launched various programmes. During the ninth five year<br/>plan, women and their land rights emerged as an important<br/>agenda. To ensure accessibility and grant ownership of land<br/>rights to women, the Government of India, Department of<br/>Land Resources during the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002))<br/>issued instructions to all the states that 40% of agricultural<br/>land settled under land reform programme should be<br/>exclusively in the name of women. In the remaining cases,<br/> the allotment may be joimuy ne name of husband<br/>This programme has benefitted a large number<br/>During Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07)<br/>introduced a scheme or providing Concession in reoic States<br/>and stamp duty to women property buyers. This schen<br/>benefitted millions of women across the states. Delhi was has<br/>of husband and wife number of women, us states strationnas<br/>one 2002. Later on, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Har<br/>Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Unio territory of Puduche<br/>Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand also introduced<br/>scheme. Further, the Hindu Succession Act was amended in<br/>2005. To make women self reliant, Andhra Pradesh<br/>Government launched a scheme in 2009 to lease land to<br/>women members of self help groups. However, development<br/>models based on market-oriented strategies have remained<br/>gender neutral and provided little space to women particularly<br/>from tribal and dalit communities. <br/>The present study titled "Persisting gender<br/>discrimination in land rights" has been conducted on behalf of<br/>the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural<br/>Development, Government of India. The objectives of the<br/>study was to review different statutes, laws, customary laws<br/>relating to land from a gender perspective; assess the extent,<br/>conditions and forms of land ownership and the nature of law<br/>(customary/formal) operational in relation to land ownership<br/>of women and the historical background of land systems. The<br/>present volume brought out under land reforms series contains<br/>14 articles covering fourteen states of the Country. These<br/>states are: Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir,<br/>Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and tne<br/>tribal dominated states such as Arunachal Pradesi,<br/>Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.<br/>Three states namely Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhan<br/>which came into existence in 2000 have been studie<br/>extensively. It would pertinent to mention that the Centre for<br/>Rural Studies, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of<br/>Administration, Mussoorie had conducted a similar study in<br/>thirteen states/UT viz. Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal<br/>Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya,<br/>Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and a<br/>union territory of Puducherry which was published by Sage<br/>Publications in 2009 under its land reforms series.<br/>Our attempt has been to lay down the ground work<br/>which may be built upon by future research. We hope this<br/>volume will be found as useful as the earlier one, by different<br/>sections of society including policy makers, planners,<br/>administrators, academicians, social scientists, women's<br/>organizations, students of gender studies, non-government<br/>organizations, researchers and will pave way for millions of<br/>women who are denied land rights. |
