Uttarakhand passes ordinance to give land ownership to daughters and wives

Until now, land ownership rights in Uttarakhand were transferred to men in the family which are then passed on to their sons

Uttarakhand government has passed an ordinance to give land ownership rights to daughters and wives of male landowners by amending the Uttarakhand Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act ahead of the budget session of the assembly.

The Uttarakhand cabinet approved the ordinance at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.(PTI FILE)

The ordinance was passed by the government at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday evening, an official privy to the matter said on condition of anonymity.

"Under the ordinance, the daughters will have ownership rights on the land owned by her father. Similarly, a wife will also be the joint owner of the land of her husband," the official said.

He said that the move is aimed to "facilitate the women who are working in fields owned by their husbands or fathers especially in the hilly areas of the state. So far in Uttarakhand, the land ownership rights are transferred to men in the family which are then passed on to their sons."

Traditionally in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand, men and their wives are involved in the farming on their land. However, men are largely involved in just heavy labour intensive work like ploughing the field while about 90% farming-related works are done by their wives. Despite that they don't have any ownership of that piece of land.

"Due to this, if any woman wants to take some loan for any farming related work on the field, they are denied because they don't have ownership of the land. Once this amendment is introduced in the aforementioned Act, they will also have the ownership rights of the land along with their husbands and take a loan," said the official.

The cabinet also approved the decision to legalise residential and non-residential buildings that do not have their maps.

"The buildings would be legalised in a one-time settlement. For the residential buildings in the hilly areas, the application fees would be ₹2,500 and that in plain areas would be ₹5,000. For the non-residential buildings in hilly areas the application fees would be ₹5,000 and that in plain areas would be ₹10,000," said the official.