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Daughters to get equal rights in ancestral property |
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The Union Cabinet has approved a legislative proposal to introduce equality between men and women in their rights over joint family property in the case of the Hindus, the majority community in the country.
Amending the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the proposed Bill gives the daughter entry for the first time into the “coparcenary” of her family - which means she will be counted among those members who are entitled to seek partition and get equal shares in the ancestral property. The Bill states that in a joint Hindu family, the daughter of a coparcener shall “by birth become a coparcener” and have “the same rights in the coparcenary property as she would have had if she had been a son.”
As a corollary, the daughter will be bound by the common liabilities and can even become the “karta” (or loosely the Head) of the joint family. To be introduced in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Bill, 2004, is set to remove provisions that discriminate against women. The draft Bill is based on recommendations of the 174th Report of the Law Commission. Similar changes in Women’s Property Rights are already in place in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, in southern India.
The Cabinet also cleared Bills to guarantee employment to rural poor, right to information and prevent child marriage. It cleared the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, which will provide constitutional guarantee for at least 100 days of work to every poor rural household. The guarantee law may be implemented in select 150 districts on an experimental basis and later extended to the whole country. To begin with, the scheme may be implemented through a massive food-for-work programme. Sources said the major bottleneck in full implementation of the proposed law is lack of funds.
Lower House passes Bill on National Commission for minority institutions
The Lok Sabha on December 16 gave its approval to a Bill seeking the creation of a National Commission for Minority Institutions. The House witnessed a division within the NDA ranks, with the Janata Dal (U), the Telugu Desam Party (of Andhra Pradesh) and Biju Janata Dal (of Orissa)refusing to join the BJP when it walked out on the issue. The BJP opposed the Bill with its speakers accusing the Government of appeasing the minorities and forcing its passage without taking into consideration the Opposition’s views. Mahant Adityanath of the BJP accused the Congress of indulging in minority appeasement since independence. He claimed Muslims were not minorities. Alleging that the measure was yet another attempt by the Congress-led UPA Government to appease the minorities, he said the Bill was part of a conspiracy aimed at another partition.
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