How Govt Plans To Increase Property Ownership Among Rural Women

Like several such social schemes, empowerment is the underlying theme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Launched in June 2015, the scheme aims to provide every Indian citizen a house to live, with a focus on households from low-income and economically weaker sections.

But that is not all. The government also aims to empower women through its schemes. Under the government's rural-centric housing scheme, PMAY-Gramin, which saw an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore in Budget 2016-17, the government plans to build three crore houses within seven years. According to an Economic Times report, it could be looking to increase the share of women in land ownership through this scheme. It might waive stamp duty on house purchases where women are joint owners.

Rural India, where property ownership of women is low, will be the focus areas -- the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are the key targets. 

Why is the addition to this social welfare scheme an important step?

• Women's say in property purchases: Property ownership in India is more of a personal choice and government rules and regulations have not been able to change that. And, mostly, men of the house are the owners of the property. While this is changing in urban area — the government has put in place several measures to facilitate that, starting from rebates on registration charges for women to lower interest rates on home loans — any changes are yet to make an impact in rural India. Unless there is an incentive, properties in India's villages may not find a woman co-owner. A move like this will encourage rural households to make women part of their property ownership. This, in turn, will enable women to have a better say in things in general.

• Bringing women on a par: Things are quite bleak for women in the states targeted under the proposal. Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have witnessed issues of gender discrimination. In some of villages of these states, few women would know what rights or property ownership actually stand for. Going further, while being poor is hard enough, being a rural poor is much worse, especially for women. By promoting the idea of women owning homes, the government may be able to change things from where it all should have begun long ago.