1. Do Tribal Women have Land Rights ? A study of Gond and Korku Tribal Women of Madhya Pradesh, India

2. Country Context Land is mostly transacted in India through inheritance Land Rights of women are mediated through religion and customs captured in personal laws Tribal women’s land rights are almost totally determined by local customs having approval of law Women’s agricultural land rights follow state laws which widely differ. Madhya Pradesh is one state, where women’s agricultural land rights follow the Personal Law.

3. Local Context Narmada Mahila Sangh – A grass roots women’s organisation of 10700+ Gond and Korku Tribal women Main work is to enhance livelihoods of women Challenge of violence, desertion, abandonment and its relation with land rights NMS wanted to understand their women’s land rights situation and devise an action strategy

4. Study objectives To understand land rights of the constituent Gond and Korku Tribal population from a legal perspective To understand the customary practices of land-holding and inheritance of tribal women To understand the awareness of the members and the leadership of NMS on their land rights.

5. Method Mixed method – Quantitative Study of a representative sample of NMS members and their spouses in rural and forest areas (see table) – FGDs of NMS members in villages and forests (5 FGDs in rural, and 2 in forest areas) – Key informant interviews of land officials, local government officials, lawyers, and tribal leaders (17 informants) – Case Stories depicting various challenges of land rights for women (10 women) Women of rural land owning families of Gond Tribe 330 Women of rural land owning families of Korku Tribe 56 Men from rural land owning families 100 Women of families residing in forest villages 50 Men of families residing in forest villages 23 Single women in rural villages 40 Landless women in rural villages (whose parents have land) 29

6. Findings Who owns and who possess? – Ownership is distributed over 3 generations of male- female, possession focussed on two generations of males – Less than 5% self ownership and possession by women – Ownership is about records, ceiling, family harmony; possession is about productive use Single women and women of landless families – No agricultural land for single and landless – Nearly 50% have no homesteads – Homesteads with no document another 40% – Single women residing with relatives, landless residing on government land – Most homesteads are inherited

7. Findings Recognition of women’s legal land rights – General recognition of women’ legal land rights is just about 60- 66% from landed families – From landless and single women – 83% – Legal Land rights of widows almost 99% – Unmarried women’s rights on parental land– 90% Social practice of women getting land Girls only families; Quantum of land share depends on several conditions In families with sons and daughters, only when there is a resident son-in-law, the daughter gets a unequal land share In families with sons and daughters, if a daughter takes up the responsibility of looking after old age parents, she gets a land share, sometimes even equal to brother Land purchase in the name of daughter in law, to avoid ceiling or accessing government benefits A widow A young childless widow, who decides not to remarry, and stays with in-laws A young widow with a child

8. Findings contd.. Knowledge of land records and processes – Four main documents – Women knows of only one have seen it too – Almost no knowledge of inheritance, partition, claim processes – Men are aware of all four documents – They know some basic stuff, but not much details – All processes regarding land are handled by men; the land office is staffed by men Situation of forest land – Almost everyone got document – In some cases, joint ownership, many cases single – Almost universal complaint of less amount in record than possessed. – Never have any clear sense of quantum of land, land in possession was never measured! – No community rights, women nor men are aware of it

9. Findings contd.. State Process – Women’s name routinely gets included in the government land record. – BUT, no partition takes place, women do not have ownership record – Partition is the onus of women, not of state! – Forfeiting the land claim is now difficult, as Haq-Tyag- Nama (affidavit to forgo land claim) is to be registered by paying 4% stamp duty on land value. In MP, for agricultural land, no tribal customary laws being followed Hindu Succession Amendment Act 2005 being followed irrespective of religious community A way to dodge women’s equal rights emerged; women are given a token quantum of land share, and the rest partitioned among brothers! This happens with bribe, so not many cases among among the Tribals

10. Takeaways Ownership-Possession Puzzle… very little correlation between ownership and possession! Single women and landless women are extremely vulnerable… they are yet to have a dignified existence Possession-Inheritance mismatch Without partition, the inheritance process is incomplete Awareness of women on land rights, and processes abysmally low Forest dwellers (women-men) awareness about their land rights is almost absent For deserted, abandoned, young widows, a clear process of land claims to be worked out – paralegals