Rural Pune shows the way, 89 per cent properties have women as co-owners

According to officials, the year-long drive has led to tangible benefits, including feedback from workers at the grass-root level that women are now able to resist domestic violence and get easier access to bank loans.

Prasad said that when they started the drive, only 16 per cent of properties had women as co-owners. “Now, this figure has been reversed. After our year-long drive, 89 per cent of the properties have women as co-owners… The number of properties co-owned by women has risen from 16% to 89% — a socioeconomic revolution has taken place, albeit a silent one,” he said, adding that the list includes wives, daughters and daughter-in-laws.

The drive began with an order issued by the Zilla Parishad asking all Gram Panchayats to update property records before drone surveys were conducted under the Swamitva Scheme of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj. “The Gram Panchayats were expected to determine and update the details of all the house-owners by deleting the names of deceased persons or previous owners who may have sold their properties. They were also expected to add the names of women members of the households and resolve property disputes,” Prasad said.

“We held meetings with the Gram Sevak and sarpanch unions to request them to implement the programme. They went to each household and convinced people to add the names of women in their families to their property cards,” said Sachin Ghadge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Panchayats.

“We found traction with 20-30% households at first. We distributed the updated property cards during the Women’s Day Celebrations last year. Seeing those households, more people got interested and applied for the addition of names of women members,” said Anil Kumbhar, President of the Gram Sevak Union in Pune.

In Sasewardi Gram Panchayat of Bhor Taluka, for instance, officials said all but six houses in the village of 1,400 people have updated their property records to include the names of women as co-owners. “The six houses that don’t have women’s names are those without women members,” said Kiran Dhanolkar, Block Development Officer, Bhor Taluka.

The Gram Panchayat has also installed boards with the names of all owners to give “a visible sense of ownership” to the women. “Property Cards are either in personal records or in the files of Gram Panchayat. We wanted to make the women feel that they are owners of the houses. I saw a photograph of such a board displayed on the gate outside the house of CEO Ayush Prasad on his WhatsApp status display. The board had the name of his wife on top, and his below. It inspired us to experiment with such boards for all houses in the village,” Dhanolkar said.

ZP CEO Prasad said, “It is rare for a daughter-in law to be given the property of her in-laws. Thanks to this drive, some women have become co-owners of the ancestral home of her husband. Most women became owners of property for the first time.”

The Pune Zilla Parishad had previously organised another drive and mobilised 21,000 volunteers to help women who may be victims of domestic violence. “The Domestic Violence Act, 2005 requires women protection officers to relocate women to shelter homes and this discourages women from reporting cases of abuse. But now, with security of residence due to co-ownership of the house and the support of the volunteers, more women resist and report domestic violence,” Prasad said.

On the economic benefits of this drive, Shalini Kadu, Project Director of Pune District Rural Development Authority, said, “Ownership of property has helped women easily access larger loans from banks to start businesses as part of Self Help Groups.” Banks in the district have lent Rs 303 crore of loans to women’s self-help groups in the 2022-33 financial year, up from Rs 202 crore in the previous financial year, she said.

This year, the Gram Panchayats have also collected the highest ever property tax of Rs 360 crore. “In the year that we took the drive, the tax collection rose by 25 per cent and touched Rs 340 crore for the first time. This year, we have grown by another Rs 20 crore with nearly 90% of the properties paying taxes. Women are more compliant with the law,” said Ghadge, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Panchayats.