hindu succession act 2005 was a positive step taken by the Indian government to ensure gender equality. explain the statement
Answers
In the recent legislative proposals amending the Hindu Succession Act areimportant steps towards gender equality and abolition of the paternal system of inheritanceprevailing among Hindus. It also gives daughters and equal share in agricultural property.The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Bill 2004 passed unanimously by the LOKSabha, comes after a long gap; the Act was passed in 1956. The present debate about removingdiscrimination against women to a large extent remains confined to the experts. The law, obtuse atthe best of times, takes on an even more tedious character when it comes to inheritance laws.The Constitution of India provides that every person is entitled for equalitybefore law and equal protection of the laws and thereby prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and sex. The discrimination on the basis of sex is permissible only as protectivemeasures to the female citizens as there is need to empower women who have suffered genderdiscrimination for centuries. Empowerment of women, leading to an equal social status with menhinges, among other things, on their right to hold and inherit property. Civilized societies across theglobe ensure that women's inheritance rights are more secure than those of men because womentake on the tremendous responsibility of producing and nurturing the next generation. In India,women's rights have suffered serious setbacks among all communities. Before 1956Despite the Hindu Succession Act being passed in 1956, which gave womenequal inheritance rights with men, the mitakshara coparcenary system was retained and thegovernment refused to abolish the system of joint family. According to this system, in the case of a joint family, the daughter gets a smaller share than the son . While dividing the father'sproperty between the mother, brother and sister, the share is equal.The Constitution of India enshrines the principle of gender equality in itsPreamble and Parts III, IV and IVA pertaining to Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties andDirective Principles respectively. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but alsoempowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. And now asIndia becomes increasingly aware of the need for equal rights for women, the government can'tafford to overlook, property rights have a deep impact on the national economy. The need todispense gender justice raises deep political debate and at times acrimony in legislative forums. Thisenthused the ?house? to move a bill to make amendments in the Hindu Succession Act, to securethe rights of women in the area of property