INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF WOMEN – THE NORTH INDIAN SCENARIO
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Abstract
Indian women have had to fight for their property rights for a long time, just like women in other countries. Indian women's property rights are not fair or equal, but they have come a long way in the last 100 years. Indian women still have less property rights than men, both in terms of the amount and the quality of those rights.
When it involves property rights, Indian women have a lot of different ideas. India is home to a lot of various religions, and each one has its own rules about how to live. The right to own something is one of these aspects. Even among the different religions, there are subsets and local rules and customs that have their own property rights. A code of property rights was written down for Hindus, Sikhs, Monks, and Jains in 1956. Christians live by a different set of rules, and neither Shias nor Sunnis have put their property rights in writing. Also, tribal women from different faiths and states still adhere to the laws and traditions of their tribal groups when it did come to their property rights. The Indian Constitution states that both the central government as well as the state governments have the authority to pass legislation about succession, which makes things even more complicated. This means so each state can make its own rules about property, and some have done so.
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