Inheritance-The Government compensation forces rethinking on lawful inheritance of the parental property by daughters

5 February 2022

A few days back, I had a telephonic talk with my cousin, who is elder to me. He talked about his ancestral property, farm land in a village where he was born and as to how and what he has inherited. His father had willed the property to his children, to his sons (no daughter) and wife some three decades ago. Later, his mother too died setting a stage for carving out the said the farm land with each inheritor going his way. So far, it was so good. Some moments later, my cousin told me excitedly as well as with a hint of agony as to how daughters married off many years ago are now demanding or accepting without hesitation their monetary share of the Government compensation for their fathers’ property, often the farm land. It is a new phenomenon to which Indian men, fathers and brothers are not used to.

Farming has been a back-breaking, risky profession that most inherit from their fathers. It is a mainstay of most Indians. Most farmers of old generation are tired of this, but have no alternative to earn livelihood. Since most farms are rain-dependent, vagaries of nature further add to the uncertainty in achieving yields expected of crops they cultivate. Moreover, land fragmentation is taking place at a fast pace with each generation, as new opportunities for the youth are few and far in between. Presently, farmers owning less than a hectare of land are the most predominant (70% of farm holdings) amongst all. And their farms are no longer sustainable to support a family. Moreover, rural farm land prices have remained static over the years. And hence, GenNext is no longer interested in farming or farm related activities.

Here comes an importance of this rural farm land as the Government builds road infrastructure especially highways on it to accelerate the economic growth. India has the world’s second largest network of roads, about 6 million km that carry 65% of all goods and 90% of passenger traffic. Yet, the highways that can carry goods more efficiently are only about 3% of this network. And hence, in last two decades, there has been a tremendous growth in this sector. Fortunately, the Government is paying a decent compensation (in tens of million per acre) to those whose land is acquired for this purpose, unlike the measly amount that it used to dole out for other acquisitions in the past. India’s Minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari has often said that the farmers are willingly coming forward to offer land for highway construction, as they had never seen the kind of money that the Government is offering. At least this opportunity offers them alternate means of livelihood with fewer risks and ease of living in the present era as compared to farming.

Since most of farm land is often passed on to the next generation, more often without will (also called interstate) of any one of the parents, both daughters, sons and surviving spouse gets an equal share in the inherited property as per the Hindu Succession Act 1956. Further, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 removed gender discriminations of any kind. Fortunately for daughters, more often, the land records are not updated by their brothers after the death of their parents as brothers believe that they will be rightful owners, being in actual possession. Daughters had earlier least cared for the land property or had waived off their possession rights in favour of their brothers, often willingly and sometime under duress, after their marriage as per social tradition, whatever be their economic status.

The high compensation that the Government offered has however forced rethinking in daughters. It is carrying a lawful legacy of their parents (and their grandparents) and ensuring a bright future for themselves and their children too. They are no longer content with Stree-dhan (lady’s wealth), the traditional one-time gift offered by their parents at the time of marriage. They are no longer unequal to their brothers.

 PS: Watch this video-Women should rethink their inheritance by Leila Seth. TedxGatewayWomen at

                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpC2jGqu4G0

                      https://youtu.be/dpC2jGqu4G0