Abstracts
A Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi: His Views on Women and Social Change	by	Sita Kapadia
Whether Inheritance to Women is a Viable Solution to the Dowry Problem in India	by	Subhadra Chaturvedi
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Abstract - A Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi�s legacy to the world, and to India especially, is immeasurable; his life and work have left an impact on every aspect of life in India; he has addressed many personal, social and political issues; his collected works number nearly 100 volumes. From these Kapadia has gleaned a few thoughts about women and social change. In 1940, reviewing his twenty-five years of work in India concerning the role of women in society, Gandhi says, "My contribution to the great problem lies in my presenting for acceptance truth and ahimsa (non-violence) in every walk of life, whether for individuals or nations. I have hugged the hope that in this woman will be the unquestioned leader and, having thus found her place in human evolution, will shed her inferiority complex... Woman is the incarnation of ahimsa. Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering. And who but woman, the mother of man, shows this capacity in the largest measure?... Let her translate that love to the whole of humanity... And she will occupy her proud position by the side of man... She can become the leader in satyagraha..." What is significant and what Kapadia underlines here is Gandhi�s image of woman and his hope for her, so radically different from that of any earlier reformer.
Abstract - Whether Inheritance To Women
The gravest form of the problem is dowry death, the enormity whereof can be visualized by the fact that according to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, in 1994, there occurred a dowry death in India every 102 minutes. According to a statement made by the State Minister for Home Affairs in the Parliament of India, the number of dowry deaths in 1993 was 5,817. As far as property is concerned, the present position is that 99% of property is held by men. Inheritance is governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and in respect of agricultural lands, which constitute 90% of the total property in India, by the respective land laws of the states concerned. Sub-section (2) of Sec. 4 of the act, specifically excludes the application of the act in respect of agricultural holdings and almost all the land laws have given preference to male inheritance. Even under the Hindu Succession act, despite the loud proclamation of gender equality under the Indian Constitution, a female heir is practically entitled to only a negligible fragment of property inasmuch as in India 90% of the property is ancestral property and the majority is governed by Mitakshara coparcernary law, and according to Section 6 of the act (applicable in the case of intestate succession) read with the Schedule of the act, a female heir would inherit only a little unless she is the only heir out of the 12 categories specified in class I of the schedule. Female inheritance will give financial security to women and will eliminate the rationalization of money transfer before and/or after wedding in the form of dowry and/or �stridhan�.
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