Citizenship certificate a must

One barrier that KIDC and the villagers had to overcome was the need for citizenship certificates. Without this certificate a person cannot get his or her land registered and in rural Nepal especially women often lack this important document. The certificate can be obtained from the age of 16 and women, who do not register before they marry, need their husband’s signature to obtain the certificate.
“In our village 5-7 women did not have a citizenship certificate, but we got it for them and now they are also registered and ready to receive land”, says Jaya Ram and adds that in his own case only his wife is signed up for the family’s land certificate “If something happens to me my wife will have no problems”, he smiles.
In this way the need for village block land certificates has become the opportunity for women to gain equal rights to property. This right may increase the status of females in the family, both before and after marriage. Premlatta Bhatta expresses her hopes for this in the following way: “When a daughter is born, the community treats you very badly. When you get married, your family need to give dowry. If not, you get beaten or even killed. This is why we believe both the son and the daughter should have equal right to their father’s property”.
Ten villages is a start and as such a victory for KIDC and the entire land rights movement, but time has not come for KIDC to sit back and enjoy their achievements: “We were promised four survey teams and got only one, so we need to pressure the government again to make them implement their promises”, says Nirajan Lamsal, programme coordinator of KIDC.