Until a few years back, there was a complete male domination in land ownership. Thanks to the Government's policy, which provides 20 percent discount while registering land in the name of woman, this trend has changed in favor of women.
Together with the Government policy, it is the social perspective towards women that has changed the existing trend of land ownership. The capacity building among women is another reason behind it. According to officials of the Land Revenue, the trend of registering land in the name of female increased remarkably in the last three years.
Similarly, the Department of Land Reform and Management (DLRM) states that ownership of women has increased during the 11 months of the previous fiscal year. Data were borrowed from 13 different land revenue offices including Dilllibazar, Chabahil, Rupendehi, Nepalgunj, Nawalparasi, Gorkha, Tanhaun and Kapilbastu; out of which about 25 percent of total land registration were in the name of women.
During this period, 67,048 out of total 163,495 cases were registered in the name of women. Women were provided tax exemption that amounted to Rs137, 234,896 in total in the 13 offices. In retrospect, the Census report of 2001 shows that the ownership of women in land was only about 10 percent.
It was in 2062 that the Government introduced a new policy regarding tax exemption owing to strong voice raised by various organizations working in the areas of women. They argued that tax privilege policy could bring positive changes among people in order to increase women's land ownership.
After their continuous pressure, the Government introduced 10 percent tax privilege policy in the first year. From the fiscal year 2063/64, 20 percent tax privilege was given to women while registering land in their name. Of late, the Government has also launched the provision of tax privilege for Dalit, Janajati and the family of martyrs.
One has to pay 2 percent and 4 percent of the total tax while registering land in the Village Development Committee (VDC) and Municipality respectively.
At the present juncture, the liberal provision for woman makes serious sense because they were deprived of property rights both before and after marriage until a few years back. Due to the patriarchal social structure, women hardly had actual property rights although registering property in the name of female spouse was widely in practice, especially in the urban areas. However, such a trend was solely to secure one's property from family disputes.
Since maximum women still don't have property ownership, they are compelled to be dependent on their husband and family. In this context, women can be self- dependent if they have access to land and property.
Though the new policy has contributed to increase in women's ownership in property especially in land and house, we cannot say that it is sufficient. The Government hasn't paid enough attention to the issue and has not made the general people aware about it. Besides, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and other organizations of civil society, working in this sector, are also equally responsible in this regard. They can launch different campaign and publicity programs through national and local radios, televisions and newspapers among others.
The tax privilege limitation also requires to be expanded, as the members of lower middle class families cannot get benefit from the current one.
For instance, a person having a small piece of land in Kathmandu wants to register it in the name of his wife or other female member of the family as he gets tax privilege of Rs 5000. But if the female, in whose name the land is to be registered lives in remote area, then he has to spend more than Rs 5000 for her air transportation cost alone. In this case, he might not be encouraged to register the land in the name of the woman.
Hence, it is significant that the rate of tax privilege should be increased to at least 50 percent. Land right organizations have also been demanding for an increase so that more people can benefit and also encourage them to register in the name of woman.
Increment of women's ownership in land will increase their decision-making power and self-dependent ability. It also means that women would be free from domestic violence and stigma. Most of the women, who don't have ownership in property, worry about their old age. They worry about getting proper respect and care from their son and daughter in-laws.
In this regard, such affirmative policy can bring about changes in their life through economic and social empowerment. By making them a real owner of property, such policy can contribute effectively to the overall empowerment of women, who are marginalized from the political mainstream. The government and other stakeholders should take proper initiation and also rectify some part of the policy and also focus on making general public aware of this provision.

I have so much to do and by the looks of the things I doubt if I will ever get it done. I kept postponing the deadlines and here goes a year in a blink.
First there is this favourite dress of mine I had promised myself I would fit into by losing the few extra pounds. I had bought the dress for the very reason that it was a size too small for me. Looking back I can't believe I had been fanciful enough to think such a reason could get me to shed those extra pounds off. Now I will have to get myself a new dress if I am to go out.
Well the list only keeps getting longer. For about a year now I have been trying to get that new email of my friend who migrated to states. For reasons best known to her she changed her mail address just before she left.
I need a new bag too not to mention a pair of comfortable shoes and oh some warm socks too I am fed up of wearing these mismatching ones everyday.
Then there are quite a few books to finish and some movies too. I guess I could do with a hair cut too which I managed to put off for the entire summer. Not to mention that short story I had thought of finishing and trying my luck at getting it published.
I know I am late to visit my granny too. I had promised by brother I would send him some of the pictures of my cousin's weeding. Then there is that treat I have to manage. How I have absolutely no idea.
These are the lighter side of the things I could not get done. I had also tired my luck at a new job but that did not work out. There are a few things just as important that did not work out for me this year.
Yet I am happy with my life. With what little I have managed to do. I am the first one to own up that indeed what I have done is very little / insignificant in comparison to what I couldn't get done. But trying to explain that to my near and dear ones is a difficult task at which I fail miserably.
Of course I know that things could have gotten better just as they keep saying, with a little more effort from me. But I thank my lucky stars for not making it worst.
I know I could have set a few grudges against a few people I know have not done right to me. I know I have been set up by a few others and also been the laughing stock for yet some others.
I could have earned a few more bucks and saved a little more too. I know I could have done without having taken a few bold steps I took willingly that backfired on me. I know I should not have simply taken a few things for granted or at least should have been more circumspect. But one can't live one's life saying what if or only if.
The year has been of learning for me and that too the hard way. But somehow I have no regrets about it. For how else was I to know for myself and learn for myself that there are not all good people around. Yet I hold nothing against these people and am glad the year went by the way it did. Happily for me it didn't go any worst than it did. For I know it could have been a lot worst. I hope the coming years are just as good as this one was. Amen.

I just talked my way into a convention of journalists – the South Asian Journalists Association, to be exact – and was a little surprised by what I heard. The part I went to was a panel discussion on ‘ethnic media’, titled “Ethnic Media Audience – Who’s Reading?” The four journalists (a combination of television, print, and online writers) talked about the challenges of writing for ‘ethnic media’ publications, in terms of resources, the sometimes-questionable interests of publishers and editors, and about the need to address the salient issues in a community, regardless of how “positive” or “negative” they appear. At one point the conversation seemed to be going down a really interesting route, on a discussion of the model minority and the refusal of the ‘Desi’ community in the US to accept criticism (or perceived criticism) leveled at the community or members of it.
Because of my background, I cringe at the word “ethnic”. For me it bears an immediately negative connotation; the image of a white-Western tourist stunned by the ‘exotic’ ‘other’ looms large in my mind. But in the US – and indeed, the UK and Australia- it seems to be an accepted, even polite and politically-correct word. The hyphenated nationalities of the friends I grew up with are those that involve two nations, homes in multiple countries, and an unresolved sense of identity. To me, the drama that seems to surround the lives of so many hyphenated Americans initially seemed ridiculous. Yeah, you’re Indian-American – but you’ve never lived in India, both your parents are Indians-who-came-to-the-US, and you’re American. Take the best from whatever; get over yourselves! I wanted to scream. I had trouble understanding the American obsession with ethnicity, with what seemed like self-segregation, with the fact that I could in no way relate to what these people were saying. But by forcing myself to listen to conversations, by trying to connect questions of ethnicity and race in America to questions of ethnicity and race , and by looking at issues from a perspective of political representation, I am beginning to understand. My ideas for ‘solutions’ certainly aren’t the same as those of many of the people I have learned from, but that’s okay. I could go on about my experiences with hyphenated Asian communities for a while, my reactions and thoughts and mind-changes and frustrations, but I can save that for another day. After all, nobody wants to try to reduce the complexities of anything to a few simplistic words at the risk of sounding like a racist pig, right? And self-hate – or the appearance of it – is never pretty.
There are a fair number of us (“us” referring to those who read and occasionally write for this site) who are interested in writing. Some of us are interested in writing as a career, or as a side job. Some want to do what I call “applied-writing” - for example, journalism. I don’t know always know why I write. The stuff I’m the most proud of – the work that I’ve spent the most time on – are usually essays I’ve written for class. Despite the lack of an obvious voice, or first-person narrative, I think they best capture what I believe in and want to have in my work. They sure as heck aren’t usually the easiest things to write – but that doesn’t matter. A lot of the fun is in the pain, in the frustration born of trying to find just the right word; in the pressure of trying to meet a deadline and convey a thought (or six), all while analyzing another writer’s work or ideas.
But I digress, massively.
As my math professor wrote on our syllabus, “We write to communicate. Please bear this in mind. Work must be neat and legible to receive consideration. You must explain your work in order to obtain full credit; an assertion is not an answer.” His words hold true for any assignment or task that involves writing, be it of letters or numbers. His message, repeated by the various journalists, was one of the things that stuck out most from the discussion I attended. A writer’s work must be “neat and legible” – not only in the no-pencil-marks-everywhere; please-copy-out-neatly sense of organization, but with regard to structure, word choice and syntax. “Consideration” refers not only to the heavy hand of an exam-marker, but to the consideration and credibility bestowed upon a writer by his or her readership. Do you want your thoughts to be taken seriously? Do you want your ideas to provoke questions and raise ideas in those reading your words? Explain your work – who are your sources? Are they credible? What did you do, who did you talk to, and why? If not explicitly, implicitly, clearly, demonstrate your credibility and the significance of your sources. Poor writing frustrates me; because of this, I rarely write for anyone but myself. My writing is so far from perfect – and often so far from clear – that it is usually only under duress, a sudden desire for self-expression, or guilt (induced by a set of cousins), that I show what I have written.
The media is a powerful tool. We know, or realize at some point in our lives – the immense influence it has had on our lives. Your conception of beauty, your understanding of success, your interpretations of good/bad/acceptable/not are all shaped, to a significant degree, by what we see, read, and hear around us. But we know this. So then why, and how, while working to build societies and create individuals who are intelligent, just, considerate, peaceful, and articulate (among so many other qualities) – all while recognizing and channeling our frustrations and aggression in non-injurious ways – can we accept the media that we influence and create? How can the struggle to end sexism sit quietly next to a billboard full of mostly-undressed women that serve to please only a stereotypical, heterosexual man’s conception of beauty? Yes, choice is key – freedom of expression in words, clothing, and lifestyle. But why is ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ defined so often by those who were – and often still are – the oppressors? Why are we so selective about what we want in a democracy, and in a just, equal society? If you are so for-women and pro-feminist (regardless of your sex or gender) or pro-whatever, and qualify your publishing of whatever pictures thus, where is your representation of the thoughts, writing, and work of these women and men? ‘The media’ is a mighty force – and that is why we must question what we see, what we hear, and what we read. That is why we join the ranks of journalists and photographers. That is why we write – to present the voices of those around us, and then to help explain ourselves.