Gender Responsive Budgeting for The Department of Registration ...

Vol. 5/2005-06
Gender Responsive Budgeting for
The Department of Registration and Stamps
Evaluation Organisation
Department of Planning
Government of Rajasthan

Gender
Responsive Budgeting
for the
Department of
Registration & Stamps
in Rajasthan
Evaluation Organisation
Department of Planning
Government of Rajasthan

V ASUNDHARA R AJE
CHIEF MINISTER RAJASTHAN
MESSAGE
It gives me great pleasure to see that the vision which I had when I
formed the Government take shape. This is a vision of women confidently
marching towards their empowerment and towards a society where there
is true gender justice. To witness commitments transformed into actions,
to actually travel on a path, hitherto only envisioned, is a matter of some
satisfaction. Gender responsive budgeting has always been high on my list of
priorities. As I have said on earlier occasions, “If women need development,
then development also needs women”.
In view of the importance that my government attaches to gender issues,
we are trying to use gender responsive budgeting as a tool to further women’s
empowerment and gender equity in Rajasthan. My government is working
hard to bring about an overall improvement in gender status, and this cannot
be achieved unless development is balanced and equitable. Although, some
indicators are improving like girls enrollment rates in schools, reduction in
drop-out rates and better access to health care, we still have a long way to go
in our journey towards equality and equity in Rajasthan.
We have begun our endeavour towards gender responsive budgeting
in a modest manner, by identifying six key departments. These are
the departments of Health, Education, Agriculture, Women and Child
Development, Registration & Stamps and Social Welfare. My government has
deliberately enlarged the vision of gender budgeting to look beyond traditional
social sector departments, and therefore non-traditional departments such as
Agriculture and Registration & Stamps have been included. Our objective is to
integrate gender concerns into the overall plans and budgets of the identified
departments and to establish an appropriate gender sensitive monitoring and
evaluation framework within them. In the next two years, I would like all
departments to be similarly taken up in a phased manner.
I would like to congratulate the Department of Planning, Government
of Rajasthan for being proactive in taking gender budgeting forward as a tool
for equitable planning and development. My sincere appreciation and thanks
to UNFPA and UNIFEM for partnering us in this effort.
April 2006
(Vasundhara Raje)

FOREWORD
I am very happy to note that the Department of Planning has come out with a report
on “Gender Responsive Budgeting” for some important sectors of the State’s economy.
These publications give us the opportunity to share with a wider audience both
within the government and outside, the initiatives taken by the Government for the
development and empowerment of women and gender equality. At the same time, it
shows that the Government recognises that gender inequalities exist and that it is
committed to reducing these. It also demonstrates that the Government is ready and
willing to try innovative methods, like gender responsive budgeting to reduce gender
disparities.
We propose to cover all the departments in the next two years. We would like this
exercise to be sustainable and the system of gender responsive budgeting to be
institutionalised, whereby a gender analysis would become an integral part of the
budget and planning processes of all departments.
I would like to thank UNFPA and UNIFEM for their support.
April 2006
Rajiv Mehrishi,
Principal Secretary,
Planning & Finance,
Government of Rajasthan.

PREFACE
There is a broad consensus that ‘development if not engendered is endangered’, as first
elucidated in the Human Development Report of 1995. Inspite of a lapse of over a decade,
this still holds good. In the context of development, the critical thing to bring about is
gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Government of Rajasthan is committed to
seeing this happen. While there are a number of approaches and means that can be used
for this purpose, here we are taking advantage of the tool of gender responsive budgeting
to ensure this. Gender responsive budgeting is known to be an extremely efficient tool
for, not only mainstreaming gender and promoting women’s empowerment, but also
indispensable for translating good policies into concrete realities on the ground.
This publication “Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration and
Stamps in Rajasthan” is the fifth in a series of gender responsive budgeting publications
being brought out by the Government of Rajasthan. The credit for this forward looking
and analytical outlook on the part of the Government is due entirely to the vision and
leadership of the honourable Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje. Firmly driven by her, gender
budgeting has come to stay, in Rajasthan. The biggest strength of the gender budgeting
initiative here is the fact that it is State-led and very much a part of the Government’s
agenda. The Directorate of Evaluation and the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of
the Department of Planning have played a very key role in this whole exercise.
To start with, we have taken up the gender budget analysis of six departments – those
of Health, Education, Agriculture, Women and Child, Stamps and Registration and Social
Welfare. The process for doing this analysis was very participatory. Officers of the concerned
departments worked closely with experts from UNIFEM, UNFPA and IFES to brainstorm and
put together these reports. We now, however, need to move forward from only analysing
budgetary allocations and outputs for boys and men on the one hand and girls and women
on the other, to looking at more concrete results, to looking at impacts and outcomes, to
analysing benefit incidence ratios etc.

The recommendations at the end of each of these reports present an edifice for expansion
and further building upon and the Government will seriously be considering these.
We have many valuable partners in this journey and I would like to take this opportunity
to acknowledge and thank them. These include, Ms. Chandni Joshi, Regional Programme
Director, Ms. Firoza Mehrotra, Deputy Regional Programme Director and Ms. Sara
Pilot, Programme Officer from the UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office in New Delhi;
Ms. Ena Singh, Assistant Resident Representative, Ms. Dhanashri Brahme, Programme
Officer and Hemant Dwivedi, Rajasthan State Programme Coordinator, all from UNFPA;
Ms. Benita Sharma of IFES, and Dr. Sanjana Mohan, Consultant for so ably putting this
report together. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Alka Kala,
Pr. Secretary, Women & Child Development, Mrs. Asha Singh, Pr. Secretary, Social Welfare,
Shri C. K. Matthew, Pr. Secretary, Education, Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Pr Secretary, Plan & Finance,
Shri Sudhir Bhargava, Pr. Secretary, Medical & Health, Shri Manoj Kumar, Director,
Agriculture for their support. Special thanks to Shri G.R. Parashar, Director, Evaluation,
Shri D.K. Jain, Director, Economics & Statistics, Smt. Madhu Pokharna, Jt. Director and
Shri S.N. Gupta, Deputy Director, Evaluation for their untiring efforts.
April 2006
Veenu Gupta
Secretary,
Department of Planning,
Government of Rajasthan

CONTENTS
Executive Summary
ix
Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) - Overview 1
Gender Budgeting in India 2
Gender Budgeting in Rajasthan 2
GRB for Registration and Stamps 2
Staff Members in the Department of Registration and Stamps (2004-06) 3
Reduction of stamp duty for registration of agricultural land in a woman’s name 3
Purchase of Agricultural Land (and Utilisation of Subsidy on Stamp Duty)
by Women, from January 2004 - December 2005 4
Reduction of Stamp Duty on Gift Deeds of Immovable Property in a Woman’s Name 5
Mandatory Provision of Stamp Duty for Divorce Instrument 5
Recommendations 6
vii

List of Tables
Table-1 : Staff Working in the Department of Registration and Stamps (2004-06), 3
Disaggregated by Sex
Table-2 : Number of Beneficiaries, and Benefit Accrued as a Result of Lower Stamp 4
Duty Payable by Women for Registration of Agricultural Land in their Names.
(January 2004 - December 05).
List of Abbreviations
GRB
UNFPA
UNIFEM
: Gender Responsive Budgeting
: United Nations Population Fund
: United Nations Development Fund for Women

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is an initiative of the Central and the State Government
introduced in the beginning of the 21 st century that reaffirms their commitment to the
development and empowerment of women. GRB in the Department of Registration and Stamps
serves to assess how effectively the services of the Department are meeting the needs of
women and girls, in relation to the men; how much the policies are focused towards women;
and how much of the expenditure of the State in the department is reaching women.
GRB for the Department of Registration and Stamps in the year 2005-06 has been undertaken
by the Evaluation Department. It is based on an in-depth analysis of the financial and physical
information obtained from the Department; consultations carried out with officers from the
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India; Department of Registration
and Stamps, Government of Rajasthan; and gender experts from UNFPA, UNIFEM and IFES.
The following information has been analysed, to assess how gender sensitive services of the
Department are :
• Gender differentials in staff working in the Department
• Special schemes/subsidies offered by the Department to women
GRB in the Department of Registration and Stamps - Summary of the Main Findings
Gender differentials in staff working in the Department of Registration and Stamps:
A majority of the workforce in the Department comprises of men-women constitute less than
10% of the total staff.
Reduction of stamp duty for registration of agricultural land in a woman’s name:
To encourage and promote ownership of agricultural land in the name of women, the Department
of Registration and Stamps offers a 50% reduction (subsidy) in the stamp duty for agricultural
land, if the land is registered in a woman’s name. The stamp duty for land registered in a
man’s name is 8% (brought down from the previous value of 11% in July 2004); for a woman,
the duty is lower, at 5.5% (50% of the previous value of stamp duty).
ix

Since the subsidy has been introduced, there is a sharp increase in the number of agricultural
land deeds registered by women. From January 2004 to December 2005, more than two lakh
women have registered agricultural land in their names. The total benefit accrued to women
under this rebate is Rs. 13,989 lakhs, which amounts to an average of Rs. 6621 per women.
Reduction of stamp duty on gift deeds of immovable property in a woman’s name:
The State Government has reduced the stamp duty from 8% to 5%, in the case of a gift deed
of immovable property executed in favour of a sister/daughter/grand daughter/mother or
wife.
Mandatory provision of stamp duty for divorce instrument
The Rajasthan Stamp Act, 1998 has a mandatory provision of stamp duty of Rs. 50 for a
divorce instrument. The provision of stamp duty is primarily to ensure a legally acceptable
document to safeguard the interest of the divorced woman, and not so much as a means of
revenue.
Apart from the details mentioned above, the Department of Registration and Stamps is not
offering any scheme/rebate specifically for women.
Recommendations
Based on the above analysis, following are the recommendations to the State Government to
promote gender equity in the work of the Department of Registration and Stamps:
• The Department is recommended to review the management information systems to enable
collection of information that is disaggregated by sex as much as possible.
• More than 2 lakh women have availed the subsidy for stamp duty offered by the State
Government for registration of agricultural land by women. An impact assessment of this
initiative can be undertaken, to determine how the rebate and the registration have
affected the self-esteem, decision-making ability and position within the household
among the female recipients of the subsidy.
• There is no difference in the stamp duty between males and females for registration of
land in urban areas. A revision of the stamp duty is suggested, with provision of a rebate
for land registered in a woman’s name, in urban areas also. While such a scheme should
include all women, if the consequent loss of revenue to the State is a concern, it could be
restricted to single women, divorcees and widows.
x

• The Government may also explore providing subsidy for land deeds (in both rural and
urban areas) that are registered in joint name, of both husband and wife. Such a subsidy
could be less than the rebate offered if the deed is only in a woman’s name.
• At present less than 10% of the staff in the Department of Registration and Stamps are
women. The Government of Rajasthan may like to consider giving encouragement and
preference for employing more women in the Department.
• The registered document must be handed over to the woman only and the importance of
the document explained to her.
• The Department collects revenue for registration of more than 30 transactions. The
Government could consider providing rebate/concession to women for these transactions,
wherever applicable.
xi

Gender Responsive Budgeting for the
Department of Registration and
Stamps in Rajasthan
Rajasthan is the largest state of India, having a total geographical area of approximately
0.35 million square kilometers. The State has a population of over 56.5 million, which
comprises of 29.4 million males, and 27.1 million females, the sex ratio being 922.
More than three quarters of the population reside in rural areas. Rajasthan has one of
the highest proportions of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population among the
Indian states, at 17.2% and 12.6% respectively.
The Department of Registration and Stamps is responsible for the registration of
transactions of various kinds, most important of which are transactions of properties.
In all, 34 kinds of deeds and transactions come under the purview of the Department.
The limits of the taxes to be levied on the transactions are determined by the State
Government, which are revised from time to time. The Department is an important
contributor to the gross income of the State Government.
The Department of Registration and Stamps is situated in Ajmer, and is headed by the
Inspector General-Registration and Stamps, an officer of the Indian Administrative
Services. At the district level, the District Collector is the Ex-officio District Registrar
who supervises the work of the Department. The Department is further assisted by 67
independent Sub-Registrars and 278 Tehsildars/Additional Tehsildars/N. Tehsildars who
work as Ex-officio Sub-Registrars. For the functioning of the Department, the State
has been assigned into 13 circles, each of which comprise of 3 or more districts. The
Department has 12 Deputy Inspector Generals, Registration and Stamps (DIG) and one
ADM (stamps), all from the cadre of Rajasthan Administrative Services.
Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB)
Overview
Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is not a separate budget for women, but involves
the analysis and construction of general budgets from a gender perspective. GRB
entails analysis of actual expenditure and revenue on women and girls as compared
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan 1

to men and boys, and helps Governments to decide on how policies need to be made,
adjusted and reprioritised. The process of GRB eventually results in gender responsive
budgets-which are not separate budgets for women, but government budgets that are
planned, approved, executed, monitored and audited in a gender sensitive way. In
the context of the Department of Registration and Stamps, GRB serves to assess how
effectively the services of the Government are meeting the needs of women and girls,
in relation to men and boys; how much the policies are focused towards women; and
what benefits accrue to women, as compared to men.
Gender Budgeting in India
In India, gender perspective on public expenditure has been gaining ground since
the publication of the report of the Committee on the Status of Women in 1974. The
Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97) highlighted for the first time the need to ensure a
definite flow of funds from the general development sectors to women. The Ninth Five
Year Plan (1997-2002), while reaffirming the earlier commitment, adopted the Women
Component Plan as one of the main strategies and directed both the Central and the
State Governments to ensure “not less than 30% of the funds/benefits are earmarked
in all the women’s related sectors, for women”. For the first time, gender analysis of
the Union Budget was carried out in 2001-02. A need was realised to analyse state
budgets with a gender perspective since the States/Union Territories account for the
bulk of the expenditure in social sector which impinges on the welfare, development
and empowerment of women.
Gender Budgeting in Rajasthan
In the context of how well the public services are benefiting the women of the
State, the Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, in her budget speech for the year
2005-06, has emphasised upon the need for gender budgeting/auditing in the State.
The State Government has decided to carry out gender budgeting auditing for select
departments on an initial basis. Six departments have been selected for GRB: Health,
Education, Women and Child Development, Registration and Stamps, Agriculture and
Social Welfare. The Evaluation Department has been assigned the responsibility of
carrying out GRB for the Department of Registration and Stamps.
2
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan

GRB for Registration and Stamps
For GRB of the Department of Registration and Stamps, an in-depth analysis was
carried out on the financial and physical information obtained from the Department,
and consultations carried out with officers from the Ministry of Women and Child
Development, Government of India; the concerned departments of the Government of
Rajasthan; and gender experts from UNFPA, UNIFEM and IFES.
The following section provides an analysis of the programmes/components of the
Department from the perspective of GRB:
Staff Members in the Department of Registration and Stamps
(2004-06) by Sex
An analysis of the staff working in the Department of Registration and Stamps from
2004-06, disaggregated by sex, shows that women constitute less than 10% of the
total workforce (Table-1). Of the 347 persons working in the Department of Registration
and Stamps, only 22 are women.
Table-1
Staff Working in the Department of Registration and Stamps (2004-06),
Disaggregated by Sex
Year
Number of staff members
Men Women Total
2004-05 325 22 347
2005-06 325 22 347
Reduction of Stamp Duty for Registration of Agricultural Land in a
Woman’s Name
To encourage and promote ownership of agricultural land in the name of women, on
January 14, 2004, the Government of Rajasthan announced a 50% reduction (subsidy)
in the stamp duty for agricultural land, if the land is registered in a woman’s name.
The stamp duty in January 2004 stood at 11% for land that was registered in a
woman’s/man’s name, and so the Government notification in this regard fixed the
stamp duty for land registered in a woman’s name to 5.5%.
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan 3

However, on July 12, 2004, the Government revised the stamp duty and brought it
down from 11% to 8% for all land transactions. No corresponding revision for land
being registered in a women’s name was made. As a result the stamp duty to be paid
when the land is registered in a woman’s name, continues to be 5.5%.
Purchase of agricultural land (and utilisation of subsidy on stamp
duty) by women, from January 2004 - December 2005.
The following table provides information on registration of agricultural land, and
benefit accrued to women from January 2004 to December 2005 (Table-2).
Table-2
Number of Beneficiaries, and Benefit Accrued as a Result of Lower Stamp Duty
Payable by Women for Registration of Agricultural Land in their Names.
(January 2004 - December 05)
S.No. Time period No. of agricultural land
deeds registered in a
Stamp duty
received
Benefit
accrued to
Benefit per
women (in Rs.) 1
woman’s name
(no. of women
beneficiaries)
(in lakhs) women
(in lakhs)
1 Jan.04-Mar.04 8,178 1039 1039 9491
2 Apr.04-June 04 33,862 2951 2951
3 July 04-Mar.05 67,123 7523 3420 5908
4 Apr.05-Dec.05 1,02,108 14,473 6579
The above table shows that there is a sharp increase in the number of agricultural land
deeds registered by women. From January 2004 to December 2005, more than two
lakh women have registered agricultural land in their names. The total benefit accrued
to women under this rebate is Rs. 13,989 lakhs, which amounts to an average of Rs.
6621 per woman. The table also shows that the average subsidy availed per woman
has reduced from July 2004 onwards, as compared to that received during the period
January 04 - June 04. From the period January 04 - June 04, the average subsidy
amounted to Rs. 9491 per woman; for the period July 04 - December 05, the average
subsidy per woman is Rs. 5908. This reduction in the subsidy received per woman is
1
The benefit availed per woman is calculated by dividing the total subsidy received by women in the period, by the number of
women in whose names the agricultural land deeds were registered in the same period.
4
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan

on account of a number of variables, including the reduction in the general stamp
duty from 11 to 8%, with stamp duty for women staying the same (and not decreasing
correspondingly) at 5.5%.
Reduction of Stamp Duty on Gift Deeds of Immovable Property in
a Woman’s Name
According to the notification from the State Government dated March 30 th 2004,
stamp duty in the case of gift deed of immovable property executed in favour of a
sister/daughter/grand daughter/mother or wife has been reduced to 5% (as against
8% for general)
Mandatory Provision of Stamp Duty for Divorce Instrument
The Rajasthan Stamp Act, 1998 has a mandatory provision of stamp duty of Rs. 50
for divorce instrument (any instrument by which a person affects dissolution of the
marriage). The provision of stamp duty is primarily to ensure a legally acceptable
document to safeguard the interest of the divorced woman, and not so much as a
means of revenue.
Apart from the details mentioned above, the Department of Registration and Stamps
is not offering any other scheme/rebate specifically for women. Sex disaggregated
information regarding the 34 transactions that are subject to stamp duty, is also not
available.
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan 5

Recommendations
• The Department does not have sex-disaggregated information for the different
transactions taking place in the State. A review of the management information
systems within the Department is recommended, to enable collection of information
that is disaggregated by sex as much as possible.
• More than 2 lakh women have availed the subsidy for stamp duty offered by the
State Government for registration of agricultural land by women. It is recommended
that an impact assessment of this initiative be undertaken, to determine how the
rebate and the registration have affected the self-esteem, decision-making ability
and position within the household among the female recipients of the subsidy.
• There is no difference in the stamp duty between males and females for registration
of land in urban areas. A revision of the stamp duty is suggested, with provision
of a rebate for land registered in a woman’s name, in urban areas also. In order to
ensure that there is not too much of a loss to the State Government due to such
a proposal, the rebate for agriculture and urban could both be fixed at 25%, as
against 50% for agricultural land and nil for urban land as at present. While such
a scheme should include all women, if the consequent loss of revenue to the State
is a concern, it could be restricted to single women, divorcees and widows - for
whom some form of rebate is strongly recommended, as a first step.
• The Government may also explore providing subsidy for land deeds (in both rural and
urban areas) that are registered in joint name, of both husband and wife. Such a
subsidy could be less than the rebate offered if the deed is only in a woman’s name.
• At present less than 10% of the staff in the Department of Registration and
Stamps are women. The Government of Rajasthan may like to consider giving
encouragement and preference for employing more women in the Department.
• The registered document must be handed over to the woman only and the
importance of the document explained to her.
• The Department is collecting revenue for registration of 33 other transactions as
well. These however do not amount to much revenue for the Government (according
to the Department). The Government could consider providing rebate /concession
to women for these transactions, wherever applicable. Such a move will send a
good signal from the government, indicating the Government’s commitment to
gender equality and women’s empowerment.
6
Gender Responsive Budgeting for the Department of Registration & Stamps in Rajasthan