Rajasthan's 'Nata Prabha' tribal divorce custom puts a spanner in PM Awas Yojana

The Indira Awas Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana launched by Narendra Modi in 2015 in bid to provide affordable housing has hit a roadblock in Rajasthan due to a particular 'clause.'

The tribal custom 'Nata Pratha' where a married woman is allowed to live with another man has stalled work under the scheme in the state's tribal areas.

A report by India Express, highlights the case of a tribal from Morella village in Salumbar district of Rajasthan who wanted to apply for the PM Awas Yojana scheme.

52 year-old Pema Meena sought for financial assistance to build a home. However his wife, who divorced him through the 'Nata Pratha', would be the primary beneficiary under the scheme and receive the money.

Pema, said that his wife has left him at the beginning of 2024, however in official documents such as the Aadhaar card she is still his wife. He said, "I want her name removed but officials ask for an official divorce decree. This is a tribal area, and we don’t register marriages and divorces here."

Many in the tribal regions of Salumbar Banswara, Dungapur, Pratapgarh, Udaipur, Sirohi, Rajasmand, Pali and Chittorgarh where this custom is widely practiced, are faced with a similar predicament.

As per the custom a woman can proclaim before the village panchayat that she is leaving her spouse to live with another man.

Of the 1.58 lakh homes sanctioned nearly, 5-10 per cent have been stalled due to this custom.

Dinesh Patidar, the Block Development Officer at Jhallara Panchayat Samiti in Salumbar district said, “We have to fulfil our targets under PM Awas Yojana, and in the tribal areas, this customary practice has become a problem.” He also said that they have reached out to the state government regarding the issue.

“We have had several instances when ex-husbands of women who did nata claim that they are divorced and are entitled to financial assistance under the scheme. However, without a divorce decree, our hands are tied. Many houses in these areas are unfinished due to this reason and higher officials still haven’t been able to find a solution," Patidar added.

Through a three-step verification process which includes taking note of the Socio-Economic Caste Census and Awas survey 2018, gram sabha approval and geo-tagging, beneficiaries of the scheme are identified.

Financial assistance amounting up to Rs 1.20 lakhs in plain area and Rs 1.30 lakhs in hilly or inaccessible area are sent to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The beneficiaries must fulfil 10 criteria which include not falling within the tax bracket, not owning vehicles and not owning more than five acres of land.

Under the scheme women are the primary beneficiaries, they must be the sole owner or joint owner of the house being built. The exception is only when there are no adult women in the family.

Tribals are estimated to constitute 13.48 per cent of the population of the state according to the 2011 census. As per the report the sarpanch of Matasul village in Salumbar states that there are a number of cases like that of Pema.

He said, “Since many tribals are poor and unlettered, they don’t take the legal recourse to resolve the problem,”

98.4 per cent of the houses sanctioned under the scheme between 2016-17 to 2021-22 have been completed, while 17,15,249 are yet to be completed.

According to the state government officials who have reached out to the Union Rural Development Ministry, the problem “is not taken seriously.”

The report quoted an official saying “This problem is present only in tribal regions of Rajasthan, but we're the ones who are answerable for the incomplete houses under the Awas scheme. We've written to the central government and even raised the issues at meetings with them but they haven’t taken the issue seriously,”