A/HRC/34/51/Add.1 ownership and inheritance of housing, land and property, an observation also made in 2014 by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (see CEDAW/C/IND/CO/4-5, paras. 32 and 33 (a)). Certain inheritance practices continue to be used to deny women title to housing, land and property despite the fact that, under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, daughters and sons have equal rights. That said, some schemes, including tax incentives and joint ownership of housing, have been set in place to ensure that women can become property owners and are registered in the title deeds. 64. In rural areas, without land title, female heads of households and women farmers have no access to credit, subsidies, seed programmes, irrigation or fertilizers. Moreover, without land they and their families are at greater risk of poverty, displacement, eviction and violence. 65. The Special Rapporteur met women who had fled violent households and, with few housing options, had been left destitute, living on the roadside. Violence against women is fundamentally linked to the right to adequate housing, as indicated by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In its general comment No. 4, the Committee states that the right to housing “should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity” and that it is “integrally linked to other human rights and to the fundamental principles upon which the Covenant is premised” (para. 7). Given the international commitments India has undertaken to combat domestic violence, one essential measure would be to mainstream the links between domestic violence and the right to adequate housing at all levels of government. 66. Although implementation has been a problem, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is human rights-oriented, providing women in a domestic violence situation with security of tenure through the right to reside in their home and barring the violent household member from remaining on the premises. B. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes 67. In India, the legacy of scheduled castes and so-called “backward classes” remains. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes comprise 22 per cent of the population of India, but are overrepresented among the poor. Despite affirmative action programmes and “reservations”, those groups continue to be subject to stigmatization and discrimination, including in relation to housing. According to the 2011 census, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have, on average, lower quality housing, made with inadequate materials, with only 22 per cent of households of scheduled tribes made with brick or concrete walls. Figures concerning the lack of access to latrines were more alarming than for the general population, with 66 per cent of members of scheduled castes lacking access to latrines, and 77 per cent of scheduled tribes.48 68. In 2007, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged India to intensify its efforts to effectively punish acts of “untouchability”, to take effective measures against residential segregation and to ensure equal access for Dalits to places of worship, water sources and any other places or services intended for use by the general public (see CERD/C/IND/CO/19, para. 13). 69. Although specific provisions to protect scheduled tribes are included in the Constitution and in numerous policies, the reality is less than satisfactory. Entire tribal communities remain excluded from benefits essential to them, like the tea plantation 48 16 See http://censusindia.gov.in/default.aspx.