For decades, Kunta lived in a hut outside Kachhidih village in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, enduring the insults of higher-caste villagers who claimed her land - which she did not legally own - for grazing cattle. She dreamed of owning just a small piece of land for her family who belong to the traditionally low-caste Dalit group. Six months ago, Kunta got her wish when the state allocated her family and eight others small plots of land a few kilometres (miles) away from their old home, after months of delays. Kunta was finally a landowner with her name on the title. Reached by a dirt track through a field, the land is some distance from the highway. There is one solar lamp post and a hand pump spewing muddy water. Huts cobbled together with straw, mud and plastic offer scant protection from the winter chill.