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8.1 The Systems of Land Management in The North-East and Recommend Appropriate Measures in Relation to Them

8.1.1 The inclusion of the northeast in Indian union is a history of recent times. Each state of the Northeast has a different administrative structure under the Constitution of India. Some areas are under the Sixth Schedule and or under special constitutional safeguards. This constitutional provision recognises the existence of the community process and state process with a clearly-delineated spheres and without impinging on one another. Accordingly, it invested the Autonomous District Council with legislative, executive, financial and judicial powers. These councils are expected to create harmony between the administration and the traditional tribal institution.

2. 
   Some Structural Issues
   

8.2.1 The Autonomous Districts Councils have failed to a great degree to perform their task, for which they were created. In the absence of a clear provision for co-ordination of their activities with that of the state government, the ADC tend to draw their legitimacy mainly from the state power rather than the community process. The Councils have no legal experts or trained judicial officer to codify the customary laws. Further, the functioning of these autonomous institutions is increasingly subject to party and sectarian politics which has reduced their credibility and affected their development initiatives. The judicial autonmy and the provisions of customary laws are often subject to misinterpretation and even abuse on these accounts.

8.2.2 In the matter of exercise of developmental function, the Autonomous Councils are heavily dependant upon the state governments. Further, the sources of finance for the Autonomous District Councils are more diversified and due to the intervening role of state government, they are generally starved of fund. At present, village councils exist in all states. In Manipur, these are called ‘republics’ and in Mizoram village council. Village development boards (VDBs) are the Naga version of Panchayat Raj system. These bodies are true catalysts for development and therefore in 1980, were given administrative and local mandate.

8.3 Tenure system

8.3.1 In the entire region both the customary laws and government land regulation co-exist. But, in practice, largely the customary laws govern the tenure system. This is particularly the case in the hills. Accordingly, three forms of land ownership namely chief lands, community lands and individual lands are noticed.

(i) Control and management of lands by village chiefs with right to cultivation for individual members Tribes which have strong chieftain-ship systems, follow this kind of land ownership. The tribal chiefs allot lands to the individual families for Jhooming. The chief has the right to determine which plot of land is to be allotted to a person for cultivation. The right of the chief is the right of management of the community resources.

(ii) Lands owned by the villagers collectively - Until recently, individual had access to land resources in the tribal areas only as members of their respective communities. Even today it holds good in most tribal areas, who predominantly practice Jhooming. The land belongs to the corporate group and each family is provided with an adequate plot of land according to its needs and capacity for bringing the allotted land for cultivation.

(iii) Land owned by the individual families - This is applicable mostly in the plains. In Assam, there has been a written law since 1886 and Tripura and Manipur confirm the existence of private ownership of land since 1960. In the absence of an extensive land reform, customary laws govern the private ownership and wherever land reforms were initiated, private ownership has been recognized but without title deeds (patta).
8.3.2 Out of the three land tenural systems that are prevalent in the region the first two are centered on shifting cultivation. This has direct bearing on food security in the region as such a practice contributes to deforestation and soil erosion and in turn, accounts for low productivity.

4. 
   Issues in Land Administration
   

8.4.1 Land alienation and landlessness with emerging land use pattern: To begin with, the opening up of tea plantation (in Assam by middle of nineteenth century) and exploitation of natural oil and coal, have brought in new economic activities. These activities have absorbed a large number of immigrant labours, since indigenous population remained with agriculture at a stagnant level. This has effected decline in control over local resources. Secondly, with such emerging commercial values, the land use patterns too experience trends.

1. The land after Jhooming is never released and put to continued use either for plantation or for permanent cultivation with the right of transfer.

2. Thus, large area of community land has degenerated into private land either by accident or design of vested interests.

3. The sale and purchase of land under settled or permanent cultivation has led to emergence of absentee landlords (inherited, purchased or acquired) and with them, the tenancy and share cropping practices.

8.4.2 Ineffective Land Regulation: The major limitation in customary laws is that in most cases, these laws have not been codified. Even where codified, it is often interpreted to suit to the interests of a few. On the other hand, no state has done extensive land reforms. In some cases, though land right was provided, ownership titles have not been issued. This deprives them from accessing resources from the formal institutions. Two issues emerge from this situation. For one, the efficacy of customary laws to address the emerging trend in land use patterns and on the other hand, the capacity of the legal framework to evolve as per the needs of the tribal societies are getting to be seriously questioned. This presents a serious dilemma for both, the central and the state governments whether to expedite privatization of landholding or to encourage community holding for a better management of the greatest resource base of the land and forest, given the contradictory forces operating within the community.
8.4.3 Land Categorization: The land classification situation is different for Assam than for other hill states, which are 100 % tribal districts. Cadastral surveys have not been done at all in these states and the community owns the lands there.

8.4.4 Shifting River Courses: Assam has been battling the problem of shrinking lands due to this. Such Juli lands are a big bone of contention.
8.4.5 Pressure on land : due to various development needs. Demand for the land for the industry has been on the rise continuously. Cases to be noted are the Noonmati refinery, SEZs etc. Displacement has also led to the vulnerable groups being targeted leading to alienation. There is an urgent need for states like Assam to have an urban development policy as the people’s way of life is changing. Diversion should be avoided except for community purposes. Diversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purposes has been done mainly for Residential Areas etc.
8.4.6 Encroachment on CPRs- Alternatives should be available for the government to prevent the privatization of such common lands. Most of the government land is known as Khaas lands, which includes revenue wastelands and culturable wastelands etc., as well as the VGRs and PGRs. Also we need to differentiate between the encroachments that are done on need basis and greed basis. Many of the such illegal practices have been promoted in the garb of livelihoods such as wood smuggling, mafias etc.
8.4.7 Water Resources should also be considered as CPRs and include wetlands, channels and waterways. No person should be allowed to encroach or damage the water bodies. Wetlands have been considered to be the ecologically most productive areas but till now (even more productive than forest areas) there is no government wing that takes care of it. But overall there is a need for conservation of overall ecology of the area.
8.4.8 Thus ultimately we see that the need of the hour is to create a roadmap for the land prioritization which would try and address the following needs:

1. 
   Prevention of marginalization of tribal people
   
2. 
   Ecological needs and preservation of biodiversity that render ecological services.
   
3. 
   Investments in improving the productivity of land
   
4. 
   Development and Industrial growth for the 4 million strong population
   
5. 
   Improving the capability of people to take development in their own hands.