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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Management of Village Forests
- Survey Operations
- Administrative Structure
- INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Committee
- (Annex – B) . 1.2.2 A detailed questionnaire covering different aspects of land reforms since Independence (The questionnaire annexed at Annex - C
- 1.5 Writing of the Report
- Annex-G) . 1.7 The Context of Land Reforms
- 1.8 Historical Background
- 1.9 Concern on the Current Status 1.9.1 At this point, the Agenda of the Revenue Ministers’ Conference
- Chapter One Land Ceiling and Distribution of Ceiling Surplus, Government and Bhoodan Land 1.1 The Context of Discontent
RecommendationsRecommendations relating to Land System:- The Committee has taken into account the existing debate between privatisation of lands or reinforcing its community character. Retaining and strengthening the community based land management system that prevails in some of the Hills areas of the North-East is in the vital interest of the tribes living therein. Derogation of the traditional system of land management has led to growth often iniquitous land relationship and a differentiated land structure. It has also led to and is likely to lead to undermining the self-governance nature of the tribes and their social institutions.
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INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Committee 1.1.1 In January, 2008, the Government of India constituted a Committee on State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Rural Development to report on the status of implementation of land reform measures in different states and on the agenda of tasks yets to be finished. Simultaneously, National Council for Land Reforms was constituted under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, with the objective of providing broad guidelines and policy direction on land reforms (vide No. 21013/4/2007-LRD on 9th January, 2008.1 ) (Annex- A) 1.1.2 In its very first meeting, the Committee emphasised the importance of good governance in land administration and effective management of land records for poverty reduction, economic development and social equity. Socially just access to land and land related services, and security of land rights are of utmost importance in achieving inclusive sustainable development. Equitable land relations give rise to a more harmoneous production relations that shape a just agrarian order. 1.2 Methodology 1.2.1 The terms of reference of the Committee consisted of very broad range of issues including different aspects of land administration, management and its equivalent destitution. The Committee, with a view to address these issues in depth grouped them into seven broad areas and constituted seven sub-groups, each addressing one set of issues (Annex – B). 1.2.2 A detailed questionnaire covering different aspects of land reforms since Independence (The questionnaire annexed at Annex - C). It was sent to all State governments for current status mapping and to identify the critical gaps in policy formulation and implementation. Unfortunately, the responses received till date have been extremely inadequate.
1.2.4 The Reports of the sub-groups 1.3 Field Visits 1.3.1 The sub-groups relied upon field visits wherein they had extensive interviews with different stakeholders - officials of the State Governments, civil society-based organisations, individual tenants, landowners, members of the Bar, political parties and academia. The members of the sub-groups made a number of field visits to different parts of the Country. These visits and interviews/discussions have provided a rich source of material for the report. Field visits were made in collaboration with Ekta Parishad, National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) and Ministry of Rural Development. The sub-groups visited Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal where several civil society organizations and mass movements working on issues of land, were consulted and relevant materials on their findings were gathered. Close to thirty public hearings were conducted across these states. Apart from that, interviews were conducted of different activists and officials on the basis of a structured schedule in order to get an insight into the hurdles and crises which have arrested the process of proper functioning of land administration and distribution according to the existing law statuettes. 1.4 Secondary Sources 1.4.1 A large number of secondary sources in the form of previous reports, published literature, articles in journals and studies conducted by individual researchers were utilised. The studies conducted by the Indian Administrative Service Officers of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie also provided a rich source. In addition, two of the published reports, one by Koneru Ranga Rao Committee in the State of Andhra Pradesh and the other by Shri D. Bandyopadhyay in the State of Bihar provided valuable insights as well as latest data. 1.4.2 A particular mention needs to be made to the State-wise Survey Report in the North East. In fact, the last major survey of land relations was done more than 20 years back. The North East Survey is particularly of seminal value as such a survey has not been attempted in the past. 1.5 Writing of the Report 1.5.1 The Report of the Committee is based on the Reports of the Sub - Groups. The final drafting of the Report of the Committee was coordinated by Shri B K Sinha. Dr. P. K. Jha, convenor of Sub-Group - I wrote the report of Sub-Group - I as well as III, dealing with Governance Issues and Convergence of Policies relating to land and suggestion for Institutional Mechanism. Likewise, Shri B K Sinha, the Convenor of Sub-Group - V relating to Modernisation of Land Management and Sub-Group - VII on System of Land Management in the North-East drafted the report of these Sub-Groups -. The Report for Sub-Group - II on Tenancy, Sub-Tenancy and Homestead Rights was written by Dr.T. Haque and team, and the Sub-Group - IV dealing with Tribal Land Alienation and PESA was written by Shri R.C.Verma, the Convenor of the Sub-Group and its members. The report of the sub – Group VI was drafted by the group’s convener, Ms Neelima Khetan and team. 1.6 Workshop 1.6.1 The draft Report of the Committee was placed before a workshop at NIRD, Rajendranagar, (October 4-5,2008) attended by administrators (both serving and retired), activists, academics, social workers, civil society based organisations, members of different tribal groups, amongst others. (Proceedings of the Workshop at Annex – F). The necessary modifications have been made in the Report on the basis of the discussions therein. 1.6.2 The workshop at Rajendranagar recommended organising a special workshop for the North East where the land relations of the plains did not apply. Accordingly, a wrkshop was conducted at Guwahati on 30th October, 2008 (Report of the Worskshop Annex-G). 1.7 The Context of Land Reforms 1.7.1 Land is of critical significance to the vast majority of the poor who derive their livelihood from agriculture. Physical subsistence, procuring a decent, dignified livelihood and the well-being of entire families depend on land. The issue of land rights and access to resources is, therefore, one where land must be envisioned as a productive unit which sustains interrelated livelihood resources. 1.7.2 The Committee finds two of the land related issues that compel immediate attention. First, a number of critical gaps continued in land reform measures initiated soon after Independence leading to socio-economic disparity and unrest. In the second place there has been a noticeable rising trend in the loss of land, particularly in recent years from the tenants and farmers due to various factors. These range from development and state-owned mega projects of heavy industries to change in legal statuettes regarding ownership and acquisition of land by private enterprises to the increasing impact of environmental degradation on cultivable land. 1.7.3 The Committee is strongly of the view that existing provisions of land reforms must be revitalized from their dormant state. New mechanisms may need to be adopted in order to accomplish the tasks which have not been fulfilled. Further, it is extremely important to identify and investigate the processes through which agricultural land, sustaining substantial populations, are being lost. 1.7.4 The need for implementation of dynamic land reform policies have also been highlighted in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan which states that an efficient and corruption free land administration, coupled with a dynamically adaptive land policy, has a vital role in increasing agriculture growth and poverty reduction. The key elements of an effective land policy are the following:
1.7.5 After independence, the state recognized the vital link between land and livelihoods and launched land reform measures with three components, viz., abolition of intermediaries such as zamindars, security of tenancies and ceiling on agricultural holdings. Concomitantly, however, the state also set on path of rapid industrialization, which required building of massive infrastructure, mining and industries of capital goods such as ironed, steel, heavy engineering and big dams which meant acquiring land on a large scale. However, the displacement of people that goes with this process did not find official recognition at the level of policy-making till the end of the Third Five Year Plan. 1.7.6 The Land Acquisition Act of 1894, was applied to large scale acquisitions resulting in displacement and deprivation of means of livelihoods for affected people, but did not give them the right to resettle or rehabilitate.2 1.8 Historical Background 1.8.1 The main plank of land reforms in India after independence was to abolish landlordism and to provide ‘land to the tiller’ by vesting former tenants with permanent and even heritable and transferable rights in the land which they cultivated. 1.8.2 Legislative provisions were made in extensive areas of the country providing for conferment of ownership rights on tenants or allowing cultivating tenants to acquire ownership rights on payment of reasonable compensation to the landlords. Some of the states acquired ownership of land from the landowners and transferred it to the tenants who paid certain amount of premium to the State. Sub-tenancies were generally prohibited except in certain cases, viz., widows, members of the armed forces, minors, unmarried women, persons suffering from disabilities etc. 1.8.3 The Indian Constitution included agriculture and land reforms as State subjects. The landed gentry were even more powerful in the state legislatures and state governments, and exercised considerable influence over the organs of the state. The land reform legislations, particularly those imposing, which were passed following protracted deliberations in the states in the 1950s (but in some case as late as the early 1970s), provided substantial opportunity to the land owners to take measures to dilute, if not defeat, the intent of the legislations. In particular, they were able to evict large numbers of unrecorded tenants from lands recorded as being under their ‘personal cultivation’. 1.8.4 Nonetheless, the legislations abolishing landlordism achieved a significant transformation of the countryside by enlarging the base of land ownership and creating essentially three categories of land-holders in those with heritable and transferable right over land, those with permanent occupancy rights (which were to gradually transform into the first category), and tenants who had the obligation to pay rents to one of the two earlier categories. As a result of the implementation of these laws, the ownership of nearly 40 percent of cultivable land was transferred to the direct producers and under tenancy laws nearly 12.4 million tenants obtained secure rights or ownership rights over an area of 6.15 million ha (i.e about 4.4 percent of cultivated area)3 1.8.5 The land reforms under the Five Year Plans have been sequentially presented in Annex - H. It stands mentioned that the process of enactment of the ceiling laws was attended with so much of delay that the landlords were successful in evading the legislation and defeat the very purpose of land ceiling and redistribution of land. A spate of fictitious transfers, sales, benami transactions, partitioning of family property etc. by big landlords with the intention of circumventing the ceiling legislation took place throughout the country which went unchecked. Splitting up of agricultural estates had already taken place so that by the time the new legislations came, very little land in any case was available for distribution.4 1.8.6 The Report of the Task Force of the Planning Commission (1973) gives various reasons for the non-implementation of land reform measures. The major conclusions drawn by the Task Force for the poor performance of land reforms were lack of political will, inadequate land policy, legal hurdles and the absence of correct land records. Another crucial factor which was responsible for this debacle was the weak administrative machinery for land reforms as well as the lukewarm and apathetic attitude of the bureaucracy, partly because of their own vested interest in land and bias in favour of the big land owners. 1.8.7 The law suits, existence of loop-holes in the laws and protracted litigation were cited as major obstacles in the way of implementing land reforms.The existing record of rights posed another constraint. In a judicial system which places much reliance upon records the absence of correct up-to-date record of rights was used by the landlords for large scale eviction of tenants from the land actually tilled by them. Despite this alarming situation and even when fully apprised of the seriousness of this problem the state governments have not been able to prepare up-to-date and accurate reords-of-rights despite the fact that all the Five Year Plans had provisions to undertake village surveys and to prepare land records. 1.8.8 The Task Force of Planning Commission (1973) pointed out the huge gap between the claim of the achievements in land reforms through five year plans and the actual situation on the ground. It categorically stated: “In no sphere of public activity in our country since independence has the hiatus between the precept and practice, between policy-pronouncements and actual execution, been as great as in the domain of land reforms”. 1.9 Concern on the Current Status 1.9.1 At this point, the Agenda of the Revenue Ministers’ Conference that was held in 1992 to look into the issue of land reforms (Annex- I) needs to be referred to. The Sub-Committee of 1992 formed to deliberate and study the items listed in the agenda had come up with recommendations (Annex - J). 1.9.2 Looking at the available information on land reforms and the recommendations made in the Revenue Ministers Conference thereafter, it becomes clear that the task which was officially set by the Government of India in 1992 has made little progress. The progress in the last 60 years has been slow as a result of which the Agenda for the Revenue Ministers’ Conference in 1992 bears a striking similarity to some of the terms-of-reference framed for the present Committee. Chapter One Land Ceiling and Distribution of Ceiling Surplus, Government and Bhoodan Land 1.1 The Context of Discontent 1.1.1 Both civil rights groups and Central government committees have attempted to analyze the causes of movements such as Naxalism and their ability to tap into disaffection and discontentment among the rural poor. At the heart of this spreading movement are the issues of land and decades of structural exploitation. We need to look at the demands around which their campaign revolves:
1.1.2 The support base for Naxalite movement comes from the landless and land poor who look towards fair distribution of land. Though, there are no precise estimates, there is enough evidence to show that the Naxalite movement assisted landless poor in occupying government lands both for homestead and cultivation. 1.1.3 In this context, where there is a rise of agrarian unrest due to the lack of redressal of issues of land rights and livelihood, the Planning Commission deemed it extremely necessary to revive the agenda of land reforms. Yüklə 2,42 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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