Land Records rectification to be utmost transparent : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Land Records rectification to be utmost transparent

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

The proposed rectification, simplification and cleansing of land records would be done without causing any harm to the farmers’ interests and with transparency. The rectified land details list would be displayed in the village with signatures of all the farmers. The entire process of comprehensive rectification of records would be done in a simple, transparent and easy manner so that people will be able to understand it. As part of the cleansing, in the first phase, records of 95 percent of lands having no litigation or problems would be finalized.

After a gap of 80 years, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is attempting yet another innovative and historic reform in the matters pertaining to land records’ rectification, cleansing and updating in the State so that the land related litigations and issues find a permanent solution once for all. If the land records are proper and in order, farmers input incentive scheme would be successful. The last known land survey was done during the Nizam’s rule in 1932-36 and after that no survey was ever done. There were several changes that took place in these 80 years but they were not properly recorded. Hence there is utter confusion about the land records’ maintenance and it was often leading to disputes.

From 2017 September 1 to 9, Rythu Samanvaya Samithis (Farmers Associations Coordination Committees) are being set up. Farmers having the land in the villages would become the members. Coordination Committees are being formed with 11 members. From September 10 to 15, conferences of the Farmers Coordination Committees would be held at the Mandal level. District Collectors have been entrusted with the job of issuing proceedings for constitution of Farmers Associations Coordination Committees at revenue village and Mandal levels. The entire responsibility of selecting the team that work in the village as part of the program is placed with the district Collectors concerned. If need be, they can appoint some persons on a temporary basis. Rs 50 Lakh per Collector for the land records rectification, cleansing and updating program would be set aside.

Commissioner Agriculture will nominate the names of district level coordination committees. From September 15 to December end, land records rectification, cleansing and updating with Revenue village as Unit would be held. 1193 teams would conduct the program in 10,785 revenue villages. Each team would conduct the program in 9 villages and the team would stay put in each village for 10 days.  By January 1, 2018 as a new year’s gift, rectified, simplified, updated and modernized land records would be made available.

Tracing the reason to embark upon rectifying, cleansing and updating the land records, the chief minister said that the government has decided to put Rs 8,000 per acre for two crops per year in the bank accounts of farmers as an Input investment. When the details about farmers and their lands were sought, the reports prepared by the Agriculture department and the Revenue department did not match. This problem was due to non-maintenance of the land records properly.  Hence, there is a need to find out the actual details on who owned how much?  There need to be clarity on the land ownership rights. The government had acquired several lakh acres of agriculture land from the farmers for projects, laying of railway lines, schools, hospitals, and such public utility activities but these were not recorded. The records showed that these lands were still in the hands of farmers. And this is leading to several problems. There is a need to have clarity on the land ownership rights. In every village, there are 80 to 95 percentage of lands, which have no dispute or litigation. Clarity on these lands with the help of people and farmers in the village should be established. In the second phase, identification of the lands that were in litigation would be taken up. Clarity would be established on these land records based on the verdicts given by the courts. Identification of the government lands, Wakf lands, Endowment Lands, lands under the government offices etc would also be ascertained.

A farmer requires three things, water for cultivation, finance for investment and a Minimum Support Price for his crops.  If these factors are met with then agriculture will become a profitable activity says CM. This is precisely the reason why in Telangana state government is fulfilling these three factors. It is taking steps to provide water for agriculture by constructing various irrigation projects. It is constructing projects like Kaleshwaram, Palamoor, Sri Rama Sagar etc. The government is going ahead with these projects with commitment despite some vested interested trying to create obstacles by going to courts. Tanks are being revived under Mission Kakatiya program. Uninterrupted and quality power to the farm sector is provided resulting in underground water coming into use. Efforts are made to supply 24-hour power supply from the next Rabi season. Rs 8000 per acre as investment assistance to the farmers from the next year is given. Farmers’ Associations Coordination Committees are being formed to get Minimum Support Price for the produce.

In the first phase, clarity would be arrived at on the land records, which have no litigation or disputes. Signatures of farmers of the village would be taken on the documents. Farmers would be given documents pertaining to their land. The list of names, ownership of the land would be displayed either at the Panchayat Office notice Board or at a school. Farmer would be given new passbooks.

Incentives would be given to the Collectors, Joint Collectors, RDOs and MROs who have done an exemplary work during the programme. Regularisation of Sada Bainama lands above five acres would be done with the permission of the Collector. Registration fee as per the rate at the date of entering the Sada Bainamas would be levied.

Details of the land assigned are recorded and the farmers would be given clarity on their rights. Stating that any programme, if it is done with commitment it will be successful, the CM wanted the Land records rectification, cleansing and updating program should be done with a fatherly affection but not as a programme imposed with officialdom or superior power. People and farmers should be taken into confidence and be explained the salient benefits of the programme and how it would benefit them.

Simple Telugu terms and language would be used in the Pahanis and the passbooks. Terms like Pahani, Setwari etc., would be removed. Since the Land Cess is removed, there was no need to categories types of the land. Details of Categorisation of lands done as per the Urban Ceiling Act would continue. As far as the assigned lands issue, the records would be cleared at the highest level. Land ownership rights would be established. Managing rights are given to those cultivating the land.

Land records would be maintained like the Core Banking System. Whenever money is drawn from an ATM anywhere in the world, the update message is communicated within minutes. The same system, which used for transactions worth Crores, would be used to maintain and update 55 Lah farmers’ land records and transactions. There is no need to pledge the passbooks with banks while seeking the loan. In case if any bank asks for it, it should be brought to the notice of the government. Village boundaries and Grama Kantam would be clearly marked.

After the cleaning and rectification of the land records, the details would be posted online. Even if small change is made this would reflect online. In every revenue office, there would be one IT officer to be specially recruited, to coordinate the system. The CM promissed that high-end computer systems and high bandwidth connections would be provided for the purpose and all the revenue offices would also be integrated.

            The Chief Minister wanted registrations should also to be done in a transparent way. Both the seller and buyer farmer should go to the registration office and submit their passbooks. The Registrar then removes the details of land from the passbook of the seller and enters the same in the passbook of the buyer. The registrar should send these passbooks to MRO through courier. The MRO within four working days should register the buying and selling details, attest the changes in passbooks, change the ownership name and send it back to the registrar. Registrar once again records these details in his office and sends the passbook back to farmers through a courier. Both the seller and buyer need not come to registrar office more than once. They need not come again to request for their work or making rounds to the registrar officer or MRO office, the CM explained.

On the new Passbooks and Pahanis, the CM was very clear that it should be simplified and transparent. All the unnecessary columns will be removed. New passbooks would be issued. Passbooks would be made in such way that only a specialized pen could write on them. CM suggested that the quality standards should be maintained high so that even if the passbook fell in water they should not get spoiled. The size of passbooks would be reduced. In future, the CM said one registration officer would be appointed per Mandal and the MRO would be entrusted with the job of registrations. Instead of number of revenue courts, only the District Collector’s Court would be functional.