Inclusive land reforms towards conclusive title
Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
Hans India (13-09-2020)
Telangana Land Rights, Pattaadar
Passbook Bill and the Telangana VROs Abolition Bill were passed unanimously in
the State Legislative Assembly. Informing the House that the Revenue Reforms
now being brought are the first step, the Chief Minister reiterated that many
more reforms would follow suit. He asserted that a Comprehensive Land Survey in
the State would be taken-up as a measure to put an end to all land related
problems. The reforms initiated now would ultimately culminate into giving Conclusive
Titles to Land owned farmers.
Conclusive titles are state guaranteed
titles, where the state guarantees the title for its correctness and provides
for compensation in case of any disputes. A conclusive title is an unquestionable
and convincing proof of ownership of property. Current provisions in central
Registration Act (1908) do not confer clear property titles on the owners while
providing for registration of property deeds and documents. The title remains
merely presumptive.
The kind of rural administration that was
in vogue in Telangana as against the present initiatives of CM KCR is quite
interesting. Villages which were Republics were integral part of our country’s
history and Britishers never interfered in the age-old traditions or customs. In
the earlier times agriculture lands had no boundaries at least till the nineteenth
century. Moghul Emperors Akbar and Sher Shah Suri undertook land measurements for
the first time. Till mid-19th century Village Karanam was in-charge
of Land records while the Munasab or the Police Patel was in-charge of Law and
Order. During Kakatiya’s rule Ganapati Deva Raju specially trained 6,000 (Niyogi)
Brahmins and made them the village Karanams.
In 1853, the then Nizam appointed
Salar Jung I as the Prime Minister in which position, he worked for 30 years
under three Nizams. Through his Zilla Bandhi policy Salar Jung regularized the
governing system of Jaghirdars, makthedars and Payagas. For the first time the Nizam
government had undertaken survey of the lands and prepared the records. These
records were in vogue till the Salar Jung III in 1936 undertook yet another
survey.
Such a survey was not done earlier.
Except the village officer no one knew how much land was available and under
whose control it was. There were no proper records of the land nor its
boundaries. The term Pattadaar lands came into vogue for the first time after
Salar Jung’s survey. Nizam government created and appointed an officer called
Girdavar for the villages. He was in addition to Patwari, Mali Patel and Police
Patel who were not paid any salary from the government. This administrative set
up continued till 1956 when the Hyderabad state merged with Andhra state.
After the Salar Jung survey Anavari
register was maintained which were also called as Setwari. For the farmers land
there used to be a map called Naksha. These maps are drawn with black ink on a
silk cloth. These are still available now. Some land was earmarked in every
village as part of the Gram Kantam. For animal fodder one fourth of the land
earmarked as Bancharayi. Lands, which were not fit for cultivation, were called
Poramboku. In the farmers land, rocks, uncultivable piece was called Phoot
Kharab for which tax was not levied for that portion. There were records for
the lands owned by farmers but not for any government land. The Nizam had
allocated lands in the periphery of Hyderabad on his name and they were called
Sarf-e-Kas. This was recorded as Zilla ataraf balda.
After the survey and settlement, the
responsibility of maintaining records was given to the Patwari. Patwari used to
prepare the tax collection list of names and handed over the same to Mali
Patel. Patel and Patwari ruled the roost till the Panchayat Raj system came
into existence. Patwari in his barish takhta used to compile information about
availability of water, floods and famine. Based on the Patwari report, during
the Zamabandi Cess used to be waived for the land if there was famine or
floods. Whether to supply water for the second crop or not was to be decided at
Taha Bandi. Crops dependent on rains used to be called Abee, Tabee while the
wet crops were referred to as Kharif and Rabi.
Lands in the villages were called Tari
and Khushki. At the advent of
cultivation, the Patwari used to survey the lands, whether seeds are sown in
Tari-Khushki lands and record the same. Checking of lands used to be called
Charu Mahi and Hasth Mahi. The inquiry and check conducted by the Patwari every
four months was called Charu Mahi. The
checks done later were called Hasth Mahi. Girdavar used to be head of the
checks. It was the responsibility of the Patwari to maintain records of the
details of landowners, extent of land and the Cess collected. The records
prepared by Patwari were key records for the government.
In a way, it can be said that as part
of Salar Jung reforms, land was surveyed and recorded in such way that it could
be computerized and digitalized today. In fact, Survey of lands began under
Sher Shah Suri though incompletely. However, due to various reasons, a need has
arisen now for a fresh survey and settlement of lands and rectification of land
records. The Survey Numbers given in those days have become irrelevant now. As
CM announced in the Assembly, total survey of
Telangana state would be undertaken. Along with the survey, coordinates for
each and every survey number with longitude and latitudes will be fixed.
After the survey of Salar Jung then,
the details of land cultivated by each farmer was maintained in a permanent
record called Setwari. Every land
holding was given a number which even today is referred as the Survey
Number. Based on this, each year the
Patwari used to prepare two records, Pahani (primary right document) and Chouphasla.
Pahani has details like extent of the land, owner of the land, category of the
land and what crop was cultivated etc. The inspection details of the crops both
by Girdavar and Patwari used were entered in the Pahani.
Eventually, the Watandari system was
abolished. A new administrative set up took over thanks to NTR. There were
several lacunae that were creeped in the records. A wide gulf between the Village
Revenue Officers and farmers in the villages surfaced. Nobody could say how
much land was available and who owns what land? Consequent to rectification and
updating of records the current Pattadaar Pass Book was introduced with lesser
number of relevant columns.
The proposed land survey with the help
of Information Technology, as and when it is taken-up, would be better than that
of Salar Jung leading ultimately to conclusive title to land owner as the
ultimate goal. The rural administration, which was wrecked and destroyed with
abolition of Watandari system and appointment of VROs would now be
strengthened. The survey and settlement program announced by KCR would
certainly and undoubtedly herald a new beginning in inclusive land reforms and
conclusive title to land.
Hi
ReplyDeleteNice
ReplyDeleteEesha photos
Dear Mr VJNR, Pl send your email
ReplyDeleteGS Kumar
When (year) do you expect conclusive title be given with registration with stamp duty based on property value.
ReplyDeleteIn many countries conclusive title is given
Our govt ( British legacy) seem to encourage registration without title. Dharani system doesn't give title. What is great about it ?