Not feasible to limit land holding
N. Raghuveera Reddy, Revenue Minister
Land being a state subject, the Government of India does not have full powers to legislate on it against the wishes of the state governments.
After assessment of status with regard to land reforms and implementation of land related laws, it has been felt that there is an urgent need for one more phase of reforms to achieve the real objective of social justice and equitable distribution of land to the landless poor.
For this purpose, the Union government has formulated a Draft National Land Reforms Policy that has been circulated to all state governments and suggestions have been invited.
As a minister of revenue and land records, I have reviewed the issues mentioned in the draft policy with the revenue officials several times. In Andhra Pradesh, we are ahead in implementing the many issues which are mentioned in the policy.
A decade ago, the government of Andhra Pradesh had considered the urgent need for revamping the land administration activity and constituted a committee under the chairmanship of late Koneru Ranga Rao in December, 2004.
The committee, after an elaborate exercise, had submitted a report with 104 recommendations to the government in November 2006. The government had considered and approved 90 recommendations.
Coming to land distribution to the poor, Andhra Pradesh is in the forefront among all states in the country. As per statistics available, till 2012-13, more than 78 lakh acres have been assigned to about 40 lakh families.
That means more than one-third of the state’s population have received assigned land. One more round of land distribution is due shortly, involving assignment of 1.30 lakh acres to 65,000 families.
For women’s empowerment, Andhra Pradesh has been providing land rights to women. Under the SC, ST sub-plan, land will be purchased from some owners and the same will be distributed to the landless poor.
AP is also well ahead in computerising land records in the state. Coming to the issue of the tenant farmers, the state government, for the first time in the country, enacted a new law — the AP Land Licenced Cultivators Act — in 2011.
With this Act, loan eligibility cards have been issued to tenant farmers, which enables them to get institutional finance, input subsidy etc., without causing any detriment to the rights of the land owners.
In the proposed draft policy, the government of Andhra Pradesh has reservations on two issues, First, the Centre is planning to decrease the land ceiling limit on agricultural holdings and urban land holdings to protect the landless poor.
In our state, a total extent of 7.91 lakh acres are determined as surplus of which, 6.43 lakh acres have been taken possession of. Of these, 5.89 lakh acres have already been distributed to the landless poor. Still, 1.47 lakh acres are to get resolved from litigation; steps are being taken to expedite the legal process.
As fragmentation of land holdings is increasing day by day, it has been proved that farming is not viable in small holdings, due to increase in input costs, shortage of labour and mechanisation in farm operations. It is not practical to implement the proposed ceiling limit in the Draft policy.
The second issue on which the AP government has reservations is the land allotment exemptions to religious, educational, charitable, research and industrial organisations as well as plantations and aqua farms should be strictly discontinued.
The Draft policy has proposed that these institutions shall not be allowed to use more than one unit of 15 acres. As far as lands belonging to religious institutions are concerned, the state government feels that it is a sensitive issue. The government’s intervention may hurt the sentiments of people belonging to different religions.
Also, some lands were given to religious institutions by individuals in which the government had no role. It must also be known that several cases are pending with the Supreme Court and the government cannot interfere in these issues.
After having wider consultations with all stake holders, the state government has decided to ask the Union government to withdraw these proposals from the Draft Policy.
AP not ready to aid farm sector
K. Narayana, CPI state secretary
Recently, the Union government released a Draft Bill on land reforms to debate in the public sphere. On careful examination of this draft, some points stand out. For instance, the land limit was proposed as 5-10 acres for wet land, and 10-15 acres for dry land. It’s surprising that such a good proposal has come from the Congress-led government.
But this proposal was rejected by all political parties, including the ruling Congress in the state, except the Left parties. There can be little doubt that this draft was brought out keeping the imminent elections in mind.
Even though this Draft Bill has been prepared by the ruling Congress with the intention of grabbing votes of the poor, the Left decided to support it as it will benefit the landless after its passing in Parliament.
It is mentioned in the draft that 50 per cent of the population is landless and among them, 60 per cent are Dalits and poor. Only 10 per cent is holding 55 per cent of land holdings. So, there is a great need to pass this Bill, as well as distribution of land.
In AP, the Land Reforms Act was introduced in 1972. Even though courts made it clear that the land transfer done over white paper was void, lakhs of acres were transferred by landlords to continue their hold on them indirectly.
To avoid the giving away of excess land to the government, some landlords have even stooped to such a level that they took a fake divorce and transferred the land on their spouse’s name as ‘settlement’ and after that continued to live together.
The then-Communist MLA, Mandalapati Nagireddy, satirically referred to this issue in the Assembly by jokingly saying: “Hon’ble Speaker, please allow me to be a home minister for one day. I will book hundreds of adultery cases in a single day.”
Also, there are instances where people created fake documents on old stamp papers in later years to illegally put those lands on their names.
Land extent will not expand, whereas, population will increase day by day. If land is not made available to an increasing population, there will be serious implications. Endowment, Wakf lands are going into the hands of influential people. Maintaining the temples and dargahs by leasing these lands, is not serving the real purpose.
If these lands are given to the landless, the purpose will be served. Thousands of acres from Vijayanagaram district to Chittoor district were distributed to people for the purpose of agriculture and house sites.
Pattas were given on the orders of the Chief Minister. But, when the people entered their allotted land, the forest department officials came and claimed that the land belongs to them. On one hand, revenue officials are saying that they have given pattas as per the rules, on the other hand, forest officials are stopping the pattadars from entering their allotted lands and registering cases against them. Such incidents were witnessed in Badangi mandal, Kothavalasa, Srikalahasthi. I, too, participated in the agitation to support pattadars.
Government and landlords are arguing that to utilise the latest technology and to improve production, big land holdings are more suitable than smaller ones.
The experience of China, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Korea etc. shows that small holdings are giving three times more yield. Even in America, where only 2 per cent are dependent on agriculture, the government has constituted a committee to examine the possibility of agriculture in small holdings.
In Japan, the latest technology is being vastly used in small holdings. South East Asian countries have miserably failed by replicating the contract farming mode.
Yes, it is true that migration from villages to cities is increasing in our country. But about 60 to 70 per cent of the people are dependent on agriculture. So, farming is a big source of livelihood.
Government should get rid of its notion that agriculture is not profitable; instead, it should realise that agriculture is beneficial to the nation.
The government, in the name of non-profit assets, is ready to write off Rs 3 lakh crore of unrecovered debts taken by the wealthy big guns, but it isn’t ready to encourage agriculture by giving subsidies. So the agriculture sector is suffering not due to the inefficiency of farmers, but due to government’s lack of interest.