Land record refurbishing plan fails

Jairam promises setting up fast track courts in Maoist affected areas soon

Even as the Centre’s National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP)has proved to be a damp squib with less than 14 per cent of the total allocations being utilised so far, the Union Ministry of Rural Development is contemplating a proposal to set up a fast track courts to settle land disputes in the states affected with ultra-Leftist insurgency.

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that he would consult with Law Minister Salman Khurshid to formulate a programme to help the state governments set up fast track courts to settle dispute over land ownership, particularly in those states which are affected by Maoist insurgency, like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

“Had the issue of land alienation of tribal people in the country been addressed expeditiously, the problem of ultra Leftist insurgency could have been dealt more effectively,” said Ramesh. He also stressed on replicating the model of Andhra Pradesh where paralegal teams have been helping poor tribal people to recover their land from illegal occupation or encroachment by unscrupulous land-grabbers. 

In a meeting with the revenue ministers and officials of the state governments, Ramesh also stressed on a nationwide survey to ascertain the status of ‘Bhoodan Land’, as only about half of the total five million hectares of such land was actually distributed to the poor and underprivileged sections of the society.

The Department of Land Resources of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) was administering two centrally-sponsored schemes – Computerisation of Land Records and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records – till 2007-08 to help the states and Union Territories (UTs) computerise land records and strengthening revenue administration. Both the schemes were merged into a single scheme called National Land Records Modernisation Programme in 2008-09.

   The NLRMP has four components – computerisation of property records, survey and preparation of maps using modern technologies, computerisation of the registration process and training and capacity building.

Bringing together

While the government set the target of bringing all the districts of the country under the NLRMP by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan, altogether 279 so far came  under its coverage so far.

The programme, however, recorded very poor financial performance, with only Rs 101.43 crore was spent out of the total allocation of Rs 690.43 crore ever since its inception in 2008-09.

An assessment by the Ministry of Rural Development noted that the progress in implementation of the NLRMP had been uneven across the country, with some states like Karnataka and Goa moving forward rapidly, while others lagged behind or made progress only in some areas.

Altogether 20 states and union  territories have computerised the Record of Rights, while nine are in the process of doing so. Six states and UTs are issuing digitally signed copies of RoRs. Sixteen have stopped issuing RoRs manually. Twenty-one states and UTs have accorded legal sanctity to the computerised copies of RoRs.

Greater flexibility

Representatives of several states on Thursday pointed out that greater flexibility in implementation of the scheme would improve financial performance of the NLRMP. Ramesh asked the MoRD officials to ensure flexibility to give the state governments more freedom in utilising the funds earmarked for different components of the programme.