No need for fundamental changes in State's land reforms Act: Rajan
There is no need for fundamental changes in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, Minister for Revenue K. Rajan has said.
He was speaking after inaugurating the delegate session of the 'Bhoomi — Digital survey for smart land governance: innovations, integration, and impact' national conclave organised by the Revenue department and the Survey and Land Records department at Kovalam on Thursday.
Mr. Rajan said Kerala was the first State to implement land reforms legislation. It was a revolution in the field of land ownership. Tenants who cultivated the land got ownership of it. At the same time, agriculture labourers also got land. There was also sufficient provision in it for giving selling exemption to industrial, commercial, educational, and charitable institutions, he pointed out.
Land reforms in the State were based on social justice. Several States in the country followed Kerala's model. Implementation of digital survey marked the second land reform in the State. Its aim was to give accurate measurement and title to a land that an individual legally possessed. 'We are journeying from presumptive title to conclusive title and the Ente Bhoomi Digital Survey Mission was a milestone in this journey,' he said.
Land records complaints were very few in the digitally surveyed villages. As pre-mutation sketch and authentic revenue records were provided before registration, land transfer was much more transparent, he said.
Kerala, the Minister said, was the first State to implement the unique thandaper in 2022 to identity all those holding land above the ceiling stipulated in the land reforms Act.
One of the major achievements of the digital survey was identification of land available for distribution among the landless. It also helped identify people holding land without proper title deed. Efforts were on to assign such land to the eligible.
'We have now distributed around 2.5 lakh title deeds to the landless in the past four years. We consider this a major achievement of our government,' Mr. Rajan said.
Himachal Pradesh Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, in his speech, urged representatives of various States to adopt the Kerala model in land governance. He pointed out that dispute resolution related to land records was easier when people were taken into confidence and Kerala had done a good job through panchayat jagratha samitis.
M.G. Rajamanickam, Secretary, Revenue department; K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla, Land Revenue Commissioner; and Seeram Sambasiva Rao, Director, Survey and Land Records, spoke.
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