Telangana State move to set right land records

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has embarked upon yet another historic and much-needed programme of survey and settlement of lands and to set right land records in the state, to put an end to land litigations once and for all.

The last time the survey and settlement of land was done was way back, 81 years ago, in 1936 under the then Nizam’s rule. The ambitious survey will be done all over the state by 55,000 specially drafted persons exclusively for this purpose, in all the 10,800 plus revenue villages throughout the length and breadth of Telangana State.

It is expected that the complete survey and settlement of the entire land mass will be done by the end of December. This historic programme is something that the TRS promised in its election manifesto during the last general elections which is now being fulfilled.

Setting the trend and mood to the survey, the Chief Minister gave guidance, road map and implementation tips for the success of the programme. In his Independence Day address on August 15, the Chief Minister appealed to the people in general, farmers particularly, to co-operate with the revenue officials conducting the survey.

Dwelling on how to go about conducting the survey and what should be its components, the CM said that there is a need to identify the agencies within the country and abroad, which specialised in conducting such surveys such as Survey of India.

The Survey of India is the oldest scientific department of the Government of India as well as one of the oldest and most extensive mapping organisations in the world. He wanted a young and dynamic IAS officer to monitor and supervise the programme at the state level. In the process, the revenue documents such as passbooks and Pahani should be simplified, opined the CM.

From the next year, the government has decided to give Rs 8000 per acre to the farmer for two crops in a year as an input assistance which requires a comprehensive survey of lands to know who exactly holds what extent of land. As suggested by CM, the survey should be done with village as unit. There is a need to get clarity on how much land is there and where? Which land is registered on whose name?

Details are to be prepared on the entire land in the State and under what categories the land is shown. By doing such a filtration once, schemes like Rs 8000 per acre for two crops will be successful and will reach the actual beneficiaries. This will also put an end to the disputes in future.
In India, the land surveys for revenue purposes were made about 1000 years ago during the time of Raja-Raja the Great of Chola Empire in Tamil Nadu for the first time.

In North India, it was Shershah Suri who first gave a shape to methodical settlement of tenants based on a complete survey of lands. The British in India started Ryotwari Settlement Surveys in the Salem District of erstwhile Madras Presidency during 1793-1798. The object of land surveying is the determination of the boundaries and aims at producing a map with all the physical features.

In Telangana, Sir Salar Jung-I took the first step of land reform by arranging for the Survey and Settlement of lands. The Department of Survey and Settlement was organized in 1875. However, importance was given only to conduct a detailed survey of the revenue holdings for fixing land revenue and in the process other government Poramboke lands and waste lands which do not fetch land revenue were not surveyed in detail.

In this context, the CM wanted the officials to examine and study the various land records and examine whether there is any need to have Form I B in the Pahani? He also wanted to do away with Numbers such as 81/1/A allotted to lands in the revenue records.

The Chief Minister is of the view to explore the possibilities of providing a Unique Survey Number to the farmer irrespective of where he or she holds the land and to what extent it is. The Unique Survey Number should be on the Farmer’s name. Even if there is a land transaction between two farmers, the land will be automatically transferred to the buyer’s unique survey number.

The CM wanted the officials to find what are the best practices in vogue in other countries and advised that a team of officials should visit such countries and find the practices implemented there.

It is suggested that in New Zealand and Thailand, land records are maintained perfectly without any confusion or litigation. He wanted the officials’ team visiting abroad should also have consultations with the farmers’ associations there.

In other words, the Chief Minister’s endeavour is to clean up the entire revenue administration system so that there is no scope for corruption or litigation. If this is done it will be a great contribution to the State and its people.

He also wanted the existing system and practice of having revenue Courts at the MRO/RDO/Joint Collector level and they should be done away with. The revenue court under the District Collector alone should function but not at the lower level. Decisions of the Collector level courts should be speedy and efficient.

Stating that there is an urgent need to clean up the entire process, the CM said if need be, Revenue Acts will be scrapped and new Acts will replace them. This will help the SC/ST/BC/Minority farmers. He also wanted consolidation of the land should be done.

The district level registrars, sub registrars, MROs and other revenue officials should be equipped with the latest computer system and a separate connectivity should be given to connect the entire process to the district Collector’s office.

Once the entire system is digitalized, connected and kept on line, every officer will have the data and information available on line 24x7. The CM is also keen on having job and responsibility fixed for each revenue official at all levels.

The Chief Minister wanted that, the farmers associations, federations and coordination committees should be formed from village-level upwards to the district level, before the survey programme is taken up. He wants that the coordination committee members are to be nominated at the earliest. The state has 10,800 plus Revenue Villages and about 3,700 teams should be formed with specially drafted persons.

Each team will have 15 individuals and will be assisted by VROs, MROs and Surveyors in the work of survey and settlement. Each team will conduct survey in three villages and the survey can be completed in about 20 days per village. Tentatively, the entire survey should be done by this December.

Once the survey and settlement is completed CM desires that the old stamps which are the instruments for litigation and corruption are to be totally abolished. The CM called for a total overhaul of revenue administration and making it a corruption and hassle-free system. (Writer is Chief Public Relations Officer to Telangana CM)

By Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao