More than landlessness, the problem Telangana will have to contend with is land administration. When NTR abolished hereditary Patel-Patwari system of village governance in the 1980s, he did not replace it with an alternative, whether effective or defective. That was a major disservice by the TDP government, and the new state will now inherit defective, inaccurate, old, uncorrected/unupdated, non-accessible and poorly maintained land records. Philosophically speaking, even Brahma padartham can be achieved but one cannot understand the land administration of Telangana, particularly land ‘records’ and the ways of the land revenue department. People dread to even approach its staff.
If a farmer does not have land, that is the only problem for him. However, if he purchases a piece of land, he will have bought himself multiple problems. It is next to impossible to get the land title changed to his name. It is a highly complex, expensive and bribe-ridden activity to get the title and pattadar passbook, and have his name entered into the pahani, the record of land in his village. Next, he would not know where exactly his land is located and what the bounds are. Starting from the officer of revenue, everyone can create problems. He has to be willing to bribe to get the record intricacies resolved.
The farmer seeking information about land in his village is likely to get the usual litany of unhelpful replies: ‘the file is not available’; ‘the record is very old’; ‘a re-survey is required’; and ‘the surveyor is not available’. Most entries in all the land records do not reflect reality. Frequently, names of pattadars and cultivators are not entered in the records. Further, there are errors/discrepancies. Farmers are deprived of benefits. Most problems require attention of district-level officer, who is not approachable to the villager.
But what if land records are not updated? Here is a live account of difficulties faced by farmers, recorded by Landesa, an international NGO working in rural development, whose volunteers travelled to all the 10 districts of Telangana in Feb this year in an initiative called Land Caravan — On a scorching morning in July last, Mallaiah woke up early. The cropping season was nearing its end and his two-acre field stubbled with paddy was ready for a fertiliser boost. Armed with his title, he made his way to the urea bank at Kowdipally mandal in Medak district. It was his first visit. He joined a long, snaking line. Hours later, Mallaiah was still waiting for his turn. When it finally arrived, he produced his papers, the heavily subsidised bag of urea within reach now. The lady at the counter asked for his pattadar passbook. He didn’t have one. She pulled out the revenue department’s big book of names, the pahani, to check government records. Mallaiah’s name was missing. Since his father’s death a few years ago, Mallaiah had sought change of ownership, but without success. He had lost the whole day in a line, at the end of which there was no urea for him. Now, he would have to return to the open market to buy it, at a higher price. The Land Caravan team came across another farmer, B Venkatiah of Gummadavelli village in Nalgonda district. He owns a pakka Indirama house, a two-wheeler and well-irrigated land. Yet, he is worried. He said, “I have a pattadar passbook and I have the title deed. But my name is missing. I’m not eligible for any scheme. The Village Revenue Officer comes, but he can’t write records. Every time I try to get the record corrected, I spend Rs 5,000. But it never gets done.” Problems due to unupdated records can last generations. Ever since the Forest Rights Act came into force in 2008, tribal people in Telangana have been caught in the crossfire between the forest and revenue departments. Shakuntala, a Gond, lives in Chincholi village. Her six acres, planted with Nilgiri (eucalyptus) trees, were taken over by the forest department along with the land of three other families. The revenue department was of no help. “I sat outside the forest department till they returned my land. I have my fields, while the others have to work as coolies,” Shakuntala said. There are many cases of land disputes between two departments: Revenue vs Forests, Wakf vs Revenue etc. Result: people suffer. At least 40% farmers in Telangana have insecure land rights. These include about 10 lakh poor who purchased small pieces of agricultural land through unregistered transactions (sada binama) . Defective records plus corrupt officials once forced rich farmers from Seemandhra to migrate, bribe and acquire lands of tribals at throwaway prices. Indirectly, T struggle was rooted in land problems. Telangana was resisted because of land interests of Seemandhra’s rich. The new state must remove these maladies by the root.
(The author is a Central Information Commissioner & former professor at NALSAR University of Law)