BHUBANESWAR: Chairman of National Institution for Transformation of India (NITI) Aayog’s expert committee on land reforms T Haque on Wednesday stressed on simplifying land leasing laws that will lead to inclusive growth and enhance agricultural productivity.
“There is an urgent need to review the existing laws and necessary steps need to be taken by the State to bring in required changes in existing laws which will address tenant insecurities and apprehensions of land owners,” Haque said at an expert group consultation on land tenancy laws and practices in major States here.
The expert consultation on tenancy laws of the State was organised by Landesa, a non-profit organisation working for securing land rights for the poor, to draw attention towards the plight of small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers who are losing lives.
One of the major reasons for farmers’ suicide has been absence of their documented rights to access and control land and the need for land tenure reform in the State to protect those rights.
Recently, NITI Aayog initiated a process to draft a model Agricultural Land Leasing Law with the objectives of increasing agricultural productivity and decreasing tenants’ insecurity.
“The law will not only relieve the sharecroppers from the burden of loans from private moneylenders but will help increase their incomes from land. Once they are identified and recognised under the law, the agricultural loan burden is shifted to the insurance company,” Haque said.
He further suggested that calamity-prone Odisha should bring reforms in its agriculture policy by incorporating the Land Leasing Act which is being implemented in neighbouring West Bengal since years.
The experts recommended the States to devise transparent land leasing laws that would allow the potential tenant or sharecropper to engage in enforceable contracts with land owners creating a win-win situation for both.
The experts agreed on creating a mechanism to record tenants by engaging local community level organisations, panchayats, SHGs and, Government and financial institutions.
The record and lease documents will address multiple challenges faced by small farmers such as input level barriers, credit, crop insurance and help building market linkages.
Among others, former member, Board of Revenue Aurobindo Behera, Nabard DGM BK Mishra, eminent agriculturist Natabar Khuntia, economists Padmaja Mishra and Mamata Swain, Landesa country director Sanjay Patnaik and State director Sibabrata Choudhury participated in the deliberation.