1. Securing the land rights of poor and women through provision of legal services to address their land problems
Naveen Kumar
World Bank’s Land and Poverty Conference
Responsible Land Governance-
Towards an Evidence-Based Approach
March 22, 2017

2. Presentation Outline Introduction
Central and State Governments’ initiatives to address land related issues of the poor
Land related problems in Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana
Objectives and methodology of the study
Findings and policy recommendations
Conclusion and way forward

3. Introduction
101 Mn rural household (56%) do not have any land in India (SECC, 2011)
Even those who have land, lack secure rights to land
Land related issues and disputes are particularly severe in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
SECC-Socio-economic caste census

4. Name in State Land Records
Secure Land Rights?
Patta (Land Title)
Possession
Name in State Land Records 4

5. Central and State Governments’ Initiatives
National Level
Ministry of Rural Development
‘Advisory to State Governments’ – to provide legal assistance to the poor (GoI, 2013).
Draft National Land Reforms Policy – to resolve land problems including litigations (GoI, 2013).
‘Committee on State Agrarian Relations and Unfinished Task of Land Reforms on Land Dispute Resolution’ (GoI, 2008)
National Legal Services Authority
To provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society.
State Level
Committee to resolve land disputes, to facilitate improved implementation of the land laws (GoAP, 2006)
Launched a land access programme (Indira Kranthi Patham-IKP) in 2004 (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty, 2004)
Committee to study and analyze the existing problems
To help landless or vulnerable poor families and help them resolve land problems, (IKP)

6. Extent of Land Related Issues in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana
Land problems (in No.) Mn
Land area (in Acre) Mn
SCs & STs families (in No.) Mn (23% of total households)
(SERP, 2013)
40% of households have land problems
land problems in each village, depending on size and population.
(Kumar, 2013)
Land problem here means: (1) not having document for land acquired from various sources (inheritance, partition, etc.); (2) errors in land documents; (3) disputes (survey, boundary, etc.) elated with land; (4) possession not show for the land given under state/ national programme
SERP – Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

7. Objectives of this study
To gain a deeper understanding of the most common types of land problems faced by the poor
To identify the typology of legal service needs of the poor, particularly of SCs, STs and women, to resolve their land problems.
To identify the bottlenecks in justice delivery systems.
Provide recommendations to the relevant government officials informed by our research. 7

8. Methodology Study Area: Warangal district, Telangana State.
13 villages in 5 mandals from 3 divisions
Study Design: Mixed methods study
Land Cases: 13 most prevalent land problems selected from a total of 70 problems identified in SERP study.
Sample size: 100 land dispute cases (50 male and 50 female), comprising 66 pending and 34 resolved cases.
Data collection:
Quantitative: Survey questionnaire comprising of questions on socio-economic and demographic characteristics; land holdings; land problem; land legal awareness, etc.
Qualitative: Semi-structured IDIs with revenue officials (21);
IKP Paralegal (10); Legal coordinators (3); Neighbour of each respondent and case studies
VROs (13); MROs (5); RDO (3) 8

9. Types of Land problems Not having documents Errors in documents
For land assigned to Tribals
Survey
Boundary
Pahani
1B register and PPB and TD
Title given under Forest Rights Act
Inheritance
Family partition
Registered sale deed
Plain paper transaction
1B certificate/ Occupants Rights certificate/ 38 E
Assignment Patta
ORC
Not having documents
Errors in documents
Possession not shown
Disputes 9

10. Socio-economic profile of the study population
Age-Group
Caste-Group
Education
Occupation 10

11. Types of land ownership and land issues
Small land holdings and only one plot: women and SCs
Most common acquisition types: Inheritance and ‘Sada Bainama (unregistered sale deed)’
Three times more cases of ‘partition’ among men than women.
Resolution of land related problems and disputes:
Most important types of land related problems for
Women: Sivaijamedar, inheritance and unregistered sale deed
Men: partition, registered sale deed and not having PPB and TD
Almost twice the percentage of men than women pursued land related issues themselves. 11

12. Revenue Department & other Legal Service Providers
Level of Awareness
Revenue Department & other
Legal Service Providers
Land Records
Rights
‘Pahani’ – captures cultivator’s and land’s details in a very comprehensive way.
‘1 B’ - register where land records are maintained; it’s like a ledger account and maintains all the sale and purchase of land. This register captures individual specific information. A certificate issued based on this register’s information is called 1B certificate.
‘Naksha’ – Village map; ‘Tippan’ – Map of own land; ‘Setwar’ – Settlement record, prepared and maintained by Survey Department
RDO – Revenue Divisional Officer; MRO - Mandal Revenue Officer; VRO – Village Revenue Officer; LSA – Legal Service Authority; Court – Civil/ Criminal 12

13. Bottlenecks faced Respondents Revenue Official
Waiting for government’s decision
Person concerned is not appearing
Not able to devote enough time to resolve the cases
Frequent transfers of revenue official
Forest and revenue boundary dispute
No legal awareness
Corruption
Lack of support
Illiteracy
Negligence of the revenue staff
Gender wise: No legal awareness was responded by both the genders; however, corruption was felt more by men than women
Caste wise: No legal awareness was felt by most of the STs; however, most of the SCs responded lack of time with the revenue staff 13

14. What needs to be done Respondents Revenue Official
Proper following-up of the issue
VRO-the most important person to resolve land disputes-should pay more attention
Rules/ orders/ decisions of revenue department should be announced in Gram Sabha
Help of revenue administration (MRO, VRO, and Surveyor) to resolve land related cases
Capacity need to be strengthened
Waiting for instructions from higher official
Additional human resources (surveyors)
Joint survey by revenue and forest departments 14

15. Policy recommendations
Land legal literacy programme/ Legal awareness generation
Training/ capacity building to the revenue officials and adjudicating authorities
Need for Human Resources
Rules/ orders/ decisions of revenue department should be announced in Gram Sabhas
Gender segregated data
Legal Assistance to the Poor – through lawyer, legal advice and paralegal
VRO emerged as the key authority who could be instrumental in resolving land problems. 15

16. Conclusions and way forward
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana rebuilding will remain incomplete without giving land to the landless and secure land rights to the poor, tribal, women and other marginalized groups.
To improve the reach of legal assistance to the poor:
legal services and land programs need to be modified according to the poor’s needs
Reach of the Revenue Courts & other legal services to be improved. 16

17. Thank you for your time naveenk@landesa.org17