Odisha came under British control in the late 18th century. However, under colonial rule it was divided into regions governed by other provincial administrations: Bengal (later, Bihar since 1912), Central Province and Madras Presidency. In addition, there were 24 princely States, which were controlled by the British through a subsidiary alliance, under which the princes had freedom in their own internal administration so long as they regularly paid tributes to the colonial authority.
As a result, different revenue systems and tenancy laws prevailed in different parts of Odisha. land distribution at the time of Independence was extremely skewed in Odisha. 53 per cent of the land was held by seven per cent of the landowners, whereas 28 per cent of landowners with sub marginal and marginal holdings owned about six per cent. Of this nearly 2.31 million hectares had been taken over by the Government and 1.76 million hectares distributed among five million beneficiaries, half of whom are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
As per 2005-06 records, there are about 445,450 landless individuals in the State, whereas degraded ceiling surplus land available is about 540,725 acres. Similarly, there are about 249, 334 homestead-less families for whom land available is 122,764 acres. Besides, since 1974-75, Government wasteland up to one standard acre is allotted to the landless for agricultural purposes.
The traditional land use patterns of the Adivasi communities was ignored by the State (both colonial and post colonial period) which settled a large area of customarily claimed land as State-owned land. Thus in the Scheduled Areas, an average of 74 per cent of the land is categorised as State land, of which 48 per cent is forest land and 26 per cent is non-forest land. Three-fourths of all land in the tribal-dominated districts belongs to the State, though most of the tribals in these areas are either landless or marginal landowners eking out a predominantly subsistence agriculture-based livelihood.
Analysis of secondary data makes the stark problems of tribal access to land in the tribal areas. The Forest Enquiry Committee Report of 1959 mentioned that 12,000 sq miles (almost 30,720 sq km) of land in Odisha were under shifting cultivation. Very little of the vast area was settled with the tribals. The land was settled either as forest land or as Government revenue land.
Thus paradoxically, even though three-fourths of the land in tribal districts belongs to the Government, most tribals remain landless or marginal landowners. In practice, much of the customary owned land is still under cultivation of the tribals, and is treated by the State as encroached.
The fact that much of the land customarily cultivated by the Adivasis has not been settled with them has had major implications for their livelihoods. Combined with ineffectiveness of laws to prevent transfer of tribal patta land to non-tribals, this has led to loss of access to land and criminalisation of customary landownership systems. At the same time, the State Government has found it very easy to divert customary tribal lands for development and conservation projects as legally, most of the land is Government land.
The limited impact of agrarian reforms in Odisha reflects a new configuration in the social balance of power once the rent seeking interest created by the British Raj was eliminated. The new and middle farmers are well entrenched in the hierarchy of power in the local community and effectively constitute the bridge between the tillers of the soil and the machinery of the State. Secondly land reform entails radical realignment of political, social and economic power in the society.
Ever since independence, various land reforms initiatives were taken to abolish intermediary interests so as to ensure direct relationship of ryots (farmer) with the State. The Odisha Estates Abolition Act 1952, the Odisha Tenant Reforms Act 1955, the Odisha land Reforms Act 1960, Odisha Transfer of Immovable Property Regulation 2 of 1956 (amended in 2002) are some of the important steps taken to safeguard interests of the landless poor.
The Odisha Transfer of Immovable Property Regulation 2 of 1956 was further amended in 2002 and rules were made more stringent to check large scale alienation of tribal land in scheduled areas. The regulation prohibits transfer of immovable properties belonging to members of Scheduled Tribes in favour of persons not belonging to that category. This regulation provides for penal action in respect of illegal transfer as well as unauthorised transfer. In spite of all these provisions, illegal transfer and sale of land is a regular feature in tribal areas.
Women’s rights over land are a crucial issue for any developing society as it is directly linked to right to food, work and other human rights. The denial of inheritance of land rights especially in a patriarchal system has contributed to the subordinate status of women.
The Government of Odisha has decided to distribute all such land under ceiling surplus to landless people with high priority being given to landless widows and unmarried women up to 30 years of age, as well as to joint patta for the husband and wife. Still, significant gaps exist between women’s land rights and their actual ownership and possession.
The National Planning Commission estimates that some 50 million people have been displaced since 1950 on account of various development projects, of which more that 40 per cent are tribals. An estimate of displacement by development projects is that of 1.5 million people were displaced between 1951 and 1995, of which 42 per cent were tribals. As per this estimate, less than 25 per cent of the displaced tribals were never resettled even partially.
The Bhoodan movement was initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 with the objective of bridging the gap between the landed peasantry and the landless by invoking a sense of altruism for redistribution of land for social justice.
Since then land was received as donation from benevolent land owners and the same were distributed among the landless persons under the Bhoodan Act, 1953 and Rules 1954 which was later replaced by the Bhoodan Act, 1970 and Rules 1972.
Under the Bhoodan movement, land was distributed to the poor and landless by the first generation of land owners and so necessary records for such transfer of title were not created. Presently, there has been no survey to assess the exact nature and volume of such illegal encroachment and no subsequent enforcement to bring back the land.
As per Annual Activities Report of Revenue and Disaster Management Department for the year 2011-12, an area of 638,706.50 acres of land were collected as donation of which 579,994.21 acres of land had already been distributed among 152,852 landless persons. The balance 58712.29 acres of undistributed land are pending with the Samiti.
land distribution to the landless does not seem to have made much headway as a large number of people who had got land under various schemes and under ceiling surplus are still languishing in abject poverty due to lack of access to land. The lack of proactive involvement of the field level revenue officials and resultant limited action has helped the encroachers in continuing illegal possession of ceiling surplus land Issues that stand in the way are continuance of control by previous owner, underdeveloped land and lack of record of rights, etc.
large tracts of tribal – both patta and forest land – are being leased out to traders from adjoining States for commercial farming. Interestingly, the field is being set through legal and administrative initiatives in the form of changes in the Odisha land Reforms Act and quicker and smoother forest clearance processes to make such diversions easier. Moreover, the invasion of cash crops in the western and south-western parts of the State is constantly influencing the food security.
The Gram Panchayat rules need further amendment to accommodate the spirit of FRA and PESA in so far as the ensuring the right of management and control by the community and community institutions. The State’s approach needs to be understood accordingly as we have seen an attempt to weaken the OSATIP, 1956 simply to provide a safe passage to the then Industrial policy Resolution 2001.
The undercurrent of land Acquisition Act needs to be understood from the point of view of State’s development discourse because here its intent is clear in the takeover of the commons. Tenancy needs to be revisited under the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act 1964 in schedule area.
There is a dire need of assessment of Government’s initiatives on land and its outcome- how far these initiatives have addressed the issues of post independent Odisha and how far they have addressed the recent issues concerning land governance.
A large portion of revenue forest which is one-thirds of the total forest area is inadequately demarcated and there is ambiguity about their management. Hence, steps needs to be taken up in this direction.
Revenue system and procedures must adhere to the cultural paradigm and land needs to be defined from cultural and customary perspective. Common property resources and common land need to be understood and the land use of commons should be respected in the “way people use it”.
Concept of green belt, capping and freezing of land for agricultural and allied activities needs to be popularised and incorporated in the policy document. Urbanisation process needs to be properly monitored to ensure that no vulnerable communities are being further marginalised in the process. Issues and challenges of tenancy, contract farming, and wasteland development need to be further deliberated and a framework needs to be devised.
(The writer is a Bhubaneswar-based independent researcher, who works on the land governance issues. Email-pratapk68@gmail.com)