Govt. of AP2015

Velugu – SERPLand Access for the Poor

Possession of Land is not just economicsIt is a symbol of dignityIt is self-respect, it is politics, it is powerIt makes you or unmakes youYou are worth the land you possess

Land: Critical for Poverty Reduction

• Land being critical productive asset, it must beissue-free

• Since poor find it difficult to resolve the issues bythemselves, they needed easily accessibleprofessional support

• SERP put in place sensitive land support mechanismin 2006-07 by positioning Paralegals and CommunitySurveyors in 367 mandals

• Policy advocacy also happened in parallel

• G.O.Ms.No.1148 and 69 issued by Govt. forconvergence between SERP and RevenueDepartment

• Govt. also appointed Koneru Rangarao LandCommittee to look into all land issues of the poor

Issue-Free Land: prerequisite for development

Strong Legacy of Pro-poor Land Legislations

AP (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950and AP (Andhra Area) Tenancy Act, 1956

AP (Telangana Area) Abolition Of Inams Act, 1955 and AP(Andhra Area) Inam Abolition Act, 1956

AP Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973

AP Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 asamended in 1970, 71 and 78

AP Rights In Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 1971

AP Occupants Of Homesteads (Conferment Of Ownership) Act,1976

AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition Of Transfer) Act, l977

AP Land Grabbing Act, AP Land Encroachment Act etc.

AP Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011

1. Strong legacy of pro-poor land legislations2. Focus on 3 Key areas: abolition of intermediaries,

tenancy reforms and land ceilings

Land Reforms -A Snap Shot

No. of families benefited

Extent (in acres)

Ownership rights to tenants 1.07 lakh 6 lakh

Occupancy rights on inam lands 3.41 lakh 9.02 lakh

Distribution of ceiling surplus lands 5.4 lakh 5.82 lakh

Bhoodan lands distributed to the poor

0.42 lakh 1.12 lakh

Distribution of Govt. land to landless poor

32.4 lakh 53.6 lakh

Individual titles to tribals under Forest Rights Act

1.65 lakh 4.72 lakh

1• Lack of awareness on land rights

2• Lack of Access to Records

3• Cutting edge official machinery preoccupied with non-

land agenda

4• Skewed ratio of revenue officers and surveyors Vs land

matters to be resolved

5• Weak dispute resolution and legal aid

mechanisms

6• Powerful vested interests in villages

Last Mile Challenges

For poor, legislations are not an end by themselves

Assignedlands

• Pattas are given, but possession not shown• Succession not implemented• Alienated lands not resumed and restored even

though prohibition of transfer is in place

Govt. Lands

• Pattas are not given even though poor are inoccupation of unobjectionable lands

Patta Lands

• Lands bought by the poor on plain paper(sadabainama) yet to be regularized

• Mutations not effected

Ceiling Surplus

• Provisional Pattas are given which need to beconverted into D-Form Pattas

• Lands in occupation of Pattadar in some places

Land Problems faced by Poor

BhoodanLands

• No records• Bogged down with many issues

Inam Lands

• Still waiting to be settled in Telangana region

Endowment Lands

• Under occupation of non-poor in many places

Other Issues

• Lands wanting Survey• Lands of the poor locked in courts for ages• Rastha/ burial ground issues• House site issues

Land Problems faced by Poor

Land alienation among the tribals is remarkablyhigher despite LTR

Survey and settlement regulations resulted in non-tribals holding substantial extent of lands

51% of LTR cases decided in favor of non-tribals.Orders in favor of tribals not implemented in truespirit

Tribals still struggling to get individual rights to theforests under their occupation in spite of RoFR Act inplace- 47% of individual claims rejected

Land Problems faced by Poor

Tribal Lands

Land Deprivation- Critical Poverty Dimension

Landlessness

Pattalessness

Possessionlessness

Land in litigation

• Total Disempowerment

• Insecurity• Inaccessibility to credit• Ineligibility for entitlements

All the above drain the poor both economically and psychologically

• Insecurity• Nil impact on livelihoods

• No peace of mind• Unbearable legal expenses

Land Access Model of SERP

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Land Access: Vision

Every poor person owning or enjoying a piece of land should have

Title document in hand

Land safely in possession

Entry as owner and enjoyer in every key revenue record

developed and yielding incomes

Land Access: Model

District Land

Center (DRDA)

1. Legal Coordinator

(16)

3. Community

Surveyor (271)

2. Paralegal (201)

1. Law Graduate (District Level)2. trained graduate youth from community

(mandal level)3. technically qualified youth trained in

survey (mandal level)

4. APD/DPM (4)

5. Land Manager (12)

4. Deputy Collector ondeputation from RevenueDept. (District Level)

5. Retired Revenue Officer(District Level)

Capacity Building of Paralegals

Paralegals recruited by way ofnotification, written test andinterview

Initial training of one month in thedistricts including village stay

Training at AP Academy of RuralDevelopment, Hyderabad for 5 days

NALSAR University of Law conductedParalegal Certification Course for 10days

Continuous capacity building atdistrict land centers every fortnight

Trainings covered basics of lands like types of lands and land records,land enactments, procedures, identification and resolution process ofland issues

Capacity Building of Community Surveyors

• Youth having technicalqualifications were recruited asCommunity Surveyors by wayof notification, written test andinterview

• Trained for 2 months incadastral survey in AP SurveyTraining Academy, Hyderabad

• 12 months apprenticeship withdepartmental mandal surveyorsin districts

• Department of Survey issuedlicenses free of cost

Training Material Developed

Land Issue Identification & Resolution Process

1• Issues collected from the community and

through CBOs

2• Field Enquiry and collection of required

material by Paralegal

3• Community Surveyors attend to survey

wherever required

4• Representation submitted to revenue officers

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• Paralegal attends Tahsildar office everyMonday to follow up till resolution

6• Unresolved issues escalated. Land Managers

and Legal Coordinators seek JC’s intervention

7• Legal Assistance arranged in lands locked in

courts

Resolution of Issues Phase 1 (2006-10)

Category identified resolved%

Resolved

1 Assignment 219328 132119 60%

2 House-sites 119253 112037 94%

3 Forest Rights 67755 52526 78%

4 Record of Rights 72074 48495 67%

5 Patta Lands 49289 31769 64%

6 Survey Specific 30601 27557 90%

7 Ceiling Surplus Lands 10818 5291 49%

8 Sada Bainamas 14416 2894 20%

9 Inam Lands 5450 2339 43%

10 Tribal Lands 3261 1037 32%

11 Court Cases 3170 92 3%

12 Others 20907 14099 67%Total (No. of Poor) 6,16,322 4,30,255 69.8%

Total (Extent) 11,85,552 8,75,502 73.8%

SC/ST Land Inventory

Land Access Phase I work revealed that 2/3rdsof the poor suffering from land issues belongedto SCs/STs

KRR Land Committee, whose report andrecommendations were accepted by GoAP,focused on how land ownership is eluding SCsand STs and the corrective measures to be taken

SCs and STs are the ones suffering most due tolack of access to knowledge and informationabout their land rights

Revenue records do not give land informationpertaining to SCs/STs as they have no caste field

Land Database of SCs and STs required also tofulfill the entitlement of land developmentunder MGNREGA

Inventory Process

1• Youth from the villages trained in land matters and process of

inventory

2• Important Revenue Records collected from Tahsildars’ offices

3• Door-to-door survey conducted collecting available

documents with the household

4• Physical verification of lands done to note the actual

enjoyment of lands

5• Data discussed in the meetings of Village Organizations

6• Data computerized

7• Issues culled out and resolution followed up by Land Teams

No. of Districts 13

No. of Mandals 527

No. of Revenue Villages 14,523

Total SC/ST Households 1785967

SC/ST households having land

Number 840536

Extent1752534.70

acres

Landless Households 945431

Percentage of landless households 50%

Inventory Coverage

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• For the first time land ownership and enjoyment dataof SCs and STs is collected and physically verified

• Inventory data formed the basis for

• Works on 17.5 lakh acres with investment of Rs.5145 crore under MGNREGA

• Providing irrigation facilities to 5.8 lakh acres ofSC/ST lands under Indira Jala Prabha, with aninvestment of Rs.1044 crore

• 10 lakh land issues of 908101 lakh SC/ST families(involving 10.3 lakh acres) identified and beingfollowed up for resolution

Inventory outcomes

Resolution of issues identified from inventory

• Revenue Department conducted Revenue Sadassulubetween January to March, 2012 and 2013

• SERP submitted the village wise lists of SC/ST familiesalong with their land issue information to the Tahsildars

• SERP also facilitated filing of individual representationsby the SCs, STs and Other Poor.

• Land Issues resolution is being tracked through onlineweb application at www.serp.ap.gov.in/BHOOMIAP.

Total Land Issues identified 1001863

Land Issues updated in web application

1001863

Land Issues resolved out of updated

846949

% of resolution 84%

Resolution of issues identified from inventory

• Revenue Department conducted Mi Intiki Mi Bhoomithis year.

• SERP submitted the village wise lists of SC/ST familiesalong with their land issue information to the Tahsildars

• SERP also facilitated filing of individual representationsby the SCs, STs and Other Poor.

• Land Issues resolution is being tracked through onlineweb application at www.serp.ap.gov.in/BHOOMIAP.

Total Land Issues identified 95900

Land Issues updated in web application

95900

Land Issues resolved out of updated

74694

% of resolution 77%

Resolution of Issues identified from Inventory

• Recently CCLA’s office gave access to land recordsdata: separate SERP Logins are given in “Mee Seva”web application to all the districts enabling them toverify whether the poor people’s lands are correctlyrecorded in Land Records

• Along with pending issues from Inventory, SERP isplanning to take up critical land issues during nextround of Revenue Sadassulu

Pahani, the key village record, waswritten on village public wall andmade available for public scrutiny inWarangal district.

Copies of critical land records areprovided to each and every poorperson having land issue in MedakDistrict.

Bhoomi Nyaya Sahaya Kendram(Land Legal Assistance Center) isestablished in DRDA, Warangal toassist the poor whose cases arelocked in courts. BNSK facilityextended in 10 more Districts, on thesame lines.

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Some Innovations

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Lessons from Our Experience

• Apart from the pro-poor land legislations, the poor,especially SCs and STs, require exclusive facilitationsupport to get their land issues resolved

• Paralegals, from the community of the poor, if trainedwell, can competently support both the poor and theRevenue Dept.

1. in settling land disputes2. in bringing in community participation and3. in making the system more transparent and

accountable

• Thousands of land cases of the poorare pending in revenue courts & civilcourts, many more thousands ofcases of the poor are not evenbrought before the courts as theyhave limited access to legal services.

• SERP recognized the need ofproviding lawyers, court fees andother legal support to the poor andestablished BNSKs in 6 Districts.

• BNSKs have registered 341 casespertaining to 551 poor covering anextent of 532.4 acres. Out of 103cases filed, 76 were disposed so farin which 27 orders are in favor ofBNSK beneficiaries.

BHOOMI NYAYA SAHAYA KENDRAM

(BNSK)

Constraints/Gaps At present no facility for VO/SHG Member to file her

application for entitlement and its monitoring till entitlementis delivered, at village/VO level. At Village/VO level on thelines of “Mee Seva” if established is more useful for thispurpose.

To equip the SHGs and their federations with the knowledgeand ability to get resolved land issues themselves, it should beensured that the ZS/MS land sub committee members attend,atleast one day, PL/CS experience sharing session at Dist. HQ.Atleast one MS sub committee member should also bedirected to attend Monday Grievance Day in Tahsildar officealong with PL/CS. For this necessary budget provisiontowards TA & DA shall be made.

Constraints/Gaps

• More convergence is needed. For effectiveconvergence, apart from regular convergencemeetings, the Tahsildars & RDOs may be requested toattend PL/CS monthly experience sharing session atDist. HQ. Tahsildars may be requested to invitePL/CS for monthly VROs review meetings. Similarlymonthly Convergence meetings with NREGS(DWMA) staff to know/review the status of landdevelopment under NREGS, IJP needs to beconducted.

Constraints/Gaps

• Paralegal model sensitive support system is nowexisting in 737 mandals only. It should be extendedto remaining rural mandals for the benefit of thepoor therein.

• Some poor SC/STs are unable to pay ‘Mee Seva’charges and hence their issues are remainingunsolved. It would be better if Govt. waives thesecharges in respect of SC/ST applications filedthrough Velugu.

• www.serp.ap.gov.in – Livehoods - Bhoomi

Pathway to lands: Pathway to prosperity

In 1998 SC Corporation has purchased 83acres of land under LPS for 166 SCbeneficiaries @ 50 cents each inJ.Annavaram Vg , Yeleswarama Mandal ofEast Godavari Dist. But there was noapproach road to the lands except throughGovt. Puntha which was encroached bysome other people.

The issue which was pending for the last 9years was rigorously pursued by theVelugu-Land Team , MS and SHG Womenand as a result Tahsildar got the surveyconducted along with Velugu CommunitySurveyors and demarcated the pathwaythrough Govt. puntha duly evicting theencroachers on. The beneficiaries took adeep sigh of relieif duly appreciating SHGwomen for actively participating inresolving their land issue.

Land in possession-New doors of opportunities opened

During the year 2005, an extent of 98-28 acres ofland in Nandanapalli village was assigned to 64landless poor of Gargeyapuram Village of KurnoolDist., During a meeting by DRDA-Velugu Paralegalon 2nd April 2007 to explain legal rights over thelands, some of the above beneficiaries stated thatphysical possession of the land was not given due towhich, they were unable to cultivate the land.

The Paralegal pursued the matter with Tahsildar.Finally Tahsildar, A.D. Survey and Velugu-CommunitySurveyors surveyed the land and handed over thepossession. ZS provided funds for planting stones.Later, land development taken up under NREGA.PPBs and TDs were also given to them. Now thebeneficiaries, who felt immense happiness toultimately get the land into their enjoyment, areraising crops and earning good incomes.

Right to forests after long occupation

• On 6-2-2008, the ST SHG Members belonging toTatrakal village, Vajrakarur Mandal ofAnantapuram Dist., had represented to ‘Devi’Village Organization that they were all cultivatingland since long and did not possess Pattadar passbooks for getting loans and subsidies.

• Immediately, the Community Surveyor went to thefield and identified that the land under thecultivation of 232 SHG members is a Forest Land(Dry) situated in S.No.168/D measuring acres442-00. Then the Tahsildar recommended forpattas to 232 members @ 2.00 acres each underROFR Act. Forest Rights Committee, Sub-DivisionalLevel Committee and finally the District LevelCommittee has approved it and titles were issued.

• The SHG members now are very happy that theygot the rights on the lands they were cultivatingsince years together which enables them to accessother govt. entitlements.

Bridging the “GAP”

• In a V.O.meeting attended by Velugu-Land team at Gottivada village,Kotauratla Mandal of Visakhapanam Dist., the SHG members brought along pending land issue to their notice that 98 SC and BC families werecultivating land to an extent of 126-32 acres on a hill since 1986 but theywere not issued D-Form Pattas inspite of several requests made.

• The DPM, land took the matter to the notice of Tahsildar who had repliedthat the land was under dispute between Forest and Revenue departmentand the issue was pending since long.

• When the RDO was consulted, he had got the joint survey conducted byRevenue & Forest Depts and found that it was not connected with theForest. Then the Tahsildar with the help of Velugu-Community Surveyorsgot the land demarcated and after taking the approval of assignmentcommittee issued D-pattas , PPBs & TDs to the assignees during V phase ofland assignment.

Convergent action made it possible

When the land inventory work was taken up during 2010-11 in theMarripadu mandal of Nellore Dist., it was found in Chabolu,Pallovolu, Bheemavaram, D.C. Palli, Chilakapadu, Allampadu,Budavada and Chunchuluru villages that the lands of assignees arenot demarcated, not entered in records, no PPBs given and somedo not know where their land was.

This was discussed in Mandal Samakhya meeting and was brought to

the notice of the Joint Collector. The Tahsildar of the mandal was

directed to resolve all the above issues. Then, all the Mandal level

officers and 8 DRDA-Velugu Community Surveyors were deputed to

Marripadu mandal to conduct survey in the above villages. While

conducting survey, pressure groups created hurdles. Jt.Collector

provided the police assistance. Updating of Revenue Records in these

villages was also taken up and the beneficiaries were also given crop

loans. NREGS works have been taken up for bush clearance and

leveling. The entire extent of 902-11 acres is now in effective

enjoyment of 432 poor SC/ST families with legal rights.

The officers involved in this issue felt that though it was a team work

of Revenue Department, DRDA-Velugu Land Team, MPDO, DWMA

and Police Department, without the involvement of Self Help Group

Women the work would not have got completed in a smooth manner.

Success StoryPending since 7 yearsName of the District: Nellore

Name of the Mandal: Chittamur

Name of the village: Pittivanipalli

Village

S.No.65 Extent: Ac.3.52 cents

Nature of Land Issue: POT

Petitioner Name: Koturu Munu

Swamy

Other Party Name: Kapuluri

Sundaraiah

Success StoryName of the District: Nellore

Name of the Mandal: Chillakur

Name of the village: Chinthavaram

S.No.376/34 Extent:

Ac.2.80cents

Nature of Land issue:

Encrochment and Records

Tampered

Petitioner Name: Pasala

Kotamma

Other Party Name: Pasala

Venkatamma and Saguturu

Polamma

Pending land IssueBefore filed case an

attempt to made to

compromise both partiesName of the District: Nellore

Name of the Mandal: Sydapuram

Name of the village: Krishnareddy

Palli

S.No.49P Extent: Ac.2.00cents

Petitioner Name: Adesanapalli

Ramanamma

Other Party Name: Naripaka

Nageswara Rao

Velugu Community Surveyors, showing possession to 121 SC and ST

beneficiaries(AC.147.00) in North Amulur village of Allur Mandal . Issue

pending since 10 years.

See the happiness of these women

beneficiaries after obtaining possession

on the lands.

Conducted Youth trainings :

Covered 448 Mandal,

367552 students and Rural youth.In Gudur Mandal, Nellore Dist. 7th Addl. District Judge, Gudur, Zilla Samakya Land

sub-committee members and panel of advocates of that court etc were also

participated in our “Youth trainings on Land Matters”

Pending IssueName of the District: Nellore

Name of the Mandal: Podalakur

Name of the village: Tatiparthi

S.No.686/2 Extent: Ac.2.00cents

Petitioner Name: Thirumalasetty Chenchu Obulesu

Other Party Name: Borra Sankaraiah

LAND ACCESS UNIT

DISTRICT OFFICERS WORKSHOP At

APARD, Hyderabad-AP

PROTECTION OF LAND RIGHTS ARE MOST IMPORTANT THAN

POSSESSING LAND

THANK YOU