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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | People can deposit fallow and uncultivated land in government land banks to garner money-Devika Banerji

People can deposit fallow and uncultivated land in government land banks to garner money-Devika Banerji

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published Published on Apr 11, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 11, 2012

People with agricultural land that they do not wish to cultivate will soon have the option of depositing it in government land banks that will offer them consistent monetary returns.

With an incentive system broadly on the lines of a bank account, the public land bank will offer payments based on the tenure and size of the holding with additional benefits if the land is leased out.

"A lot of land is left fallow and uncultivated because the owner does not want to lease it and there is no proper guarantee of title," a Planning Commission official told ET. "A government-backed land bank will help those who don't want to sell the land and can't cultivate it on their own." The official said the bank will also help in checking the rising trend of selling agricultural land for non-agricultural projects.

He said the proposal, submitted by a working group chaired by Institute of Economic Growth director Bina Agarwal, is under active consideration of the commission. The land bank is proposed to be set up at the panchayat or the gram sabha level. The group has recommended an initial seed capital for it with the central and state governments sharing the cost in an 80:20 ratio. The amount of the seed capital is yet to be finalised. The group has also suggested that the bank be registered as a society.

The tenure of the land deposit can be as short as one season or more than three years. Besides the monetary incentive, land owners will be allowed to withdraw their land parcel at any time.

The land bank will consolidate all the land deposited under it in a particular village and give priority to small and marginal farmers. It will even give joint leases to small farmer groups. The lessees would get a guaranteed rent, fixed after assessing land quality and as a consolidated plot. There would, however, be a ban on leasing of land from the bank to companies, large farmers and other categories that might monopolise the land market.

"On the supply side, it would address the concerns of landowners and bring under cultivation large tracts of underused or fallow land," the working group said. "On the demand side, it would provide disadvantaged and women access to land, which they are not able to compete for in the open land market."

The move is also expected to counter a potential short-run freeze in the land lease market as a law to provide recognition to agricultural tenancies is in the works that will augment the land owner's fear of losing his land title.

Currently about 10% of rural households are reported to be entirely landless and a larger percent is near landlessness. Most of the small and marginal farmers depend on informal leasing arrangements and there is no uniform pricing system. Up to 35% of farm land is currently cultivated through tenant farming. Agriculture experts support the idea of creating a land bank but question the feasibility of such a proposal in the absence of strong laws to guarantee land titles.

"It is a long shot. I am not opposed to the basic idea but I don't think it can fly in the absence of strong land records and land titling laws," said Ashok Gulati, an agriculture expert who is also the chairman of CACP. "I do not think panchayats are administratively strong enough to ensure fair dealing of land. People are sensitive about their land and may not place their trust in them."

The Economic Times, 11 April, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/people-can-deposit-fallow-and-uncultivated-land-in-government-land-banks-to-garner-money/articleshow/12


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