Friday, December 30, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Dalits beneficiaries of drive to curb encroachments

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalits-beneficiaries-of-drive-to-curb-encroachments/893842/

Dalits beneficiaries of drive to curb encroachments
Sanjay Singh Posted online: Fri Dec 30 2011, 03:31 hrs
Lucknow : 21,000 FIRs registered to free land allotted to poor

One of the little known, but important activity of the Mayawati
government, for which it launched six-month drives, was freeing the
lands allotted to the poor, particularly dalits, from illegal
possession. As many as 21,000 FIRs were registered as preventive
measures to stop capture of these lands, commonly known as 'patta
land', and more than 7,200 persons were arrested and sent to jail,
sources said.

"The BSP government launched regular campaigns every six months to
free patta lands from illegal possession of other villagers," an
official in the Revenue Department said. Senior officials were sent to
tour villages and ensure that priority was given to identify such
lands.

However, the government effort to ensure land allotments to dalits
created resentment in the poor among OBCs who were left out.

"So, the government launched a special drive for patta allotment for
fisheries. Pattas for ponds above 0.202 hectare in size were given,"
an official said.

There are two kinds of government lands available at village

level which are allotted to the poor as patta land. These are land
declared surplus as a result of enforcement of the land ceiling laws
and gram sabha land. The allotment of these lands are made by the land
management committee (LMC) of the village.

LMC's chairman is village head while Lekhpal (revenue clerk) is its
secretary. The selection of allottees is done by LMC, and the SDM
concerned gives approval for the final allotment. The allottees become
land holder after continuously possessing the allotted land for a
period of 10 years.

The patta allottments are made under the UP Zamindari Abolition Laws
(Amendment) Act, 1978.

Traditionally, the Nishad community is in the fishery business and it
is present in many eastern UP assembly constituencies in a good
number. Besides Nishads, the government also gave pattas for
potteries, benefitting the Kumhar community.

About 29,000 hectare land was allotted as patta for fisheries in first
four years of the Mayawati government while 15,375 hectare was
allotted for potteries.

A total number of 3.62 lakh persons were allotted patta for
residential land across the state. "Of them, the number of SC/ST was
more than 2.36 lakh," sources said.

Similarly, the state government allotted around 58,000 hectare as
patta for agriculture land to 2.67 lakh landless people in the first
four years of Mayawati government. These allottees included more than
1.60 lakh dalits.

The state government identified about 5,350 cases of illegal
possession of residential lands allotted to the poor people during the
year 2010-11. "The government ensured possession to true allottees in
all 5350 cases. Of them, 3,245 allottees were from the SC/ST
communities," the source added.


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