Nearly 90% of Assam’s tives do not have permanent land 'patta', 8 lakh tive families are landless.
BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Aug 26: In significant development, prominent lawyers, former ministers and bureaucrats have formed a State level expert committee to come out with recommendations and suggestions as how to ensure the exclusive right of indigenous people of Assam over their lands by involving all stakeholders of the greater Assamese society.
The expert committee constituted under the auspices of Axom Bhumi Suraksha Sanmilan is expected to publish its draft report within this year. Once the fil report is prepared, the Sanmilan will submit the same to the State government to help and guide the latter to formulate a comprehensive new land policy keeping in mind the interests of indigenous people.
Constitution of the expert committee has been considered significant in view of the fact the Committee for Protection of Land Rights of Indigenous People of Assam recently estimated that 90 per cent of the tives of Assam do not possess permanent land ‘patta’ (legal document for land ownership), while at least 8 lakh tive families are landless. The committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner Hari Sankar Brahma in its interim report to the State government last month, has mentioned that as a result of ubated and organized land encroachment in protected tribal belts and blocks, indigenous people have not only lost their rights over their land, but are also facing threats to their very identities and livelihood.
The Assam Government had created 17 belts and 30 blocks by including Chapter X in the Assam Land and Revenue (Regulation) Act, 1886 for welfare and protection of six classes of people: plains tribals, hills tribals, tea garden communities, Santhals, Scheduled Castes and Nepali cultivator-graziers. All land related issues including purchase and sale come under the jurisdiction of the Assam Land and Revenue (Regulation) Act ected by the Britishers.
“But large areas of these tribal belts and blocks have been occupied by encroachers from non-protected classes due to poor enforcement of the legislation and various other socio-economic-political reasons. We will try to find out as to what went wrong in enforcement of the Act over the years, and whether the Assam Land and Revenue Act has lacue and how these could be corrected. We will also explore the possibility of drafting a new legislation by replacing the existing Act to ensure the exclusive rights of indigenous people over their lands,” advocate Krish Kanta Mahanta who heads the expert committee said.
Mahanta, who is also the president of Gauhati High Court Bar Association, told reporters here on Saturday afternoon that the committee will gather information and data from different sources on existing status of lands held by indigenous people of the State. He said the committee will involve all stakeholders of greater Assamese society in preparing its comprehensive report on land rights of indigenous people. A State level meeting of the expert committee will be held in November to discuss progress of the task undertaken by the committee. He said the committee will accept information and views from citizens through various ways including at mahantakk53@gmail.com, akb9ad@gmail.com and WhatsApp numbers 9854433331 & 8486778531.
Besides others, the expert committee has included former minister Prithivi Majhi, former bureaucrat Lakhi th Tamuli and prominent lawyer Hafiz Rashid Choudhury as members.