Two months after promise, govt yet to set up land panel

On October 29, at a 25,000-strong rally of the landless poor (Janadesh Yatra), Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad announced the setting up of a National Land Reforms Council, the apex body for all land-related issues, within a month.

Prasad also said he would head a committee on state agrarian relations and unfinished tasks in land reforms that would make recommendations to the council. Almost two months on, there is no word from the government either on the committee or the council.

"Following the minister's assurance, we sent detailed proposals on the committee and the council to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on November 7. This includes the terms of reference of the panels and proposed members (on the council)," a senior official in the ministry told Business Standard.

"We had some discussions after that but there is no word from the PMO. We have done our work and are waiting for the PMO's decision," he said.

"The PMO seems to be working on the terms of reference and we expect that the two bodies will be constituted simultaneously in the next few days," he said.

According to officials, the Land Reforms Council, to be headed by the prime minister, is likely to have around 15 members. Apart from the rural development minister, other ministers, like social justice and urban development, and chief ministers of some states, like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, are expected to be on this panel.

The Land Reforms Committee, to be headed by the rural development minister, will have state secretaries, ministry officials, experts on land reforms, and activists.

The committee will recommend policies on land ceiling, land holdings and distribution of land to those eligible, including the landless and the homestead landless. It will also carry out the necessary field surveys to collate data.

The committee will make its recommendations through the rural development ministry to the National Land Reforms Council.

This advisory body will also consider ways to facilitate speedy disposal of land-related court cases and setting up of fast-track courts at various levels.

PV Rajagopal, president of the Ekta Parishad, which led the Janadesh rally, said, "We will go back to our villages but if the government does not keep its promise, we reserve the option of returning and agitating till our demands are met."