A Rajasthan District Setting Example By Helping The Poor Get Land Rights

Through the initiative, Prashasan Gaon Ke Sang Abhiyan,the Dholpur district of Rajasthan is distributing land Pattas to poor villagers so that they get legal rights of land. The district achieved a record 41,547 residential land patta distribution in just one month and got the 1strank in land patta distribution in the state, with Kota and Bundi coming 2nd and 3rd. The administration conducted door-to-door surveys at the block level, identified potential beneficiaries, and then provided them with documents of their land.

At a time when administrations in most districts are focusing on eviction of people from land, with news of encroachers being removed by force coming every other day, a district in Rajasthan is in news for an altogether contrasting reason. The Dhaulpur district is in news for distributing land pattas to villagers so that they get legal rights of their land. Through the scheme, Prashasan Gaon ke Sang Abhiyan, the Dholpur administration is conducting door-to-door surveys for allotting land pattas to the needy and has secured the first position in Rajasthan in successful execution of the scheme, thereby presenting an example of good governance for others to follow. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, District Collector of Dholpur, Mr. R K Jaiswal, detailed the scheme and its successful execution.

PRASHASAN GAON KE SANG ABHIYAN

Mr. Jaiswal informed that to distribute land pattas to the poor in rural areas of Rajasthan, a month-long camp was conducted recently. Outlining the camp, he said, “The work was done in two phases. Most of the work was done in the pre-camp stage starting on 2nd October, where we conducted door-to-door surveys at the block level, identified the potential beneficiaries with help of our team of Patwaris, Block Development Officers and Revenue Inspectors. Our motto was to ease the living of rural people by providing them with the authentic documents of their own lands.”

RECORD BREAKING WORK

Although every district has performed well, Dholpur stands out among all. Mr. Jaiswal said, “The patta shivirs (camps) started from November 8, and in a span of one month, we not only identified the Abadi land but also succeed in providing 225 land pattas per camp on an average. Around 188 such camps have been conducted in Dholpur district only.”

He appreciated his entire team saying because of their hard work, Dholpur managed to distribute41,547 land pattas to people who had no legal documentation of their lands, and secured rank 1 in the whole Rajasthan state.

REDUCED CHARGES FOR PATTAS

Land patta, also referred to as ‘Record of Rights’, is a document comprising the name of the legal owner of the land property. It is issued by the government authority and can be used as evidence in case of a dispute. Most pattas are required at the time of property transfer, and revenue officials of the state are responsible for updating and issuing them.

Mr. Jaiswal said, “Nowadays, people are aware of the importance of legal documents and understand their importance for hassle-free process to get the benefits of various government schemes. To encourage them, we also reduced the charges to some extent for issuing land pattas and got a really good response from the people.”

ACHIEVEMENT OF BADI BLOCK

Mr. Jaiswal also informed that “with the distribution of 10,149 residential land pattas in an average 307 camps, the Badi block’s performance was exceptional. We are also planning to conduct more such camps in upcoming days to solve the land patta issue.”

After Dholpur, Kota came second, with 108 camps and an average approval of 180 pattas per camp and a total of 19543 patta distribution. After Kota, Bundi got the 3rd rank with 184 camps. Around 32164 people benefited from 174 land patta distribution per camp.