Bhubaneswar: With a view to bring in land reforms, the Odisha government Thursday decided to consult the stake holders for their feedback on the matter. The government will soon going to hold revenue division and district level consultation for the purpose.
The government is initiating the process of simplification of land Kisams( type of land use) and Satwas ( type of land holding)
The chief secretary, Asit Tripathy, while chairing a meeting on the matter, here of Thursday, directed the revenue department and the Board of Revenue to go for “elaborate consultation with different stake holders including people’s representatives”. ” Informed consultation will check spread of misconceptions and will be helpful in people’s acceptance”, he added.
The member Board of Revenue, CJ Venugopal, said,” The existing rules regarding Kisams and Satwas are quite old and they need more simplification in context of changing socio-economic scenario”.
Additional chief secretary, revenue and disaster management, Pradipta Mohapatra said that rationalisation of Kisam system would make transfer of land and extension of benefits to farmers easier and quicker. “It would also make the revenue payment system easier for the people,” he added.
Discussion in the meeting revealed recent reforms like digitization of land records and land record management system, Bhulekh and Bhunaksa, point to the need for rationalisation of Kisam and Satwas.
At present 7797 Kisams are recorded in record of rights (RoR) of the people in different parts of the State. It is mainly because of use of many vernacular languages even with duplications. Too many number of vernacular names are scribed for same type of land use. Different types of land use are also not clearly reflected on RoR. A number of Kisams make it difficult for calculation of various benefits to be extended to farmers during natural calamities and payment of land compensation. Similarly, near about 750 different terms are being used for recording of the kind of land holding.
Simplification of Kisam and Satwas with limited number of types will transfer fuzzy records to a clear and strong ownership over the land.
Director land records B Parameswaran, additional secretary, revenue and disaster management, Sailendra Diwibedi, and joint secretary, Board of Revenue, Santoshi Sahoo were present.
