1. Land Para-professionals As a last mile solution to land issues of the poor B. Rajsekhar, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty Department of RD, Govt of AP

2. It is a symbol of dignity It is self-respect, it is politics, it is power It makes you or unmakes you You are worth the earth you possess Possession of Bhoomi is not just economics

3. A strong legacy of Pro poor land legislations Land Reforms in AP- A Snap Shot AP (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 and AP (Andhra Area) Tenancy Act, 1956 AP (Telangana Area) Abolition Of Inams Act, 1955 and AP (Andhra Area) Inam Abolition Act, 1956 AP Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 AP Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 as amended in 1970, 71 and 78 AP Rights In Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 1971 AP Occupants Of Homesteads (Conferment Of Ownership) Act, 1976 AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition Of Transfer) Act, l977 AP Land grabbing Act, AP Land Encroachment Act etc. AP Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011

4. Focus on 3 Key areas: abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms and land ceilings Land Reforms in AP- A Snap Shot No. of families benefited Extent (in acres) Ownership rights to tenants 1.07 lakh6 lakh Occupancy rights on inam lands 3.41 lakh9.02 lakh Distribution of ceiling surplus lands 5.4 lakh5.82 lakh 53.6 lakh acres of Govt. land have been distributed to 32.4 lakh poor families Under RoFR, individual titles distributed 1.65 lakh tribals covering 4.72 lakh acres

5. 1 Lack of Revenue Knowledge 2 Lack of Access to Records 3 Cutting edge official machinery preoccupied with non-land agenda 4 Skewed ratio of revenue officers Vs land matters to be resolved 5 Shortage of official surveyors 6 Weak dispute resolution and legal aid mechanisms 7 Powerful vested interests in villages Last Mile Challenges

6. Land Deprivation- Critical Poverty Dimension Landlessness Pattalessness Possessionlessness Land in litigation Total Disempowerment Insecurity Inaccessibility to credit Ineligibility for entitlements All the above drain the poor both economically and psychologically Insecurity Nil impact on livelihoods No peace of mind Unbearable legal expenses

7. Govt. of AP established Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in year 2000 to facilitate poverty reduction in rural areas SERP has as its core strategies  Social mobilization and building institutions of the poor  Enhancing capacities and opportunities  Reducing vulnerability SERP facilitated network of SHGs and their Federations to work on multi-dimensional aspects of poverty Poverty Agenda- AP

8. Land being critical productive asset, it must be issue- free Since poor find it difficult to resolve the issues by themselves, they needed easily accessible professional support SERP put in place sensitive land support mechanism in 2006-07 by positioning Paralegals and Community Surveyors Policy advocacy also happened in parallel G.O.Ms.No.1148 issued by Govt. for convergence between SERP and Revenue Department Govt. also appointed Koneru Rangarao Land Committee to look into all land issues of the poor Issue-Free Land: Last mile solution

9. 9 Vision Every poor person owning or enjoying a piece of land should have Title document in hand Land safely in possession Entry as owner and enjoyer in every key revenue record developed and yielding incomes

10. 10 Land Access Model District Land Center (DRDA) Paralegal (379) Land Manager (29) Community Surveyor (473) Legal Coordinator (29) trained graduate youth from community (positioned in a mandal) technically qualified youth trained in survey (positioned in a mandal) Retired Revenue Officer (District Level) Law Graduate (District Level)

11. Capacity Building of Paralegals Paralegals recruited by way of notification, written test and interview Initial training of one month in the districts including village stay Training at AP Academy of Rural Development, Hyderabad for 5 days NALSAR conducted Paralegal Certification Course for 10 days Continuous capacity building at district land centers every fortnight Trainings covered basics of lands like types of lands and land records, land enactments, procedures, identification and resolution process of land issues

12. Capacity Building of Community Surveyors Youth having technical qualifications were recruited as Community Surveyors by way of notification, written test and interview Trained for 2 months in cadastral survey in AP Survey Training Academy, Hyderabad 12 months apprenticeship with departmental mandal surveyors in districts Department of Survey issued licenses free of cost

13. Training Material Developed

14. Land Issue Resolution Process 1 Issues collected from the community 2 Field Enquiry and collection of required material by Paralegal 3 Community Surveyors attend to survey wherever required 4 Representation submitted to revenue officers 5 Paralegal attends Tahsildar office every Monday to follow up till resolution 6 Unresolved issues escalated. Land Managers and Legal Coordinators seek JC’s intervention 7 Legal Assistance arranged in lands locked in courts

15. Land Inventory of SC/ST lands in the State Mapping of 40 lakh acres of 17 lakh SCs/STs  to saturate land development of SC/ST lands under MGNREGA  to identify the lands of the SCs/STs and to facilitate them to have secured title and possession 50,000 SC/ST youth were trained, provided with records, did household survey and verified land enjoyment Entire data computerized

16. 16 For the first time land ownership and enjoyment data of SCs and STs is collected and physically verified (revenue records do not give this information as they have no caste field) Inventory data formed the basis for Works on 30.14 lakh acres with investment of Rs. 8,871 crore under MGNREGA Providing irrigation facilities to 10 lakh acres of SC/ST lands under Indira Jala Prabha, with an investment of Rs.1800 crore Land issues of 14 lakh SC/ST families involving 23.69 lakh acres identified and being followed up for resolution Inventory Outcomes

17. 17 Some Innovations Pahani, the key village record, was written on village public wall and made available for public scrutiny in Warangal district Copies of critical land records are provided to each and every poor person having land issue in Medak District Bhoomi Nyaya Sahaya Kendram (Land Legal Assistance Center) is established in DRDA, Warangal to assist the poor whose cases are locked in courts

18. Overall Resolution of Issues Revenue Department conducted Revenue Sadassulu between January to March, 2012 Filing of individual representations by the SCs/STs facilitated Land Issues resolution is being tracked through online web application at www.serp.ap.gov.in/Bhoomiwww.serp.ap.gov.in/Bhoomi 7.19 lakh issues have been resolved Phase 2 (2011 onwards) No. of Poor Extent (in acres) Issues identified 6,16,32211,85,552 Issues got resolved 4,30,2558,75,502 %Resolved 69.8%73.8% Phase 1 (2006-10)

19. 19 Acceptance by Revenue field functionaries in initial phase Challenges Faced Deputy Collectors on deputation and retired revenue officers helped bridging the gap Access to Revenue Records CCLA issued series of circulars Convergence between RD and Revenue Departments Joint monthly review by Joint Collectors Rectification of revenue records for resolving majority of the identified issues Revenue Sadassulu, under leadership of Hon’ble RM, resulted in resolution of two-third of the issues

20. 20 Lessons from Our Experience Apart from the pro-poor land legislations, the poor, especially SCs and STs, require exclusive facilitation support to get their land issues resolved Paralegals, from the community of the poor, if trained well, can competently support both the poor and the Revenue Dept. 1.in settling land disputes 2.in bringing in community participation and 3.in making the system more transparent and accountable Thank You