Land Access Programme of IKP

Introduction
Extreme poverty in rural India is rooted in landlessness. Landless families who depend on agricultural wage labor are almost always the poorest of the poor. National survey data shows that landlessness is the best predictor of poverty in India - a much better predictor than either illiteracy or membership in a schedule caste or scheduled tribe. In rural India, landless, non-migrant agricultural laborers exhibit the highest incidence of poverty. Land Deprivation is also known to be one of the major triggers to extremism. As Land still is an emotional issue in rural areas, it is recognized as one of the key factors which have encouraged growth of Left Wing Extremism along with other factors like poverty, lack of access to forest resources and other deprivations. Land deprivation is two-dimensional. One is absolute lack of access to ownership or enjoyment of land and the other is not able to enjoy the land due to lack of secured title or possession. Realizing the importance of land as a critical resource for the poor, during the formulation of APRPRP, the Land Component was sanctioned with an outlay of Rs.52.6 crore. The Land programme helps poor families gain access to land in two important and innovative ways: (1) through negotiated purchase of agricultural land from willing private sellers, and (2) through providing land access services to families that seek to exercise existing legal claims to lands that the families have formally received from the government (or purchased from private sellers) in the past. This is done in convergence with the Revenue Department. Poor are facilitated to have control over their lands in terms of having secure title, handling their lands locked in courts/disputes, awareness as to the measures taken by the Government to protect the interests of the poor manifested in the form of pro-poor enactments etc.

1. Interventions
a. Land Purchase IKPs Land Purchase programme was the Journey of poor women from laborers to farmers. The focus was on facilitating the landless poor to purchase productive irrigated lands alone. The Purchase process was totally community driven. The VOs and the landless poor women played a leading role in identifying the lands, negotiating rates etc. Finally the District Purchase Committee under the chairmanship of Joint Collector has helped them in finalizing and registering the lands in the name of women. b. Land Access - The paralegal assistance activities for facilitating the poor to get their land issues resolved related to title and possession were initiated on experimental basis in 2005 in Kadapa district and then rolled out to 367 mandals in 22 districts of the state during 2006-07. District Land Rights and Legal Assistance Centers were set up in all districts which provided services like Legal assistance, survey assistance, access to records and expert advice under a single window. The innovative and multi-pronged paralegal assistance strategy was a unique model for ensuring secure land rights to the poor. Working simultaneously on one hand with poor rural households and on the other with government land administrators, the IKP land functionaries not only identified and helped in getting the issues resolved; more importantly, they had also worked for equipping poor households and organizations of rural women with the knowledge and ability to resolve land issues themselves.

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c. Land Inventory Initially Land Access support was extended to lands of all the poor and PoP households. In the year 2010-11, focus has shifted to lands of the SCs/STs who can be taken as poorest among PoP households. The Land Access Unit had launched a major initiative of building SC/ST Lands database in partnership with MGNREGA. The Inventory was taken up in 22,833 Revenue Villages of 956 Mandals in the State. The objective was to map the lands of the SCs/STs and to facilitate them to have secured title and possession and also to facilitate the land development under MGNREGS. 40 lakh acres belonging to 17 lakh SC/ST households have been physically verified by 50,000 trained SC/ST rural youth along with collecting basic information about 12 lakh SC/ST land less households. The preliminary report shows that 19.2 lakh acres out of these 40 lakh acres are suffering from some title or possession related land issue. Now, for the first time SC/ST land data base is put in place in Andhra Pradesh as not even Revenue Department has such kind of data as caste is not captured in revenue records. d. Land Development- Prior to Land Inventory, 43,842 poor households were facilitated to have their lands developed under NREGA. From the Land Inventory, 18.6 lakh works on 30.5 lakh acres have been identified with investment of Rs.8,871 crore. Works are completed on 53,959 acres with expenditure of Rs.661 crore. In addition, irrigation facilities to 10 lakh acres are planned under the State Govt.s program of Indira Jala Prabha.

2.
a.

Evolution of the program (Chronology of events)

2002-04: The design and implementation of the Land Purchase programme has taken place during this period. The Land Purchase modalities were arrived at. Revenue Department had accepted to give their Deputy Collectors and other revenue officers on deputation which gave a great boost to the programme. The Policy advocacy work also has started with the Govt. of AP appointing Koneru Rangarao Land Committee for looking at land issues concerning the poor for which IKP Land Unit has functioned like a Secretariat. 2004-05: Focus exclusively on Land Purchase Scheme and the Land Access pilot for getting the land disputes was initiated in Kadapa district. The idea of village courts was experimented with during the Pilot. 2006-08: Land Purchase activity continued and Land Access rolled out to 367 mandals of 22 districts 2008-09: Land Purchase programme closed; The Land issues resolution continued and land development activities were facilitated under MGNREGS 2009-10: Land issues resolution continued 2010-11: Land Inventory of SC/ST lands was done in 956 mandals in partnership with MGNREGA. Land Development also had taken place under MGNREGA. 2011-12: Land Inventory data entry completed; Land Facilitators were positioned in 773 Mandals; Land development under NREGA and irrigation facilities to 10 lakh acres under Indira Jala Prabha initiated; Designing of a new Land Purchase Scheme

b.

c. d. e. f. g.

3. Implementation Process
A. Land Purchase 1. IKP staff prepare Mandal Level Purchase Inventory (MLPI) 2|Page

2. IKP Community Coordinator works with SHG and VO to identify land parcels for purchase 3. IKP staff confirm that land, SHG and beneficiaries satisfy program requirements 4. IKP Community Coordinator links available land with beneficiaries who form Purchasing Group 5. Purchasing Group (with assistance from IKP) prepares preliminary plan for improving and using the land, and examines seller's title 6. Purchasing Group meets with land seller, VO representative, IKP Community Coordinator, and village official or MRO to negotiate purchase price of land 7. Beneficiaries agree on subdivision and allocation of land among themselves 8. IKP Community Coordinator prepares Subcomponent Proposal for submission to appraisal team, attaching MRO certificate and other confirmation of seller's ownership 9. Appraisal team evaluates proposal and approves or rejects 10. IKP and the beneficiaries purchase land and register ownership in the name of individual beneficiaries 11. Beneficiaries take possession of land and undertake needed land improvements

B. Land Access 1. Land issues are identified through village visits and by sitting with the community 2. Paralegal collects the material evidence and other necessary land record and documents 3. Paralegal physically verifies the lands along with the community 4. Paralegal facilitates the community to file a representation to the revenue officers for redressal of the issues 5. Community Surveyors do the field survey wherever required 6. Paralegal and Surveyor follow up with the revenue officers till the issue is resolved 7. Concerned CBOs also put pressure on the system for speedy resolution 8. Legal assistance is arranged for those cases pending with revenue and civil courts

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C. SC/ST Land Inventory 1. A preliminary list is prepared of all SC/ST households in a village by the team doing inventory 2. Team does door to door survey collecting basic details of every SC/ST household and also the land details available with the household 3. Team obtains important village and mandal revenue records from the Revenue Office 4. Team marks the SC/ST households in the village record (Revenue records do not contain the information about caste) 5. Team visits, along with the household members, the lands held by each household and notes down the actual enjoyment particulars 6. Team prepares a comparative statement as to how the land details like survey number, extent, names of the title holder and enjoyer etc. are recorded in different key revenue records and the actual enjoyment of lands 7. The final data is discussed and confirmed in the meeting of the Village Organization

4. Financial model- Land Purchase

The Land Purchase programme was a combination of grant, loan and beneficiary contribution. Initially, the beneficiary family had to bear 10% of total project costs as their contribution (usually in the range of Rs. 5,000 - 10,000 per family). The IKP program provided a grant of up to 75% of total project cost (a maximum of Rs. 45,000 per family). The remaining 15% loan component also was given from the Project which the family needed to pay over time the number of installments of which was decided by the VO in consultation with the families.

5. Total Investments
Intervention Investment by Project Resources leveraged from public sector Resources leveraged from the Commercial Sector Outputs Outcomes

Land purchase

CIF Rs.2937.45 lakhs IHCB Rs.1815 lakhs

4539.24 acres of land purchased 11.85 lakh acres of extent identified with issues for 6.16

5303 landless poor women became land owners 8.75 lakh acres extent got resolved for 4.3 lakh poor

Land Access

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lakh poor farmers Land Inventory and Land Development Rs.40 crore from MGNREGA 18.6 lakh works on 30.5 lakh acres are identified with investment of Rs.8,871 crore

farmers 0.53 lakh acres developed and 8.3 lakh acres are in progress with investment of Rs.661 crore

6. Investments by intervention
Intervention/ Sub Component Investment Total Number of People reached 5303 430255 435558 Total Target population Percent of target population reached 100% 69.8% 70% CostEffectiveness Ratio 1.74 9.25

Land Purchase-CIF Land Access-IHCB Total

Rs. Rs.2937.45 lakhs Rs. Rs.1815 lakhs Rs.475.26 Millions

5303 616322 621625

Data Source used

Project MIS

Project MIS

Project MIS

7.

Inclusiveness Index
Intervention Total number of PoP in target population Total Number of PoP reached Total Number of people reached (same as in table 1) 5303

CIF- Land Purchase

5303 4778 (SC&ST)

5303 4778 (SC&ST)

IHCB- Land Access

616322 382688 (SC&ST)

430255 267155 (SC&ST)

430255

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Total

621625

435558

435558

Data Source used

Project MIS

8. Outcomes
Access to ownership of land for 5303 landless poor families Secured title and possession of land for 430255 families of which 62% are SCs and STs Increased productivity of land for 53,959 acres

Outputs according to PAD Results Framework

Key Performance Indicators

Expected Outcomes for 1st additional financing

Achievements till June, 2009

Expected outcomes till Sep 30, 2011

Achievements till Sep 30, 2011

% of Achievement as on Sep 30, 2011

saving and credit 15. area of land accessed by poor 2,53,021 acres 3,00,000 acres 6,22,481 acres 207%

Source of Data: Project MIS

9.

Impacts

A- Land Purchase- Household Impact 3 external studies have been conducted by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi, in 2006 and RDI, Seattle in 2006 and 2008 on the land purchase programme of IKP. The key findings about the impacts at household level are: Increased Incomes- Income increased in all the sample households by 30% to 75% after the intervention. Average net income is Rs.7501 per cropping season. Varies from Rs.7,700 in Mahaboobnagar district to Rs.14,270 in Prakasam district. Average net income earned by SCs in one cropping season is higher i.e. Rs.8388 Shift in source of income- Shift from wages to farm produce and decline in wage income are seen in majority households. Overall income from cultivation accounts for 65 to 80 % of total household income

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Increased food security and reduced vulnerability- Prior to intervention, beneficiary families were totally dependent on agri. labor, facing uncertainties in access to food, employment, credit etc. There was short term seasonal migration also. After the intervention, 76% of them are food secure. Seasonal Migration has come down and is least among IKP land beneficiaries Enhanced social status- The families could get respect and recognition as cultivators. Important asset in the name of women improved their status in the family

B. a. b.

Land Access Household Impact Title and possession secured to 4.3 lakh households 52526 tribal families got rights on the forest lands under their occupation Reduction in expenditure- No transaction costs 43,842 families have got 1.5 acres of land on average developed under NREGA 2.8 lakh families have got access to credit System Impact For the first time trainings to Revenue officers were imparted on pro-poor perspective. This was done in partnership with the Chief Commissioner of Land administration Land records, which are otherwise not accessible to people in general, were made available to IKP CBOs to be accessed by anyone. Community Surveyors, all from the poor community, have been trained in cadastral survey. All of them were given survey licenses and were exempted from payment of license fees Impressed by IKP land inventory process MGNREGA has adopted it for saturating SC/ST land development

10. Policy Impacts

A. Land Purchase - Policy Impact Unit cost Increased GoAP has increased unit costs for all other land purchase schemes of different departments Focus on Irrigated land- IKPs land purchase programme has brought in a focus on purchase of irrigated lands in all line departments land purchase schemes Registration - Land purchases in various schemes are registered in womens name only Exemption of different fees - Govt. of AP exempted registration fee, stamp fee and transfer duty for all the lands purchased under IKP programme Replication of IKP Land Purchase by Ministry of Rural Development, GoI Designing a new land purchase scheme by GoAP for one lakh landless women to be implemented by IKP

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B. Land Access a. Policy Impact- State Level G.O.Ms.No.1148 and other circulars of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration - To bring effective convergence among the departments, GoAP issued G.O. No.1148 in the year 2002 to constitute committees at various levels i.e. state, district, divisional, mandal level and meet as often as needed to resolve the land issues of the poor identified by IKP land staff Koneru Ranga Rao Land Committee Report -The IKP Land Unit played a key role in preparation of the report of KRR Land Committee. The Government has accepted 90 recommendations out of total 104 recommendations of the Committee. Loan Eligibility Cards to tenant farmers GoAP has brought in an Ordinance in June, 2011 which is the first of its kind in entire country. Loan Eligibility Cards have been issued to tenant farmers to enable them to get crop loans, crop insurance, input subsidies, crop damages compensation etc. SHG Land Lease Bill As per the land inventory survey about 42% of SC/ST households are landless poor. Land leasing activity is on the increase in the State. SHG Land Lease Bill has been passed in the State Legislative Assembly and the bill is reserved for Presidents consent. Once the Act comes into force, SHGs can lease in lands for the benefit of their members for a period of 5 years. This will make more land available to the SHG women.

b. Policy Impact- National Level MoRD Committee on State Agrarian Relations and Unfinished Task of Land Reforms in its report of 2008-09 recommended adoption of IKP model by other States with such modifications as may be deemed proper to suit the local environment Rs.90 crore project is announced by Govt. of India for setting up Paralegal Assistance Centers in 8 LWE affected Districts. Govt. of India is also adopting IKP Paralegal model in all LWE affected districts in the country

11. Cross cutting issues

Institutional model

ZS MS VO

Sub Committee with 2-3 members Sub Committee with 2-3 members Sub Committee with 2-3 members

Land Sub-committees are formed with 3-5 members at above levels and trained on basics of land records and land enactments. The Committee members participate in Land Inventory and 8|Page

experience sharing cum review sessions conducted fortnightly once a month. The issues are brought to the notice of land staff. The Land Sub-Committees also meet the revenue officers to put pressure on the system to resolve the land issues of the poor. Support systems and Institutionalization a. Support System from the Project

The support mechanism put in place from the Project side is as shown below:

State

CEO Project Director, DRDA

SPMU Land Team Addl. Project Director, Land

District

Land Manager Legal Coordinator Mandal Mandal Coordinator Paralegal/ Community Surveyor

b. Community Resource Persons In addition to the above support mechanism from the Project, the Community Resource Persons trained in land matters, NREGA and now PoP Strategy add immense value to the system as they train both the community in general and the stakeholders in particular on handling the issues independently. Tribal women CRPs have been put in place recently to work on the land issues of the tribals. c. Other Professional Support The Land programme of IKP has also leveraged support from law institutions. Premier Law University like NALSAR University, Hyderabad was actively involved in selection and training of Legal Coordinators, training of Paralegals and even organized a Paralegal Certification Course for them. Services of law students were utilized exclusively in tribal areas where they had studied the court cases which have gone in favor of non-tribals and prepared grounds for filing appeals in the courts of the Addl. Agent to Govt. for Scheduled Areas. In some places, they have also organized legal awareness programmes on land rights. d. Partnership with other organizations working on land issues There are a number of Civil Society Organizations are working in the field of land rights in Andhra Pradesh. IKPs land programme has taken advantage of their presence to get some important 9|Page

surveys done like survey on tenancy done by AP Agricultural Workers Union. The inputs of these CSOs were taken while formulating important policies. Praja Chetana, a land organization attached to AP Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Sangham, had not only given support in form of training of Paralegals but also has done training of community in select VOs. e. Technology Interventions Software applications were put in place for Land Purchase, Land Access and Land Inventory with support from TCS Limited, Hyderabad. f. Sustainability

The CRP model and more particularly the tribal CRPs have shown that the community can handle its land issues independently if their capacities are built in that way. The tribal CRP model was initiated in those tribal mandals, where the Project-paid Paralegals could not be positioned. The tribal CRPs could identify land issues and it is seen that with good training on all important Land enactments and other land matters they would be able to assist their own community in fighting out the land cases. 2200 CRPs have been thus trained on land matters. But when it comes to the survey part, they would need the professional support. The District Land Centers which are set up to function as single window support centers in Zilla Samakhyas for the poor from where they can access the services of paralegal professionals working on land, surveyors, Revenue functionaries and lawyers etc. are supported from Project funds. This support mechanism strives towards transfer of land knowledge and information to the village communities. The possibilities of having its own corpus for functioning independently are yet to be explored.

12. Challenges in implementation Getting the last mile functionary of the revenue department accept and respond to the support structure Instilling pro-poor perspective in the mainstream department Getting updated revenue and survey records

13.

Current challenges Putting in place a cost-effective legal assistance system in place, as getting competent legal professional help for fighting out court cases comes with a cost Putting in place a more effective support system for tribals in Scheduled Areas as land in tribal areas has political, extremist and a stronger non-tribal dimensions coupled with an indifferent land administration

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