Foreign officials visit Telangana to study land record model

Hyderabad, Dec 17 : Delegates from over a dozen countries Friday visited some villages in Telangana to study the unique community driven land records verification, updation and dispute resolution model.This model had been developed by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in collaboration with Landesa, an international organisation for rural development.The delegates were from Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Russia, Ghana, Tanzania, Fiji, Timor, Nigeria and Sudan and working in the Rural Development Departments of their respective countries.The model was piloted in six selected villages of Mahabubabad, Warangal and Jangoan districts. In these villages, the community trained by NALSAR verified all the land records and submitted applications before the concerned authorities. All the land issues in one village have already been resolved, said NALSAR.This model was appreciated by the Union and state governments and they are actively considering replicating it under the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme.Interacting with the foreign delegates, V. Balakista Reddy, Registrar, NALSAR University of Law highlighted the several good community models developed by NALSAR including the paralegal programme, village land clinics, land rights centres in district courts and revenue offices and various legal literacy initiatives.These projects have helped more than a million households in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in securing land rights. The Registrar also mentioned about the participatory land laws review undertaken by the University for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.Sunil Kumar, Director, Land Laws and Policies, Landesa informed that the Indian government recently announced the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Project with a budget estimate of Rs 15,000 crore to be spent over four years with an objective to upgrade and modernise of land records.