After 75 years, BJP govt providing land rights to Indigenous people: Assam CM

Guwahati, Oct 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that the present BJP government initiated a drive to give land rights to the indigenous people of the state, a first undertaken by the ruling dispensation in 75 years after Independence.

“Immediately after we assumed office, we set out on a mission to provide land rights to indigenous communities in Assam- an exercise undertaken after 75 years of independence. On 2 October 2021, Mission Basundhara was born with this vision,” the Chief Minister said.

He further stated that after setting out to implement this mission, the state government was astounded by the unprecedented number of applications, which were received from different beneficiaries.

“This receipt of applications thereby validated the state government’s efforts of the land-related initiatives in Assam,” the Chief Minister said adding that the state government disposed of eight lakh applications in nine months under the first instalment of Mission Basundhara.

Sarma added that realising the immense potential, especially in conferring land rights to the Indigenous people of the state, the state government launched the second edition of Mission Basundhara in November 2022 and gave land rights to over two lakh Indigenous people within one year.

“Through this comprehensive mission, we aim to allot land ownership to priority groups at the earliest and bring transparency to the various land-related services. The third edition of Mission Basundhara will be another firm step taken by our government to safeguard the land rights and the identity of the people of Assam”, he said.

On Sunday, the Chief Minister launched Mission Basundhara 3.0 to provide land rights to Indigenous people, at a function held at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra here today.

Under this initiative, steps will also be taken to digitise various land-related services and publish maps for the benefit of the people of the state as several new rules have been implemented to simplify the process of giving land rights to the people.

The Chief Minister moreover said that to be entitled to land rights under Mission Basundhara - three-generation ancestry is required. However, people belonging to SC, ST, Tea Tribes and Gorkhas will not be required to prove three-generation ancestry as they are the sons of the soil.

He also mentioned that the premium rate was reduced to 3 per cent of zonal valuation for city dwellers. He moreover announced that his government would shortly introduce unprecedented land reforms and issue Land Passbooks to all landholders.

He further observed that through conferring land pattas the State government is strengthening its resolve of ‘Jati, Mati and Bheti’ (identity, land and base).

Highlighting the services that will be available, the Chief Minister said that Mission Basundhara will enable review of MB 2.0 cases pending clarification, end-to-end digitisation of annual pattas to periodic pattas conversion with rationalised premium rates in urban and peripheral areas, one-time conversion of tea grant land to periodic patta etc.

Sarma, moreover, said that in the coming days, the state government will launch many more initiatives which have the potential to revolutionise the convenience of the people of the state.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also launched the Revenue Department’s Digidoc, a digital directory for non-registrable and optional registrable documents. The directory will streamline services, reduce processing time, and enhance public convenience and improve accessibility and efficiency.

Source: IANS