Orissa to amend Land Act, recognize sharecroppers' rights

The Orissa government has finally decided to recognize the rights of the sharecroppers in the state.

The revenue department is considering amendment to the Orissa Land Reforms Act, 1965 for this purpose. A draft proposal will be prepared by the departments of revenue and law and later on, it will be sent to the State Cabinet for its approval.

"The Orissa Land Reforms Act, 1965 will be amended to recognize the rights of the sharecroppers. Following the amendment, the sharecroppers can avail bank loans, government subsidy and other benefits. A draft proposal will be prepared and the best practices of states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be incorporated”, S N Patra, minister for revenue and disaster management told media persons.

Following the implementation of the amended act, the land owners will be required to enter into an agreement with the sharecroppers in the presence of tehsildars. The agreement, among other things, will specify the rights of land owner and the sharecropper on the land and its produce.

Meanwhile, the eight-member Central team today submitted its report to the Government of India on crop loss in Orissa due to unseasonal rains.

The team led by Pankaj Kumar, joint secretary, Union ministry of agriculture, had wrapped up its four-day visit to the eight districts of Orissa worst hit by the unseasonal rains, on December 31. The team had admitted extensive crop loss in the state.

It may be noted that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month and requested him to release funds amounting to Rs 2616.19 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund to assist the lives of the affected farmers of the state.

Patnaik had also called on the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

"During the last six months of the calendar year 2010, Orissa has faced a calamity of rare severity, affecting about 73 per cent of the villages in the state. Over 19000 hectares of the cropped area in the state have faced a crop loss of more than 50 per cent on account of the acute drought that occurred during August and September 2010 followed by unseasonal heavy rains in December”, Patnaik had said.

The state government had announced a Rs 900-crore compensation package for farmers in the state whose crop was hit by cyclonic depression induced unseasonal rains.

This was over and above the agricultural input subsidy (AIS) at the rate of Rs 2,000 per hectare for rainfed areas, Rs 4,000 per hectare for irrigated land and Rs 6,000 per hectare for perennial crops to be provided as per the norms of the Calamity Relif Fund (CRF) and State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).

Of this package, , the state government would have to take a burden of Rs 600 crore while Central fund worth Rs 300 crore would come from CRF.