Letters: The thin red line of reform

Apropos the two-part article "Land-shackled" by Devesh Kapur, T V Somanathan and Arvind Subramanian (July 21 & 22), a major portion of the available land is also where the rural population in over 500,000 villages lives. On the revenue department's maps in Haryana and Punjab, these lands are referred to as "lal dora" (red line) land. This land is unmapped and ownership is mostly based on possession. Only panchayats approve any construction or resolve disputes related to them. If this land were mapped, ownership registered and its equitable mortgage allowed, a massive rural housing construction boom could follow with increased bank loans (currently, only about four per cent of rural houses, which are generally in poor shape, are institutionally financed). This has the potential to engage rural labour in a big way and reduce subsidies under the rural jobs guarantee law. There are also thousands of uninhabited villages that could be considered for industrialisation or group housing projects. Overall, policy debate needs to focus on our villages. Modernising state government revenue departments is also a reform calling for attention.

Y P Issar Karnal

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