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Bhumi Samvaad

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Rural Development inaugurated ‘Bhumi Samvaad’ – National Workshop on Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).

• The Ministry also launched the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) portal and Dashboard.

About Bhumi Samvaad:

• It is a Central Sector scheme that has been extended to 2023-24, to complete its original targets as well as expand its ambit with a slew of new schemes.
• It attempts to build upon the commonalities that exist in the arena of land records in various States to develop an appropriate Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS) across the country, on which different States can also add State-specific needs as they may deem relevant and appropriate.
• ILIMS: The system contains information on parcel ownership, land use, taxation, location boundaries, land value, encumbrances and many more.
• It is being implemented by the Department of Land Resources (Ministry of Rural Development).
• Aim: To usher in a system of updated land records, automated and automatic mutation, integration between textual and spatial records, inter-connectivity between revenue and registration, to replace the present deeds registration and presumptive title system with that of conclusive titling with title guarantee.

Components:

• Computerization of land records.
• Survey/re-survey.
• Computerization of Registration.
• Modern record rooms/land records management centres at tehsil/taluk/circle/block level.
• Training & capacity building.

Benefits:

• Real-time land ownership records will be available to the citizen.
• Free accessibility to the records will reduce interface between the citizen and the Government functionaries, thereby reducing rent seeking and harassment.
• Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode of service delivery will further reduce citizen interface with Govt. machinery, while adding to the convenience.
• The single-window service or the web-enabled “anytime-anywhere” access will save the citizen time and effort in obtaining RoRs (Record of Rights), etc.
• Automatic and automated mutations will significantly reduce the scope of fraudulent property deals.
• Conclusive titling will also significantly reduce litigation.
• Certificates based on land data (e.g., domicile, caste, income, etc.) will be available to the citizen through computers.
• This method will permit e-linkages to credit facilities.
• Information on eligibility for Government programs will be available, based on the data.

Pesa Act

Why in News?

The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs and the Union Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj  jointly inaugurated the one-day National Conference on provisions of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996 (PESA) on completion of 25 years of the Act.

About PESA Act:

• The provisions of Part IX of the constitution relating to the Panchayats are not applicable to the Fifth Schedule areas.
• The Parliament may extend these provisions to such areas, subject to such exceptions and modifications as it may specify.
• Under this provision, the Parliament has enacted the “Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act”, 1996, popularly known as the PESA Act or the Extension Act.
• At present (2019), ten states have Fifth Schedule Areas. These are: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan. All the ten states have enacted requisite compliance legislations by amending the respective Panchayati Raj Acts.

Objectives of the Act

• To extend the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the panchayats to the scheduled areas with certain modifications.
• To provide self-rule for the bulk of the tribal population
• To have village governance with participatory democracy and to make the gram sabha a nucleus of all activities
• To evolve a suitable administrative framework consistent with traditional practices
• To safeguard and to preserve the traditions and customs of tribal communities
• To empower panchayats at the appropriate levels with specific powers conducive to tribal requirements
• To prevent panchayats at the higher level from assuming the powers and authority of panchayats at the lower level of the gram sabha

Features of the Act

• A state legislation on the Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas shall be in consonance with the customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices of community resources.
• A village shall ordinarily consist of a habitation or a group of habitations or a hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a community and managing its affairs in accordance with traditions and customs.
• Every village shall have a Gram Sabha consisting of persons whose names are included in the electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level.
• Every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.
• Every Gram Sabha shall
  (i) Approve of the plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before they are taken up for implementation by the Panchayat at the village level
  (ii) Be responsible for the identification of beneficiaries under the poverty alleviation and other programmes.
• Every Panchayat at the village level shall be required to obtain from the Gram Sabha a certification of utilisation of funds for the above plans, programmes and projects.
• The reservation of seats in the Scheduled Areas in every Panchayat shall be in proportion to the population of the communities for whom reservation is sought to be given under Part IX of the Constitution. However, the reservation for the Scheduled Tribes shall not be less than one-half of the total number of seats. Further, all seats of Chairpersons of Panchayats at all levels shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
• The state government may nominate such Scheduled Tribes which have no representation in the Panchayat at the intermediate level or the Panchayat at the district level. But such nomination shall not exceed one tenth of the total members to be elected in that Panchayat.
• The Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be consulted before making the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before resettling or rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in the Scheduled Areas. However, the actual planning and implementation of the projects in the Scheduled Areas shall be coordinated at the state level.
• Planning and management of minor water bodies in the Scheduled Areas shall be entrusted to Panchayats at the appropriate level.
• The recommendations of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be mandatory for grant of prospecting licence or mining lease for minor minerals in the Scheduled Areas.
• The prior recommendation of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be mandatory for grant of concession for the exploitation of minor minerals by auction.
• While endowing Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, a State Legislature shall ensure that the Panchayats at the appropriate level and the Gram Sabha are endowed specifically with –
  (i) The power to enforce prohibition or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant
  (ii) The ownership of minor forest produce
  (iii) The power to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas and to take appropriate action to restore any unlawfully alienated land of a Scheduled Tribe
  (iv) The power to manage village markets
  (v) He power to exercise control over money lending to the Scheduled Tribes
  (vi) The power to exercise control over institutions and functionaries in all social sectors
  (vii) The power to control local plans and resources for such plans including tribal sub-plans
• The State Legislations shall contain safeguards to ensure that Panchayats at the higher level do not assume the powers and authority of any Panchayat at the lower level or of the Gram Sabha.
• The State Legislature shall endeavour to follow the pattern of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution while designing the administrative arrangements in the Panchayats at district levels in the Scheduled Areas.
• Any provision of any law (relating to Panchayats in the Scheduled Areas) which is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act shall cease to be in force at the expiry of one year from the date on which this Act receives the assent of the President. However, all the Panchayats existing immediately before such date shall continue till the expiry of their term, unless dissolved by the State Legislature sooner.