Making the Case for a Common Land Registry

 Subrata Singh & Pooja Chandran

India, renowned for its diverse landscapes and communities, has almost a quarter of its territory as communal or common lands. These include a range of areas, such as grazing pastures, village commons, and community forests, all collectively used and managed by local communities. This subtle yet pivotal role significantly contributes to sustaining rural livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecological balance.

However, nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since the last documented assessment of India’s common lands. The scarcity of comprehensive data and knowledge stands at the core of unsustainable resource use, weak policies, conflicts, and missed opportunities for conservation. As a result, common land resources are currently experiencing a rapid decline, despite judicial calls for action urging their protection. 

Over the years, state departments have progressed in developing data systems and digitising paper records to support their primary areas of operations. Yet, the lack of well-coordinated information across government units remains a challenge. A case in point is observed in Andhra Pradesh, where numerous villages recently implored their district authorities to include their common lands within the Prohibitory Order Book (POB). Doing so would ensure that these lands, otherwise categorised as ‘wastelands’, are reserved for communal use and safeguarded from diversions for alternative purposes.

Although several villages witnessed lands entered into the POB following their requests, the communities’ rights to manage the resources usually did not get documented. This results from the historic disconnect between the land revenue departments and local governing bodies under the panchayati raj system. The former, concerned primarily with documentation and land records, can sometimes overlook the social, cultural, and economic significance of common lands. On the other hand, the latter, while engaged with local communities, lacks the legal mechanisms required for formal recognition and protection of lands beyond the panchayat circle. This scenario is exacerbated by vague land boundaries, encroachments, and competing claims.

Yet, this August, hope emerged in the village of Chintamakulapalle when the panchayat received a long-awaited letter from the revenue department, officially acknowledging their custodianship of the hard-fought common lands. As a definitive step forward, the panchayat promptly entered the lands into their panchayat asset register, planting the seed of progress for others to follow. Even without a clear legislative framework for tenure, the community’s rights and customs can hold weight within the court of law.

This triumph resonates as more than a local victory; it echoes the need to harmonise India’s diverse land information management practices into a cohesive whole. Governance of common lands transcends administrative boundaries and involves multiple stakeholders with varying interests. A cohesive strategy is needed to break down data silos and integrate different knowledge systems, thus empowering communities to make well-informed decisions that safeguard the sustainability of common lands for generations to come. As the crucial first step, a comprehensive registry can play a pivotal role in achieving an integrated and holistic governance framework for common lands.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it

A common land registry goes beyond a mere public record of land parcels; it serves as a repository of shared resources, encompassing geographical data, political boundaries, and legal cadastres. While the United Kingdom has been a prominent example, diverse forms of such registries exist in countries like Uganda, Peru, and Tanzania. Although Indian states have inventoried public lands for ‘land banks’ in the past, these efforts are mainly aimed at diverting them for more productive purposes, such as urban expansion, infrastructure, industries, and the recent addition of compensatory afforestation.

In contrast, a common land registry seeks to inform resource management, facilitate decision-making, and safeguard customary rights. To this end, it can include information about land categories based on historical and customary use, precise land parcel boundaries, restrictions over land use and alienation, documentation of shared access and resource rights, along with details of ownership and management entities.

Integrating digital maps with advanced geographic information systems (GIS) can provide a more accurate understanding of on-ground situations. A prime example is Delhi’s e-Dharti GeoPortal, which combines legacy drawings like maps and lease plans into a GIS-enabled system, showcasing potential in this regard. The concept of an integrated GIS-enabled land portal, available at the national, state, district, block, and village levels, also aligns with the vision set forth by the Draft National Land Reforms Policy.

This act of opening land data for public scrutiny can strengthen social accountability and facilitate continuous improvements in its administration. Harnessing technology and enabling stakeholders to remotely access and verify data can improve transparency, reduce information asymmetry, and curtail instances of fraud. Roughly three-quarters of land-related conflicts in India revolve around common lands, often materialising as on-ground protests due to inadequate recognition of rights. An open, digital common land registry holds the potential to reshape conflict resolution by reducing ambiguities and fostering transparency. GIS applications can further deter encroachments through historical analyses, aligning with the recent observations from the Hon’ble Madras High Court. This could prove particularly valuable to dispute resolution authorities such as the Public Land Protection Cells.

Establishing the common land registry as the definitive reference point requires an understanding of the dynamic nature of common lands – where rivers shift courses, grazing occurs seasonally, and governance rules constantly evolve. State governments, vested with the constitutional power to devise their land-related policies, are best positioned to anchor the process. Nevertheless, given the existing fragmented landscape of regulations, practices, and even land categorisation within each state, the involvement of the central government becomes crucial to establish baseline standards or a guiding framework, akin to the efforts made under the centrally-sponsored Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme.

The road to the single source of truth

Recognising community stewardship is at the core of this initiative. As the primary stakeholders, communities form the foundation upon which the registry is built, making their active participation and ownership pivotal to its success. The process begins by harmonising existing documents such as the panchayat asset register, people’s biodiversity register, and other records maintained by committees entrusted with local natural resource management. In Assam, for instance, village-level committees are designated as the guardians of land resources. They oversee the preparation and update of the village ‘land bank’ and ‘knowledge bank’, ensuring resource protection.

Similar responsibilities are undertaken at various tiers of governance, as seen in Karnataka, where the taluk panchayat has to consolidate, maintain, and update a database of pertinent socio-economic information and a map of natural resources. Rajasthan elevates this with a multi-layered structure where charagah vikas samiti (pasture land development committee) at the panchayat, block, and district levels prepare records and development plans for grazing lands within their jurisdiction. At the apex, the Waste Land and Pasture Land Development Board has to create and maintain a state-wide database.

Central to the registry’s success is the principle of being a "single source of truth", housing accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date information. Achieving this goal requires a multifaceted approach that spans legal, technical, administrative, and community engagement dimensions. It also needs synergy among various horizontal and vertical nodes of decision-making. Progress is already being made at the intra-departmental level within states. Assam, for instance, has launched the Integrated Land Records Management System, aimed at improving the interconnectivity among different revenue departments for property registration, land records updation, revenue collection, and transfer approvals of immovable property. It is equally imperative to enhance inter-departmental collaboration to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the registry. Key players in this initiative include the departments of land revenue, panchayati raj and rural development, forest, agriculture, information technology, and urban development.

The registry itself is not a panacea for all land-related challenges; it must coexist within a broader strategy. For instance, the process of documenting and harmonising the boundaries can unearth conflicts within and among communities. This emphasises the need to incorporate boundary negotiations, conflict resolution processes, and fostering trust among stakeholders as integral facets of registry development. Concerns surrounding digital land grabbing have also surfaced, necessitating a more robust legal regime for communal property and collective stewardship. It is also vital to continue strengthening digital infrastructure at the local level, while building capacities of panchayats to maintain registers and records, as outlined under the National Capability Building Framework.

While acknowledging these caveats, the need for evidence-based planning and sustainable resource governance also remains indisputable. The registry has the potential to evolve into the foundational data source that is used across sectors and domains. This can empower decision-makers at various levels to, together, base their choices on reliable data, thus facilitating the development of more effective, targeted policies. In this manner, the registry can transcend its role of being a mere data repository, intricately weaving together the threads of traditions and technology, resulting in a unified fabric of progress.