Jairam pitches for fast-track courts to settle land right issues in Naxal Areas

Union Rural Development Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh said that if the issue of land rights of tribals would have been handled effectively in the country, the naxal menace could have been tackled in an effective fashion. Addressing the State Revenue Ministers Conference on Modernization of Land Records here, Shri Ramesh said that he also favoured the idea of Fast Track Courts to settle the land rights of tribals in a speedy fashion. He said that this issue will be taken up with the Law Ministry soon. He also called for the replication of the Andhra Pradesh model, where para-legal army helps the tribals to fight court cases. In many instances, the land belonging to the poor tribals were being grabbed forcibly by the powerful vested interests and therefore there is need for the proper survey of the land and modernization of the land records. The Minister also promised flexibility in spending of funds by the state governments and said that a detailed guideline will be issued soon in this regard and added that productivity of land is also an important issue. Referring to the Bhoodan Land, the Minister said out of the 5 million hectares of such land only 2.5 million hectares got distributed to the poor and the needy till date and a detailed survey is needed to ascertain the facts in this regard.