Land-Related Legal Aid in India

Tim Hanstad

World Bank

March 9-10, 2009

Context• Data highlights importance of broad access and secure

rights

• 15 million rural landless HHs; another 45 million <0.10 acre

• Vast majority of landholders are small & marginal, many with insecure rights

• Major gaps between land records and rural realities

• Key agency (Revenue Dept) has multiple responsibilities and lacks capacity

• Gaps in land records/administration + social stratification/disempowerment = problems, especially for poor

• Petty corruption -- $700 million per yr

• Women face additional constraints in obtaining access and secure rights

• Past land reform efforts – mixed results, and offer present opportunities and challenges

• Relatively well-developed rules to govern land relations

Andhra Pradesh Context • 2 million landless HHs; 5.7m

<0.10 acre

• Past govt land allocations to 2.9m HHs, but 30% not completed

• Unregistered land sales on 8% of agric land

• Land records and administration, but lacking capacity to meet needs of poorest

• Vibrant women SHG structure

• Political will to address land issues of the poor

IKP (Velegu) Project

• Rural poverty reduction project.

• Help poor operate thru self-managed institutions; collective axn; create/enhance livelihoods

• Administered by semi-autonomous NGO

• Land component added in 2003

• Land purchase: helping women purchase small, irrigated plots

• 5303 women have purchased 4539 acres

• Assessments show signficant benefits, but . . .

• Activity currently suspended due to perceived high price of land.

• $1750/acre in 2008, up from $1211 in 2006

• Exploring less costly house-and-garden plot pilot and leasing approaches

IKP Land Component: Land Purchase and Paralegal Assistance

• Two objectives:

– (1) help target populations obtain secure rights to land; and

– (2) legal empowerment of communities

• 30% of 2.9 million govt land allottees lacked legal or physical possession

• Started small with law students to work with local land administration to help solve lingering issues

• Piloted with paralegals and community surveyors in one of 22 districts in 2005

• Rolled out to all 22 districts in 2007

• Costs: $2.67 million per year

Land Access or Paralegal Assistance

• Paralegals and community surveyors are employed by SHG federations

• Supported by district-level legal professional

• Paralegals work with SHGs to identify issues, prepare cases and work with govt officers to resolve.

• Village inventories to identify gaps between land records and situation on ground

• Issues go well beyond govt-allocated land.

Empowered through Women SHGs

• 434 paralegals; 527 community surveyors; 12% of all villages

• Identified 277,017 “cases/issues” involving 308,127 acres

• Successfully resolved 145,916 issues (52%)

• Most common cases: (1) house site possession certificates; (2) govt-allocated land; (3) rights to forest land.

• 2.2 million poor families likely need assistance

Cases go beyond “disputes”

• Paralegals support local land officials; community surveyors support local survey official

• 21 District Land Centers

• Meetings 2x month with district leaders, govt officers

• Identify land of the poor needing land development through Employment Guarantee Scheme

• Training of SHGs on land laws, rights, how to identify and resolve issues; navigate system

• Requires stronger emphasis on women’s rights

Convergence with government

• Identify and address problems faced by poor that would go unnoticed by examining land or court records.

• Create awareness and capacity among landholders and local officials

• Assisting with “titling” or “survey & settlement”

– Preventing dispossession of the poor

– Creating awareness

• Formalizing unregistered land sales (Nalgonda pilot)

• Preliminary evidence on costs is encouraging

• Flexible structure can be adapted for different settings.

• Other country examples

How can land-related paralegal aid help improve governance?