CENTRE’S GUIDELINES FOR SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FINALISED, ₹10K CR FOR LAND REFORMS

Why in the news?

The Centre has prepared rules for offering ₹10,000 crore in incentives to states for executing land-related reforms. An extra ₹5,000 crore has been allotted to create a Farmers’ Registry during the financial year 2024-25.

CENTRE’S GUIDELINES FOR SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FINALISED, ₹10K CR FOR LAND REFORMS - UPSC

Key Details:

  • Incentive Allocation:  Incentive allocation includes ₹10,000 crore for land reforms in rural and urban areas, and ₹5,000 crore for establishing a Farmers’ Registry. These funds are part of the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2024-25.
  • Focus areas: The incentives aim to digitize land records, implement GIS mapping systems, and create a Farmers’ Registry.
  • Land Reforms in India: Historically, land reforms have aimed to improve agricultural production by redistributing land, implementing tenancy reforms, and consolidating landholdings. Modern reforms emphasize the digitization of land records in order to increase openness and eliminate disputes.
  • Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Model: States are encouraged to use the PPP model to execute land reforms, which involves private organizations managing and maintaining computerized land data.
The Bhoodan and Gramdan

Movement

  • Vinoba Bhave, a Mahatma Gandhi disciple, became aware of the issues experienced by landless harijans in Pochampalli, Telangana.
  • He led the forces that attempted to bring about a “non-violent revolution” in India’s land reform program.
  • The activities were about pushing the landed classes to willingly relinquish a portion of their land to the landless, hence the term Bhoodan Movement and it started in 1951.
  • In response to Vinoba Bhave’s call, several landowners consented to make a voluntary transfer of some of their land.
  • Vinoba Bhave received the essential help from both the central and state governments.
  • Later, the Bhoodan gave way to the Gramdan movement, which began in 1952.
  • The Gramdan movement sought to persuade landowners and leaseholders in each village to give up their land rights, with all lands being the property of a local association for egalitarian redistribution and shared cultivation.
  • Under this movement, a village was declared Gramdan when at least 75% of its citizens, representing 51% of the land, signed a written permission for Gramdan.
  • Gramdan’s original village was Magroth in Haripur, Uttar Pradesh.

Models of Public-Private

Partnership

  • Commonly used PPP models include Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build-Own-Operate (BOO), Build-Operate-Lease-Transfer (BOLT), Design-Build-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT), Lease-Develop-Operate (LDO), Operate-Maintain-Transfer (OMT), and so on.
  • These models differ in terms of investment amount, ownership control, risk sharing, technical collaboration, length, and finance.

BOT: 

  • This is a traditional PPP model in which the private partner is responsible for designing, building, operating (during the contracted period), and returning the facility to the public sector.
  • The private sector partner must provide financial support for the project as well as bear responsibility for its construction and maintenance.
  • The public sector will allow its commercial sector partners to collect revenue from users. The national highway projects contracted out by NHAI under PPP mode are a prime illustration of the BOT concept.
  • BOO: Under this concept, the private party will own the newly developed facility.
  • On mutually agreed terms and circumstances, the public sector partner agrees to ‘buy’ the project’s goods and services.
  • BOOT: In this type of BOT, after the specified amount of time, the project is transferred to the government or a private operator. The BOOT concept is used to develop highways and ports.
  • BOLT: In this technique, the government grants a concession to a private business to build (and maybe design) a facility, owns it, leases it to the public sector, and then transfers ownership to the government at the conclusion of the lease period.
  • DBFO: Under this model, the private party is entirely responsible for the project’s design, construction, funding, and operation during the concession period.
  • LDO: In this sort of investment model, either the government or a public sector body retains ownership of the newly constructed infrastructure facility while receiving payments under a lease agreement with the private promoter. It is often used in the creation of airport amenities.