Land dispute: Legacy of deprivation of the poor
Land dispute is an existing old conflict linked to the socio-economic and political systems in Bangladesh society. It is harming quite a considerable number of people, directly or indirectly, each year. Specially the landless and poor fishermen community, other occupational mini communities, poor Adibasi groups residing on various char and khas lands of the country are falling hapless victim to this dispute to be harmed both financially and socially. At places this dispute has led to the eviction of socially weak landless people. Even incidents of killing and grievously injuring rivals their homestead loot and arson, oppression and harassment also happened centring such disputes. And this increasing trend of land dispute cases has caused serious negative impact on our society and economy.
Of late, a Samata conducted survey shows that more than 750 cases of land dispute have taken place over the past year in the country. Of this 188 are direct land dispute cases which include incident of killing too. Land disputes left 47 killed and several thousand injured during 2006. Samata conducted this research on the basis of reports published over the past one year in six daily newspapers including, the Prothom Alo, the Ittefaq, The Janakantha. And it cannot be overemphasised that the number of incidents reported in the newspapers is much less than the actual happenings. However, it of course gives us an idea of the grave situation.
The research shows that of the innumerable social, political or economic reasons leading to land dispute, the most prominent one is establishing dominance of illegal occupants on khas land. In other words the neo land grabbers rising under cover and tacit support of political parties are the real actors in this dispute drama. And the most harmed are the landless people. The number of land disputes as well as clashes are more on khas land than anywhere else.
The state declares undisputed right of the landless on khas land and waterbodies, but in reality it is otherwise. Continuous negligence of government officials, absolute indifference of corrupt land officials and demonstration of muscle power by illegal occupants under political cover have led to a gradual increase in the number of conflicts over khas land. For instance, it may be mentioned that innumerable attacks have been launched on the landless around Bil Pakuria in Rajbari district and Bil Kumari in Rajshahi district last year. Hundreds of landless people of Bil Pakuria were forced out of their huts by lodging thousands of cases against them.
Not only this, according to reports in newspapers, huge amount of government and non-government land has been illegally occupied last year. Much of such government land belongs to Roads & Highways, Railway, Water Development Board etc. very little amount of this could be recovered by the respective authorities (the Daily Ittefaq, April 4, 2006).
As usual the poor suffer most in this land disputes, too. They have to fight most to stick to their ownership. Often they had to spend more than the price of khas land given by government. And to refrain the poor landless to establish their right on khas land the land-grabbers have chosen false litigation against them as an effective tool. The poor landless soon become unable to meet the expenses of running cases and give up. Among these victims those belonging to the minority communities and the Adibasis happen to be more soft targets of the land-grabbers. Their lands are rather 'safely' occupied by the land-grabbers. Their deprivation and the land-grabbers' illegal occupation are fast 'gaining ground' through the loopholes of Vested Property Act and in absence of a Separate Land Commission for the Adibasis.
Such illegal occupation of 'Debottar' property, often even lands of temple and cremation ground Adibasi land in the hills and plains are leading to wanton Adibasi-Bangali and minority-majority tension and fracas in this country of communal harmony (The Daily Ittefaq May 1, 2006).
Now corruption has added a dimension to this scourge of land dispute. This is not only igniting but lingering it to the benefit of the corrupt. Three departments of two ministries (Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Land) look after all matters of land. But lack of coordination among this departments has allowed the corrupt to thrive. Proper records are seldom done and maintained and in the process false records and forged papers abound simply to the suffering of the powerless poor who have little ability to cut through the existing complex and clumsy land records to prove their ownership. 37.2 percent of the land disputes during 2006 were due to ownership and demarcation complexities. The Daily Jugantor, March 15, 2006) various classes of people are trying in various ways to gain ownership of and establish right on land. The influentials are at the advantageous end to deprive the disadvantaged in the matter. Although the access of the landless to khas land is a legally established right they are seldom allowed to have it, while the powerful influentials can possess it even it is illegal. The conflict and dispute over land is then created. Eviction of the landless from khas land in Satkhira and engaging 'lathials' against the landless in chars of Noakhali by the land-grabbers may be mentioned in this connection. (The Prothom Alo, May 7, 2006).
It is very much necessary to end this continuation of land dispute which is harming people both financially and socially. It is necessary to settle these disputes and allow the landless establish their constitutional right on khas land. It is necessary to formulate and adopt proper laws to save the landless poor from the powerful land-grabbers in the interest of having a just society. It is also necessary to make the poor and the landless aware of their just rights. And to achieve this end of prevailing equity, justice and peace in society, the government, non-government organisations and the civil society -- all have to work together.
To gradually reduce the occurrence of land dispute and conflict it is necessary to create a general awareness. It is also necessary to conduct research to identify exact reasons. Then it will be easy to find acceptable solutions to the problems. Immediate steps to be taken may include:
* Establish coordination among the departments of the two ministries mentioned above and integrate the whole affairs of looking after land.
* Conduct regular 'Diara' survey. This will ensure the actual amount of land in river areas of the country and its ownership as well as lessen the complexity of demarcation.
* Free the whole system of survey from corruption and land record from forgery.
* Appoint land surveyors and record keepers on permanent basis instead of contract basis for establishing accountability.
* Introduce a system of land court on site while conducting survey so that any dispute arising thereof can be settled then and there.
Now it seems necessary to constitute district courts to settle land disputes at district level. This will reduce the lingering of cases as well as unnecessary expenses. It has also become an imperative to award exemplary punishment to the proven illegal land-grabbers, so that this harmful tendency is checked for good. There are so many steps to be taken including publication of list of khas lands and water bodies in the country for public awareness, taking all the illegally occupied ones under government control and distributing that among the legally deserving ones.
This too much disturbing problem of land dispute really needs early resolution in the greater interest of the society and economy.
Md Abdul Kader is Executive Director, Samata.
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