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Ahead of polls, Assam's Bodoland council launches land settlement mission
GUWAHATI
A mission to secure land rights for 47,000 indigenous landless families was launched in the poll-bound Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of Assam on Sunday.
The BTR is governed by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which has 46 seats, including six for nominated members from unrepresented communities. The elections to the BTC are expected by October.
'Recognising the intrinsic link between land and human dignity, the present BTR government embarked upon a comprehensive reform agenda that is as visionary as it is practical. Today, we are ensuring land rights for every bona fide citizen of the BTR, irrespective of caste, community, or historical disadvantage,' Pramod Boro, the Chief Executive Member of the BTC, said after the launch of Mission Bwiswmuthi 2.0.
Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya attended the event at Mushalpur, the headquarters of the Baksa district, about 105 km northwest of Guwahati. Baksa is one of the five districts of the BTR.
Mission Bwiswmuthi entails 20 services, six more than what Mission Bwiswmuthi 1.0 offered when it was launched two years ago as a portal enabling the BTR residents to apply for various land and revenue-related services online.
The services include settlement of various types of government land, professional grazing reserves and village grazing reserves to individual occupants; individual special cultivators (tea/rubber); and NGOs, self-help groups, and cooperative societies of special cultivators.
'The mission conforms to the amended provisions of Chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, and the spirit of inclusion as envisioned in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2003,' Mr. Boro said.
The BTC government received 1,90,000 applications for mutation, partition, reclassification, and conversion of land after it launched Mission Bwiswmuthi 1.0. Of these, 1,64,000 applications were disposed of in favour of the indigenous landless people, mainly living in the tribal blocks and belts.
There are 47 designated tribal belts and blocks within the BTR. An additional 19 such areas lie outside its ambit.
'More than 47,000 landless families will directly benefit from the second edition of our flagship mission. They include some 9,000 small tea growers and rubber farmers,' Mr. Boro, also the president of the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), said.
He called it a significant step before the end of his government's five-year term, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a developed India by 2047.
Some 8,000 small tea gardens spread across 2,239.04 hectares stand to gain from the initiatives under Mission Bwiswmuthi 2.0. These gardens, a vital source of livelihood, collectively produce nearly 9,95,92,875 kg of green tea leaves annually.
The UPPL heads the BTC's coalition government. Its partners are the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Gana Suraksha Party.
