With the ever growing numbers of landless squatters, one is forced to ask if this problem will ever go away
The government is all set to distribute land to the landless by prioritising the Dalits, with the National Land Commission (NLC) calling for applications beginning February 1. In a notice issued by the commission, it has invited applications from landless Dalits, squatters and unmanaged inhabitants, who must submit their applications within 35 days from February 1. Nepal has a large number of landless squatters, said to be in the range of 1.5-1.7 million, in 40 districts and record-keeping in the other remaining districts, according to the erstwhile dissolved Landless Squatters Problems Resolution Commission. However, this time, the National Land Commission is calling for applications from squatters living in only 68 local levels from 27 districts for land from the government. As per the NLC, land being possessed and cultivated by the landless Dalits and squatters will be transferred to them with land ownership certificates following the due process.
The issue of landless squatters is not new, and it has existed since the days of the partyless Panchayat days. With the ever growing numbers of landless squatters in the country, one is forced to ask if this problem will ever go away, and if distributing countless hectares of land is the solution. Moreover, with each successive government forming a land commission of its own, it has become highly politicised.
Rather than being a body for finding a permanent solution to the issue of landless squatters, it has become no more than a recruiting ground for party cadres. Since multiparty democracy was restored in the country in 1990, more than a dozen such commissions have been formed, but less than half have actually done anything to distribute land to the landless families. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, some 31,000 hectares of land have been handed out to 150,000 families in the last decades. Almost half of this land distribution took place under the Lumsali Commission, formed during the ninemonth rule of the UML in 1995. Among the landless in Nepal, there are squatters as well as unplanned dwellers, the latter making up about four times the former. Landlessness among the Dalits, both in the hills and the Tarai, is very high, or even when they do own land, the landholding is very small, thus requiring the government to give special attention to this category of citizens.
It is to be hoped that the present National Land Commission will work in earnest to distribute land to the genuine landless and not invite controversy as on past occasions. The commission is said to have already developed the criteria and standard for identification and verification of landless Dalits, squatters and unmanaged inhabitations. Actually, the Commission on Resolving Land Related Problems, formed by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli government, had developed a dedicated software to track persons who might be applying for land even when they possessed a plot in some part of the country. The success of the land distribution scheme will largely rest on how well the commission can coordinate with the local levels in identifying genuine squatters and not leaving anyone out.
Use compost fertiliser
The government has asked farmers to use chemical fetilisers wisely as there is an acute shortage of them in the international market and their prices have also increased in recent times. The government has not been able to import the required quantity of chemical fertilisers, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic and excessive prices of DPA, urea and potash, the commonly used fertilisers by the farmers.
These are needed to get a good harvest of paddy and winter crops, such as wheat and maize.
Although the government has allocated Rs 15 billion for this fiscal for the purchase of the chemical fertilisers, it has failed to procure them due to dilly-dallying by the contractors. Now, the government has asked the farmers to switch to manure fertiliser to increase agro productivity. This is, however, easier said than done. The government should encourage the private sector to set up manure fertiliser plants in all the provinces, and all the municipalities could also produce compost fertiliser by using decomposable items. The government should come up with a long-term policy to encourage the private sector to produce compost fertiliser on a large scale so that the farmers do not need to rely on imported fertilisers.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.