GS Paper: GS3-11.Land Reforms in India

Why in the News

The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh has approved the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Nautor Regularisation) Rules, 2026. The Rules create a one time mechanism to grant proprietary rights over nautor land to the people already occupying it, across all seven districts of the Union Territory. Eligibility is pegged to possession taken before 27 October 2020, the date on which the Jammu and Kashmir Tenancy Act, 1980 was repealed. The power to allot the land is vested in the elected Hill Councils rather than in the Union Territory administration. The stated aim is to balance the interests of genuine occupants against the protection of public and Council land from encroachment, which is the line the Rules must now hold in a territory where more than 60,000 acres sit in this single revenue category.

What is nautor land?

1. The category: Nautor land is barren land or wasteland owned by the government.
2. How it came to be occupied: Such land was historically allotted to individuals for cultivation or other productive use.
3. The scale in Ladakh: More than 60,000 acres in Ladakh is presently recorded in revenue records as nautor holdings.
4. The gap the Rules address: Occupants held and worked the land without proprietary title over it.

What do the 2026 Rules provide?

1. A proprietary grant with a ceiling: Proprietary rights may be granted over up to 10 acres of eligible nautor land to the occupant.
2. A leasehold route above the ceiling: Nautor land beyond the 10 acre limit may be allotted on a leasehold basis.
3. A single cut off date: Regularisation is available only for land occupied before 27 October 2020, and any possession taken after that date is ineligible.
4. Uniform application: The framework applies to occupants across all seven districts of Ladakh.
5. A one time exercise: The mechanism is available once, and does not create a standing route to regularise later occupation.

Where do the Hill Councils get the power to allot this land?

1. Transfer of land to the Council: Under Section 42 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, land within a district stands transferred to the Council.
2. Executive power over allotment: Clause (i) of Section 23 of the same Act vests executive powers in the Council in relation to the allotment, use and occupation of land vested in it.
3. What this changes in practice: Title over former government wasteland is granted by an elected district body rather than by the Union Territory revenue administration.

What changes for an occupant once title is granted?

1. Legal certainty over possession: A recorded proprietary right replaces occupation that rested on an old allotment or on long use.
2. The land becomes a financial asset: Titled land can be pledged, so an occupant can use it to avail bank loans.
3. Two grades of right, not one: An occupant above the ceiling receives a lease rather than ownership, so the holding remains Council land.
4. A boundary against fresh claims: The cut off is what separates a genuine holder from a claim raised after the repeal of the tenancy law.

Challenges to the nautor regularisation framework

1. Proving possession before a cut off date: Regularisation turns on documentary proof of occupation before a date five years past, in a territory where much land is recorded simply as government wasteland. Eg. Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, individual claims were rejected in large numbers across hill States for want of documentary proof of occupation before the statutory cut off.
   The Fix: Allow the Hill Council to accept community verified evidence of possession, including village records and dated satellite imagery of cultivation, in place of a title deed.
2. Common grazing land can be enclosed as private holdings: High altitude pasture carries no individual title and is recorded in the same wasteland category the Rules open up. Eg. The Changpa herders of Changthang, who rear the goats that supply pashmina, depend on open rangeland held by no individual.
   The Fix: Exclude recorded grazing land and migratory routes from eligibility, and settle common pasture rights in the name of the village before individual titles issue.
3. Cultivation expands where water does not: Bringing more barren land under the plough in a cold desert raises demand on streams that already run short at sowing time. Eg. Ice stupas were developed in Ladakh to store winter water precisely because glacier fed channels do not deliver water when spring sowing begins.
   The Fix: Condition regularisation of land held for cultivation on a water availability assessment by the district administration.
4. A safeguard made by rule can be unmade by rule: The eligibility limits and the cut off sit in subordinate rules, so the same executive authority can revise them later. Eg. Ladakh’s demand for constitutional safeguards on land and employment has been under discussion with the Ministry of Home Affairs since 2023.
   The Fix: Carry the ceiling, the cut off and the exclusion of common land into primary legislation, so the terms of allotment are not alterable by executive rule making.

Conclusion

The Rules are approved and the allotment power now rests with the Hill Councils in every district of Ladakh. Notification settles the framework but not its outcome, since the exercise runs on claims that must be verified holding by holding. The markers to watch are the district level verification process the Councils adopt, and whether common pasture is fenced off from the exercise before individual titles begin to issue.

Back2Basics: Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils

1. What they are: Elected district councils exercising devolved powers over local development and land use in Ladakh.
2. Their statutory basis: They function under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997.
3. Where they exist: The Leh Council was constituted in 1995 and the Kargil Council in 2003.
4. Their composition: Each Council has 30 members, of whom 26 are directly elected and four are nominated, with a term of five years.

[2023, GS3, 10 marks] State the objectives and measures of land reforms in India. Discuss how land ceiling policy on landholding can be considered as an effective reform under economic criteria”