BJP states beat Congress governments in land title rollout

NEW DELHI: BJP-ruled states have marched ahead of Congress states in the implementation of UPA government’s pet initiative Forest Rights Act.

The initiative, which had seen states dragging their feet over distribution of land titles to tribals in remote areas, has got a sudden fillip under Modi government with BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra marching way past Congress’ Karnataka and Kerala in giving land titles.

The latest report collated by tribal affairs ministry for April 2016 reveals that not a single Congress ruled state figures in the top 10 in terms of distribution of titles. Odisha has distributed the most number of land titles in absolute numbers, followed by Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura.

With Prime Minister’s Office regularly monitoring the progress, BJP-ruled states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat feature in the top 10 states for land title distribution. Congress-ruled states of Karnataka and Uttarakhand have very poor implementation. Though Karnataka received 3.72 lakh claims from tribals comparable to Maharashtra’s 3.56 lakh, it distributed a mere 2.23%of land titles. Uttarakhand has received 182 claims but has not distributed a single title under Forest Rights Act.