Land of a Billion

Welcome to Season 2 of The Quint's fortnightly podcast, Land of a Billion. I'm Bhargavi Zaveri, your host for this season. Through this podcast, I'll be bringing you expert conversations about the most contentious of the holy roti-kapda-makaan trinity - that is the makaan over our heads, and the larger ecosystem that governs it. The Land of a Billion podcast is in essence an exercise to find out what it would take to secure land rights for the billion plus population that we have in India. Over the course of this season, I'll be in conversations with government officials, researchers and the people, to unpack and understand the various issues that affect our access to land and housing in India.

Catch the launch of our first episode for this Season on October 1st on Apple podcasts, Google podcast, Spotify, JioSaavn or any of your preferred platforms for podcasts. This podcast is produced in association with the Property Rights Research Consortium (PRRC), supported by Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focused on social impact."

Host: Bhargavi Zaveri

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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In our last few episodes, we have dived deep into various issues that concern property rights - from discussing the extent and impact of weak property rights on slum dwellers in Mumbai, Scheduled Tribes across India and tenant farmers among others to attempting to understand the various solutions that we could potentially employ to solve some of these issues. 

 

However, an important aspect that remains to be covered, especially when we talk about property rights in India is land reforms.  

 

 

What kind of challenges do we face when it comes to land governance in India? How do these challenges affect agricultural productivity or housing opportunities? Could markets work for land the way they do for labor and capital? What impact might this have on India’s economic trajectory?

In this episode of the ‘Land of a Billion’ podcast, we speak with former IAS officer, Dr. KP Krishnan, who is currently the IEPF Chair Professor in Regulatory Economics at NCAER and the Steering Committee Chair at the Property Rights Research Consortium. A former civil servant, Dr. Krishnan has previously served as the Union Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the Special & Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development among other positions. We talk about the land reforms that India has witnessed over the past few decades and explore their impact on the country’s economy.

Tune in to know more!

Host: Abhishek Shah 

Guest: Dr. KP Krishnan, IEPF Chair Professor in Regulatory Economics at NCAER and the Steering Committee Chair at the Property Rights Research Consortium.

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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As urban areas became the epicentres of COVID-19, it sparked several conversations about the frailties of Indian cities — the lack of affordable housing, the lack of adequate social safety nets, public health risks owing to poor sanitation, and most importantly, the vulnerabilities of informal settlements.

To what extent are our urban policies successful in assuring access to housing and services among vulnerable sections? How do the underlying governance frameworks in our cities affect the outcomes of these policies? Can secure land rights catalyse our transition towards more inclusive and resilient urban centers?

Why is it that despite many affordable public housing schemes like the Central Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), a large number of houses built under them remain unoccupied? Why haven’t they been able to effectively manage the gaps in affordable housing? Further, in the private housing market, why is it that a large number of landlords intentionally leave their houses vacant despite significant demand for housing?

In this episode of the ‘Land of a Billion’ podcast, we try to unpack such housing paradoxes in our cities, and we look at the underlying issues that the pandemic has put forth around effective affordable housing and sustainable urban planning.

Tune in to know more!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest: Vaidehi Tandel, Independent Researcher, Junior Fellow at IDFC Institute

Sahil Gandhi, Fellow at CSEP & Post-Doctoral scholar, University of Southern California.

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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With farmers at the forefront of the political discourse today, what are some of the more structural issues which are a part of the larger ecosystem of agriculture in India?

For instance, with leasing out of agricultural land prohibited or restricted in most parts of the country - how does this affect the actual tiller of the land? Are they entitled to the same benefits as land-owning farmers? How do these laws affect the agricultural productivity in our country?

In this context, we talk about the Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act drafted by NITI Aayog's special cell on land policy in 2016, and how it could help address some of the issues affecting farmers in our country today. Five years from when the Model Act was drafted, we look at what have been some of the broad conversations around the proposed tenancy reforms, including some of the criticisms against the Act. Tune in!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest: Dr T Haque, Agricultural economist & former Head of the Land Policy cell, NITI Aayog

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Forests, regarded both as safeguards of biodiversity, as well as rich reserves of valuable resources, are often subject to unique laws and policies- especially when it comes to forest land. Since the colonial period, India has witnessed a continued conflict between indigenous forest dwelling populations and large resource extraction drives.

For the forest-dwelling tribal communities, the forests and their land, beyond being their sources of livelihood are also at the heart of their cultural practices, beliefs and identities. On the other hand, the resource extraction drives from these forests are seen to be critical for the country's economic development. In this context, with complex power dynamics at play, how do forest dwelling populations defend their rights over their land and resources?

In this episode we look at the various aspects of a landmark legislation: The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and the role it has played in ensuring inclusive land rights for all Indians. Tune in!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest: Dr Geetanjoy Sahu, Associate Professor at the Centre for Science, Technology and Society at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai,

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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The anxiety that comes with buying a plot of land or a house, is one that a majority of Indians are familiar with. Am I being quoted a fair price for this property? Is this seller or builder a genuine party? Am I going to be the next victim of fraud in the property market?

At an administrative level, these concerns are further magnified. With a population of more than 1.2 billion, spread over 600,000 villages and thousands of cities and towns in India, one can imagine the kind of serious challenges that the government grapples with when it comes to property regulation.

In this episode of the ‘Land of a Billion’ podcast, we have with us the founders of two startups in the property rights space who have been exploring how technology can help address some of these pressing property rights related problems.

Tune in!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest:

Kshitij Batra, Founder of Terra Economics and Analytics Labs

Ashwani Rawatis the co-founder at Transerve Technologies

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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As the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown heavily impacted the economy, to address the impact on the agricultural sector and fears over food security, the central government announced emergency direct transfer of funds to farmers through the PM KISAN scheme. Looking at the instrumental role that such welfare distribution frameworks play in times of crises, how can states implement such measures efficiently? How do such schemes work and how can they be improved?

Government welfare distribution schemes use a number of criteria to identify eligible beneficiaries. In many cases, the beneficiaries are required to furnish a vast array of paperwork in order to prove their eligibility for availing the benefit. As you listen on, you’ll see why this becomes a potential roadblock to efficient distribution.

In comparison, the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana bypasses such roadblocks, and beneficiaries who were interviewed reported high degrees of satisfaction with the scheme. How did the RBS manage this? And what role did land records play here?

In this episode of the ‘Land of a Billion’ podcast, we look at the connection between farmer welfare schemes and land records. Specifically, we use the example of Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu Scheme to understand how such schemes can be optimised by using land records to streamline the beneficiary identification criteria.

Tune in to find out!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest: Ms. Bhargavi Zaveri and Ms. Diya Uday are researchers at the Finance Research Group (FRG). They are also the authors of the paper, ‘Linking welfare distribution to land records: a case-study of the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) in Telangana’ 

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Surveying and mapping land have long served as the foundation for effective governance and administration.

However, in large parts of rural India, while there are records of agricultural lands, no records exist of other inhabited lands, until now. In October, amid much fanfare, the Prime Minister physically distributed property cards to over 1 lakh land holders of such inhabited rural lands (abadi land).

 

Why is it that abadi land had not been mapped until now? And now that it is being mapped and documented using drone surveys, what does it mean for the inhabitants, and for the villages/Panchayats that these lands are located in?

In this episode, we look at the Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s recently launched scheme, SVAMITVA Yojana as we speak with A P Nagar, who is the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Govt. Of India. Nagar brings to fore the thought and planning behind designing such a scheme and helps outline how the scheme aims to plug the existing gaps with property rights in rural India today. Tune in!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Guest: Alok Prem Nagar, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Govt. Of India.

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Two out of every five people in Mumbai live in slums today. The sight of large clusters of blue tarped sheets over tinned walls is one that Indians are largely familiar with, just as we are familiar with the stories of slum residents’ vulnerability to fires, forced evictions, and even the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Why do we have such a large population of Mumbai living in slums, even though Mumbai has over 2 lakh houses lying vacant? How does the government cope with the dilemma of condoning illegal squatters while also having the mandate to provide welfare for the poor?

In episode 1 of Land of a Billion, we look at Mumbai’s housing crisis as we speak with Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a current member of Legislative Assembly, and Dr Amita Bhide, Professor and Dean of School of Habitat Studies, Centre for Environmental Health, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

Tune in now!

Host: Abhishek Shah

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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The 'Land of a Billion' podcast aims to look at the various issues that challenge our secure access to land, housing and property rights in India, by bringing together leading policymakers, economists, and social workers, to delve into the stories, policies, laws, and economics around land and property. Tune in every other Monday!

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