Movement of rural population to urban areas is a direct result of the process of industrialization. It consumes land and leads to concentrated population centers, which often give rise to slum areas within the peripheries of big cities and up coming industrial areas. Pressure on land particularly agricultural land is increasing. Our State is not an exception to this phenomenon.
Kashmir valley is a small tract of land barely 80 miles long and 30 miles wide. It is densely populated. its agricultural land is very limited. Scarcity of land has resulted in escalation of land price. Under these pressures people are living in towns lacking proper planning, sanitary and hygienic requirements. The serious question is of housing and development in accordance with the prescriptions of town planning. In Kashmir valley, cultivation of paddy is the mainstay of her agricultural pursuit. Horticulture comes next. In Jammu region wheat cultivation is widely common in the plains and in kandi areas maize and pulses are grown. Paddy cultivation needs functional irrigation network, which is complimenting Agricultural Department. Conversion of such lands as produce primary products like paddy, wheat, maize or pulses into non-agricultural lands that are usually meant for construction of houses, structures, Government buildings and industrial units drastically make us dependable on imported food grains, vegetables and fruits. This is not balanced economy.
In view of this the legislators had brought a bill titled “Jammu and Kashmir Prohibition on Conversion of Agricultural Land for Non-Agricultural Purposes’ in the budget session of 2011. But the complicacy of the bill is such that it has been receiving somersaults with the legislature, the Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. There are two aspects of this issue. The first is that existing Land Reform Acts of the State do provide the stipulation of disallowing conversion of Agricultural to non-agricultural land. What was the need of bringing in another bill almost for the same purpose for which the Act exists? Secondly, why did not the sponsors of the bill take into account the results obtained from the existing land reforms that too prohibit conversion of land into non-agricultural land? Had they made a deep and objective study of existing laws, perhaps they would have saved the House from wasting its precious time on a futile debate.
Also the question arises that if the laws for forbidding conversion of land do exist, why are not these implemented in letter and spirit and why new laws are required to be framed? Will not the new laws meet with the same fate if made under pressure?
But apart from this, the vital question is that the population is increasing, land is limited and opportunities of employment of the youth are limited. Industrialization will change the entire demographic complexion of our State. It has already begun to show off. Thousands of Kashmiris have moved out of Kashmir valley and are making a living away from their birthplace. Thousand of them have built residential houses in Jammu urban areas and other parts of the country. They have spread far and wide in search of livelihood, business, and education or training. This is because they know how congested the space in the Valley is.
That the bill “Jammu and Kashmir Prohibition on Conversion of Agricultural Land for Non-Agricultural Purposes has run into difficulty is not something very surprising. The Government is not clear what policy it should adopt in view of extended developmental projects that are being announced intermittently. Development in all dimensions, which is at the bottom of broad concepts for future generations, requires land, labour, capital and organization as the preliminaries. This is the simplest rule of economics. Legislators and politicians want development of Kashmir along modern scientific technology and planning. Land is the first casualty of new industrial schemes. Therefore the legislators, politicians and senior Government functionaries have to sit together to sort out the issues. Fresh legislation on the question of prohibiting conversion of paddy lands and orchards into non-agricultural land should be done only after the expert opinion is doled out.
There seems little hope that the bill will come up for final decision in one of the two sessions, which the Legislature shall have before the next Assembly election in 2014. The Assembly will have to advise the Government on an issue that admits lot of controversy.viz. Will industrial and physical development of the State keep pace with the availability of the land required for the purpose of development?
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