Honour Killing-a slur on the society

                     “Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a                                        beginning, all fear of an end.” – Madame de Stael

 

Haryana is infamous for killing its daughters. Efforts are made her to kill in the womb or as if she survived somehow, new born is subject to perpetrating inhuman and callous mindset. Even if she survives the first two big salvos, she is killed at the doorstep of her youthhood. The ignominy of killing its daughters is not on vane but abysmally on rise. This indicates that people are of animalistic mindset and no voice of opposition is heard from any quarter whether it is social organizations or political dispensation. Boasting is the typical character of this barbaric Haryanvi society. The government and its advocates fondly claim that Haryana is number 1 in economic front on many indicators but forget to mention that the state is competing in garnering the number 1 spot of killing its young ones. Big claims are made of brotherhood amongst 36 biradaries for centuries and it will be maintained through socio-political approach. But truth is that the lip service is made to garner the votes of the highly fragmented society on caste lines. And this fragmentation witnessed a sharp increase in the caste conglomeration primarily spearheaded by the political dispensation. The heads of leaders of different castes are joined on the platforms showing the pseudo oneness. Fact is that the so-called socio-political leaders at grassroot level or village are the torchbearer of spreading hatred and canard amongst the already fragile society. The young men and women are preached and trained to safeguard and maintain the static hierarchical social order. These young minds spread this venom vehemently in the institutions where they go or amongst their peers. The intolerance, pseudo caste honor and mindset of belonging to a particular caste and clan is hardened and reflects in the social discourse.

Honor killings clearly, the continuing shame of India despite the country’s major advances in several domains – are powered by the status and pride among individuals over the castes, sub-castes and religions they belong to. Utmost importance is given to the ‘purity’ of the family and that of ‘sense of belonging’ to a particular social segment has led to the most abhorrent outcome of patriarchy in the form of ‘honor killings’.

Unprecedent incidents of honor killings were appeared in the columns of newspapers in the month of June and July as if gushing water breaks the barrage. 27 year old Saravjeet Kaur was killed by her parents in village Nijadela Kalan of Sirsa district by her father and brother on she having a connect with a youth of nearby village despite opposition of her family. Komal was mercilessly killed by her adolescent brother, just 17 years old because she married with a boy of lower caste in Kaithal. The height of his criminal's mindset reflects when he shared a video on social media. A newly married couple, Tejvir and Meena was brutally murdered in a park oh Hansi in full public view. The couple initially availed the police protection but life can’t be run in four-walls, it needs certain livelihood to pull and prove the love. A youth was murdered in Rewari when he visited his love-interest and another Youngman, Gaurav Malik was murdered in Banchari village of Palwal district when he visited to his in-laws after around one and half month of marriage.

The spectrum of incidents clearly indicates that the virus of honor killing is inflicting the society in the cross-breadth of Haryana. The killers in all the reported cases within a short span of hardly one month shows that family of either girl or boy is involved in the heinous crime.   

‘Honor killing’ also called ‘shame killing’ is the murder of an individual, mostly by the victim’s own family members, to protect the ‘dignity’ and ‘honor’ of the family when it involves inter-caste, inter-religious marriages or relationships. In most cases, the victim is a woman, although in several cases the man/boy is also targeted. The victims in most cases are from lower castes of the society, if he is boy and girl, if she belongs to upper caste or both boy and girl if they belongs to the same caste or different upper castes.

Although honor killing cases are more prevalent in a few North Indian states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand and Punjab, but Haryana has attained a unique kind of notoriety in honor killings. Now, this virus is spreading its tenterhooks in the southern states too. One of the late spread of this virus could be iron curtain raised between the castes and communities which couldn’t manifest because of variety of reasons but now youths, both boy and girl are coming in contact in the era of social media and internet which made easy access and interaction. As per the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of honor killings reported in India was 25 each in 2019 and 2020, and 33 in 2021. But these figures are based on those reported, and the number could be much higher than mentioned as most cases go unreported. These crimes take place throughout the world and are not limited to one specific religion or faith. However, they have rather significantly and consistently occurred in various parts of the Middle East and South Asia, with nearly half of all honor killings occurring in India and Pakistan.

Honor killing could be better understood that it is done to “eradicate the dishonor and shame brought by family members”, especially a woman by marrying or seeking a life partner belonging to a “lower caste”, which they feel does not “match” their social status. It is based on a fear of being ‘out-casted’ if such relationships are allowed, and there have been several cases where families have been humiliated for allowing a girl to marry outside, especially someone from a “lower caste”. Honor killing is nothing but a ‘‘planned murder’’ to safeguard the honor and prestige of a family to prevent it from “falling in the eyes” of members of the social segment they belong to.

While honor killings receive clandestine support and license from certain ‘respected’ quarters within the social group to which the perpetrators belong, there is no law to specifically deal with honor killing. The crime is dealt with as ‘murder’. Unfortunately, the law sees ‘honor killing’ as murder, not a larger conspiracy that ends up killing the innocent with a certain degree of social backing.

In Haryana, such crimes have the blessings of bodies like the Khap Panchayats, which provide extra-constitutional blessings for ‘honour killings’. They ignore Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution, dealing with the right to equality and not allowing discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, gender or place of birth, respectively. The Constitution’s Article 19 provides the right to freedom, while Article 21 grants the right to life, which honour killings directly violate with the blessings of family elders. It also violates the rights of individuals to choose a life partner, irrespective of which caste or religion he or she belongs to.

The Supreme Court in 2006 observed: “We sometimes hear of ‘honor’ killings of such persons who undergo inter-caste or inter-religious marriages of their own free will. There is nothing honorable in such killings, and in fact, they are nothing but barbaric and shameful acts of murder committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons who deserve harsh punishment. Only in this way can we stamp out such acts of barbarism.”

It noted: “In our opinion, such acts of violence of threats or harassment are wholly illegal, and those who commit them must be severely punished. This is a free and democratic country, and once a person becomes a major, he or she can marry whosoever he/she likes. If the parents of the boy or girl do not approve of such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage, the maximum they can do is cut off social relations with the son or daughter, but they cannot harass the person who undergoes such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage.”

Most often, it involves the murder of a woman or girl by male family members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought dishonor or shame upon the family name, reputation or prestige. Honor killings are believed to have originated from tribal customs. It seems that society has grown only in the sphere of material gains, hollow educational system, no cultivation of science’s accomplishments in the social behavior and belief. No social movement is in evidence, not even the voice of resentment, opposition and condemnation is heard from the social and political organization. The movement for economic demands have been witnessed in last 2-3 years but not a small demonstration was held against the decaying social values. The perpetrators of such heinous crime as that of honor killings are found to decorate the stage along the political leaders of different parties. Whom they will Fear? Glaring is the fact that law enforcing contingent comes from the same segment of the society with similar mindset who himself or herself believes trans caste and religion marriages as aberration and sin. Who will enforce the provisions of the constitution of equity and freedom of mate selection for the adult human being? Can the the youth be deterred from the love plunge? Can the honor killings forbade the youths not to fell in love? Love is an emotion that's highly abstract and has potential to entice the beloved as if a favored hunt. Martin Luther King Jr. Propounded that “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  

 

 

Politics is male fiefdom-women need a capstan to sail in the deep water of politics. Will the status change or it'll go like that unabated?

     It is an agony and irony of our time that women are treated just as a clog in the machine of family and society not the essential part of it, let this concept of inequality put on hold for the sake of discussion, for the time being and discuss the matter of women  in larger prospective. It is extremely derogatory and insulting for the women and glaring to note that in the end of first quarter of 21st century., women are treated as if subjugate not equal. It is more degusting when it is heard from the mouth of a lawmaker that they are worthless and incapable to pull the exigencies of politics even if they come from the established political family. Recently a strange and misogynistic statement appeared in the columns of newspapers and  broadcasted on electronic news media that women are not capable to spearhead the political legacy. Perpetuator of this distasteful and anti women statement was not an ordinary man but a four time elected member of parliament from Hisar and had been an MLA of state assembly on three occasions, Sh. Jai Prakash aka JP.  He considers himself a great political strategist and claims to know the pulse of  electorates. The comment was made by him against Smt. Kiran Chaudhary, a four time MLA from Haryana and once in Delhi and her daughter who is a daughter of tall political leader of Haryana till his death in a plane crash, Sh. Surender Singh and grand daughter of Sh. Bansi Lal, the third Chief Minister of Haryana and considered as architect of modern Haryana. 

    Making a political statement is the right of any politician or even of an ordinary national. Freedom of speech is guaranteed in the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution of India. Moreover, to make a point out of incidents happening around is expected from an MLA or MP. Making a reference to an incident of change or switch over of a fellow political leader to some other political party with vested interest and political gain is genuine and worth criticism. In fact, its not the first incident, every now and then, political leaders cross over to other political dispensation, sometime by their own sweet will for their own gain or compelled by the rival ruling party to cross over for the political and tactical move of that party and now it has become a norm of the today's political scenario. The MP throwing a salvo against his opponent has crossed over many a time through defection. It is a common belief of the most of  ordinary people of Haryana including his supporters that he can do anything for the maintenance of his political existence and for retaining political ground. The political environment of India today has reached at the lowest ebb where people forgotten  to notice who is in which political party because bourgeoise political parties have lost the ideological distinction. A new term has been coined to justify their disdain philosophy 'home coming' . It is beyond understanding for what this hue and cry.

    But the comment of Sh. Jai Prakash, recently elected MP from Hisar fourth time that 'political legacy of Bansi Lal can't be sustained by women in our patriarchal society where women are not considered heir'. The comment is highly objectionable and obnoxious, against the dignity and self-esteem of women, disgraceful and disrespectful for the women at large. It is the reflex of skewed, feudalistic and patriarchal mindset to favour the males in society and in particular of political arena and a deliberate and conscious outburst to put the women and girls at the lowest pedestal of social hierarchy. It can't restricted merely a political statement. It is the orchestrated and  well thought discourse of a section of political leadership across the political spectrum of today's. It's the reflection of male psych to preserve the order of male dominance in every sphere and walk of life.  

    It is a blatant tendency to revert the gains of women's emancipation, multifaceted journey, spanning at least two centuries to bring social, cultural and political changes. This mindset is the negation of  social, educational and legislation  reforms perpetuated by social reformist like Mahatma Phule, Raja Ram Mohan rai, Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar etc. for the change and improve the status of women in Indian Society. Women's participation in freedom struggle was encouraged and assimilated by the leaders acknowledging the fact that women constitute the half of the society. Leaders like Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Kamladevi Chatopadhyay were actively involved in freedom struggle. Durga Bhabhi was an integral part of the Indian Independence Movement spearheaded by Bhagat Singh who played a significant role for the escape of Bhagat Singh from Amritsar in 1919. For involving in decision making and to enhance political participation in local bodies, 73rd and 74th amendment was made in constitution. A piquant demand is constantly and consistently raised to extend the reservation of seats for women in legislatures. 

    India has witnessed the great women politician such as Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kriplani, Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, Aruna Asif Ali, Indira Gandhi, J. Jailalitha, Mamta Banerjee, Sonia Gandhi, Pratibha Patil, Sushma Swaraj, Brida Karat,to name a few and numerous others. The representation of women in parliament and state assemblies dwindle between 10-15% and not more than 20% at anytime. The lesser representation of women in legislatures is the outcome of lesser opportunities provided to women to contest the elections. The Indian parliamentary system  and societal mindset is  attuned in such a manner that women can't participate in the political decision making. 

    As of today, out of 195 counties of world, only 27 countries where women serve as Heads of State and/or Government. Just 18 countries have a woman Head of State, and 15 countries have a woman Head of Government. Only 26.9 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women, up from 11 per cent in 1995. Only six countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda (61 per cent), Cuba (56 per cent), Nicaragua (54 per cent), Andorra (50 per cent), Mexico (50 per cent), New Zealand (50 per cent), and the United Arab Emirates (50 per cent). Women hold 36 per cent of parliamentary seats in Latin America and the Caribbean and make up 33 per cent of parliamentarians in Europe and Northern America. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 27 per cent of women legislators, followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 23 per cent, Oceania with 20 per cent, Central and Southern Asia and Northern Africa and Western Asia where, in both regions, women make up 18 per cent of women Members of Parliament.

    As per a UN report, women represent 23.3 per cent of Cabinet members heading Ministries, leading a policy area.  There are only 15 countries in which women hold 50 per cent or more of the positions of Cabinet Ministers leading policy areas. The five most commonly held portfolios by women Cabinet Ministers are Women and gender equality, followed by Family and children affairs, Social inclusion and development, Social protection and social security, and Indigenous and minority affairs.

    In recent concluded elections in India, the number of women contesting general elections has increased from 2.9 per cent in 1957 to nearly 10 per cent in 2024.This marked a steady increase from previous elections, 7 per cent in 2009, 8 per cent in 2014, and 9 per cent in 2019. The success rate of women contestants has varied over the decades. The 18th Lok Sabha (2024) had 74 women elected MPs in Lok Sabha which is over 13.62 per cent of the lower house. although strength marginal dropped from the 17th Lok Sabha, which had the highest female representation at over 14 per cent.

    It is apparent that most of the representation of the  females in parliament, particularly in Lok Sabha is of political lineage or purported by established political families and a select few represents the tinsel world. Ordinary Indian has a remote chance to enter the parliament or state legislature, what to say of women against whom citadel of second fiddle has been erected.  The perpetuation and spearhead of a campaign against women by the politician like Jai Prakash will have a cascading effect. This time it happened in public but it is continuing  unabated in the hindsight in the social milieu. The more distressing is to note that no leader of a stature of big political parties come forward to condemn the malicious and undignified posture taken by an elected representative of one of the biggest and oldest party which has elected 5 women presidents  in Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Nellie Sengupta, Indira Gandhi (twice) and Sonia Gandhi (for 20 long years). 

    It seems that political will to emancipate the women from the cudgel of feudalistic and regressive traditional approach which exist in the form of patriarchal mindset is lacking or just for the lip service to garner the votes. Women are not the living entity but the things, they are not the partner for making progress and advancement of the society but simply a partner in sharing bed and produce the children preferably male to run the ancestry of family and pseudo pride, women can not be considered as torch bearer of their family in general and political family in particular. It is just not a political statement but a skewed mindset against the women and girls to show them their real place in today's Haryana in particular and India in general. No voice of dissent is the testimony of it. Is this was the vision of Indian constitution and democracy!

        What B. R. Ambedkar observed and wished for the women is still a distant dream in the field of women emancipation who emphatically said while putting the Hindu Code Bill on the table of parliament for discussion "I measure the progress of community by the degree of progress which women have achieved." 

 

Choice of mate selection : a forbidden outcry for girls in general and in particular of Haryanavi girls

We are in the closing of first quarter of 21st century. India has attained its political independence more than 75 years ago. It is claimed that we are the largest democracy in the world. We were 33 crore in 1947 and now our number swelled to 142 crore, of which approximately half is constituted by women. The political independence has opened the gates of economic, educational, cultural and gates of liberal thoughts to the women also to some extent, if not equivalent to their men counterparts. Certainly, position has improved significantly in the social milieu too. The constitution and many legislations and, statues have proved to advance the intervention of women in almost all walks of life. She is not the same as that of during the period of pre-independence or early part of the post- independence. Generally she is placed better in most parts of the country if compared to the early years of independence. At the same time she is also having harrowing experience in her personal life, if only the disbursement of economic benefits are considered. She is more poorer and has lesser reach of the meagre benefits of the economic development reaches the common man compared to her male counterparts within the bracket of family. She is dependent upon the men of her family for money or anything that can be bought by the money. It is a fact that she is equal partner of his man in earning these meagre and insignificant monies by hard toiling and shouldering without any complaints with men of her family. She works in factories, mines, agriculture fields, offices, domestic help- a newly created venture for her which is almost 100% reserved for her, she contributes equally in begging and solely made to engage in selling her limb in the treacherous flesh market. In nutshell, she is equal partner in any of the economic activity. Although, some specific fields are solely reserved for her. 

     When it comes to give her back the dividends what limited has attained in the form of whether it is education, health access, nutrition, dignified living, share in decision making etc. she is erased mercilessly what may be the strata of the society. She is reduced to a tool to garner money through her labour potential, to warm the beds of her man, produce children, gratify the social ego of men being his as that of inherited or acquired property, she is made the symbol of honour which ironically not rest for herself as a woman. She is victim of female foeticide and if survives somehow, subjected to ills of any proportion. She is akin to weed that grow in agriculture fields with economic crops. To kill it though insecticides or pesticides and if even if survive, uprooted. She is that weed, on survival, decorate the platter to supplement the food to appease the taste buds. 

  Now the girls have a limited access to education what may if it is not at the level of boys but as the basic character of education, it makes one to think, analyze and create different many permutations and combinations of possible outcomes. Education has potential to activate the mental faculties of the person who has access to it, least maters the medium and it was accessed through. This nuance of education has made the girls to think and make decisions for themselves. It’s the other thing that in most cases they are unable to implement for their own benefits and good, if those are in contrary to so-called social norms. Girls of any strata of society are indulging in making such decisions for themselves for decades but in most cases they cannot afford to share with their parents or the family at least if those are pertain to choice of mate for them. For the larger part of social development and churning, they toed the line of thought and pronouncement of their elders and meekly succumbed to those dictates without saying a word and accepted those as their fate. This succumbing is glorified in vernacular tales, stories, kisse-kahaniyan and the film and television media not fend itself far behind in eulogizing this idea. Last decade is witnessed the shrinkage of world on alarming fast pace on the invent of internet, development of social media, easy reach to so-called obstinate and obscure contents which were highly restricted or can say no reach at all. Now everyone of any age segment can read, view and explore every possibility and have easy access to it. Today’s individual’s privacy is public. How can girls of any social milieu be put under iron curtain? This revolution in information technology has made its reach to girls not only of affluent section of society but also to the girls growing in the small non-descript rural hamlets even in far flung areas miles away from the cities and towns. The invention of the information technology was for the galvanize the economic development which it definitely fetched for the nations and societies across the world but it is the fact that it has given equally a potent weapon in the hands of creators of social media platforms like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and numerous others to reap the rich harvests of money which is in the pocket of common man. 

  What may be said of the ills of social media but none can deny the fact of its immense reach to young minds who not only explored it for creating connections world wide and allow themselves to be influenced by the alien cultures and in turn influenced the people who are coming in their contacts. Certainly, good effects have primacy of little ill one. Today, world has reduced into a global village where one can easily converse, talk and exchange knowledge and information without any hurdle. Today, all kind of information is available on one’s computer, laptop, tab, e-book and so many other gadgets. More interestingly, it is available on one’s 6” screen of mobile phones which are as if pocket dynamite. Alfred Nobel invented the dynamite to usher the new potential for human development and growth but it was used equally for the destruction by making atom bumbs. Likewise, IT inventions have changed the face of modern world. This new revolution has broken the inertia of thought process and interpersonal linkages. 

  Things are changing fast at world stage which are inclusive in nature and thereby, affecting the mindset, thought process, view towards life, personal independence, decision making for the self and how to use the physical body. The girls in general and girls of rural Haryana cannot remain aloof and alien. They have their own thought for their life and here the real duel raises its head. Social development lagged far behind if compared the thought process of young minds. The culture and social structure in rural Haryana is still spearheaded by the dictates of khaps or local self-styled so-called hegemonial leaders and families living therein are explicitly influenced by this behaviour, rather they are part of this  feudalistic approach and allow such elements to influence and decide the fate of their children when they choose some different path for their life. Its more true if girl is raising head. The whole system come forward laced with the false slogan of honour and pride of the society and forces and compels the girl to toe the line. If she resists it, her wellbeing, dignity and honour to her bodily sacrament is in danger and in most cases she becomes the victim who cannot say even a single word regarding what has been meted to her. The cases of honour killing are regularly occuring in different parts of Haryana. As per newpapers reports, 24 cases of honour killing reported in year 2019, 8 in 2020, 5 in 2021 whereas 3 and 7 in 2022 and 2023 respectively. These figures contemplate the ugly face of our society. However, how many cases gone unreported, none has an idea. 

  Glaring to note that when a girl somehow able to contact the police or women protection units which are working under different nomenclature through the Helplines, the response is very pathetic and frightening. Instead of rendering the timely help to save her and her dignity as a women, in most cases, she is looked upon as a rogue and ill character woman/girl, despite the fact that most of such units and agencies are led by women.  Although there is no surprise in it as they are the carrier of feudalistic and patriarchal thought and on the very first instance, advise the girl to surrender before the will of the society by citing different many moral lessons of varied hues. Interestingly, they are akin to the alternate host for the parasites to survive the parasite in the time of adverse situations. The police or women protection units are responsible to subvert the novel path adopted by a girl to decide for herself and her body. The girl who taken courage to fight the odds of the society and her family is made a harried lot to fend for herself or become a victim in the hands of someone else who comes in the garb of help or compel her to surrender before the system that will treat her as a thing and pose an example for the others. What may be the hurdles, the progress and growth imbibed by the girls through education and profound and vigorous body of knowledge accessed through new tools of information technology cannot be tamed for the indefinite time. One after the other girl will choose and challenge this rotten system for garnering of the basic right to decide for her life and how she wihses to use her body. No barrier in the shape of feudalistic and patriarchal approch will succeed in her fight which is demanding a small thing and that is the right to live her life as per wishes. 

Land Bank and it’s linkage with Aadhar or PPP : a way to strengthen the land administration

Land as an asset is unique because it is immovable, its value depends on its location, and with the growing population, its demand keeps increasing, while it’s supply is limited.  Access to land (or land rights) has a wide-ranging impact on livelihoods, industrial, economic, and social growth. The prestige of a person is attached to the land.  

Land ownership is broadly defined by the access to a land title.  A land title is a document that determines the ownership of land or an immovable property.  Having a clear land title protects the rights of the title holder against other claims made by anyone else to the property.  Land ownership is determined through various records such as sale deeds that are registered and record of rights (RoR) chiefly Jambandi and  mutations. Over the last few decades, the economy of the state has seen a shift from being agrarian based to becoming manufacturing and services based.  This has necessitated the development of infrastructure, and a shift in land use from agriculture to commercial, industrial, and residential. Land that was earlier used for farming is now being used to set up industries, power plants, manufacturing units, build roads, housing etc.

  More recently, land use is also changing due to urbanization and further expansion of such urban areas. At least 75% of the population of towns is engaged in non-agricultural work, and population density is on the rise. Rural areas are rapidly urbanizing. The housing shortage in urban areas is going on increasing. With the inner cities getting more crowded, in several cities, new housing is now being provided at the city boundaries.  The scarcity of affordable housing in urban areas drives the people to live in unauthorized colonies. The dwellers in these colonies do not have access to a clear land title, or any ownership rights.  

A benami transaction is one where a property is held by or transferred to a person but has been provided for or paid by another person.  Black money generated in the country gets invested in benami properties. Unclear titles and non-updated land records enable carrying out property transactions in a non-transparent way.  The Standing Committee on Finance (2015) examining the Benami Transactions Prohibition (Amendment) Bill, 2015 noted that generation of black money through benami transactions could be pre-empted and eliminated by digitization of land records and their regular updating.

Land administration essentially involves recording, processing and dissemination of information about the ownership, value, and use of land.   Broadly, such information can be classified as details of the property (jamabandi and mutations), spatial records (such as maps, boundary limits), and transaction records (registered sale deeds).

Land ownership can be determined through a set of documents.  These include:

i. the record of rights (RoR), which captures details such as the name of the land holder, the number and size of the  area, and kind of land,

ii. the registered sale deed to prove that the property has been sold from one person to the other, and the appropriate stamp duty on the sale have been paid,

iii.  survey documents to record a property’s boundaries and area, and prove that the property is listed in government records. These land records are stored and managed in the following manner:

1. Sale deed:  At the time of purchase of an immovable property (land or property), both the seller and buyer sign a sale deed (a non-judicial stamp paper of a prescribed amount).  Typically, a sale deed contains details of the property, market price of the property, and details of past transactions on the property.  The sale deed is registered under the Registration Act, 1908.  It is registered on a stamp paper, and the value of the stamp paper is known as stamp duty.  

Once the deed is registered, it reflects and deducts the share of seller from his or her holding and process of mutation (recording the transfer or change of title of a property in the land records) initiates which is generated and sanctioned by the Tehsildar in accordance with the laid down procedure. This change becomes the part of the record of rights.  Once the mutation/transfer comes into effect, the state government through the office of Tehsil provides documentary evidence of right over land in the form of mutation or through a copy of jamabandi. 

The sale deed only captures information on the transfer of ownership, and a few property details such as the area and cost of land. Other information related to land, property records, and related transactions is collected and maintained across various documents.  These include:

2. Record of Rights (RoR):  The RoR is the primary record that shows how rights on land are derived for the landowner and records the property’s transactions from time to time. It provides (i) names of all persons who have acquired some rights with regard to the land, (ii) the nature and limits of their rights, and (iii) kind of land.  These rights could be ownership, long-term leaseholds, or tenancy related.  The RoR may also capture information regarding loans taken by the occupant, details on the rights of the owner or occupant of the land, and any community or government rights on the land.

3. Spatial land records:  Spatial land records contain details of a property sketched on a map.  These include land boundaries, plot area, connectivity with roads, presence of water bodies, details of surrounding areas, land use (agricultural, residential, commercial, etc., and land topology. The property-level sketch is generally updated every time a new entry is made in the RoR document.  

    Department of Revenue and Disaster Management is entrusted with preparation and updating, preservation and protection and management of private, public and government properties in the form of land records since English times. It is the duty and responsibility of the department to find ways and means to discharge this role in a more meticulous and trustworthy manner. The advent of new electronic technology in the form of Aadhar and PPP (Parivar Pehchan Patra) has eased the access and utility of welfare and social security schemes through linkage with these new tools. Today, benefits of most of the schemes reaching to the people in transparent and timeline manner which has enthused the trust and confidence of the people. Aadhar and PPP linkage is needed to be harnessed for the land records to achieve following objectives:

Objectives of linking of land records with Aadhar or PPP

i. to curb the fraudulent transactions, tempering with the record of private and public property,

ii. to dissolve the centuries old system of manual identification of transactors and replacing it with trustworthy, secure, reliable and authentic system of establishing identification through Aadhar and PPP

iii. to lessen the litigation through full proof, authentic and more reliant and trustworthy mechanism of property registration by employing the access of true detail of landowners via Aadhar or PPP

iv. to provide an added authentication of true landowners in Record of Rights (RoR)

Nearly the entire Record of Rights (RoR) has been digitized in all the Tehsils of Haryana. Computerization of Land Record has ensured systematic maintenance and retrieval of land records. For linking of the land record with Aadhar or PPP, list of landowners is desired to be generated for collection of  mobile no., Aadhar no. and PPP no. of the landowners which will be collected manually by the patwaries or officials deputed for this purpose by district administration.   The ismaye malkan (list of landowners) of any village may be easily generated and provided by the NIC for collecting the details of mobile no., Aadhar and PPP of landowners.

 The process of enabling the link of Aadhar with land record may follow the steps given here under:  

1. NIC/ DIO will generate the complete list of landowners (ishmaye malkan) from the system of all the revenue estates of a Tehsil/district either khewatwise or alphabetically. It would be better if the list of owners is generated khewatwise because it will ease the patwari to identify the landowner either himself or with the help of numberdar or any other person/s in the village who have knowledge of the landowners in the village. The entries in khewatwise list may be more compared to the alphabetical list. The information may be generated in the format given below:

i. Ismaye malkan (list of landowners) khewatwise

Sr. no.	Name of landowner	Father’s name	Grandfather’s name	Khewat no.	Kind of land	Mobile no.	Aadhar no.	PPP no.	Remarks
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

 

The first six columns 1 to 6 will be generated by the DIO/NIC and next 6 to 10 columns will be filled by the patwari, or any other person deputed by the administration.

ii. Ismaye malkan (list of landowners) alphabetically

 

Sr. no.	Name of landowner	Father’s name	Grandfather’s name	Khewat no.	Khasra no.	Kind of land	Mobile no.	Aadhar no.	PPP no.	Remarks
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11

 

The first five columns 1 to 7 will be generated by the DIO/NIC and the next 8 to 11 columns will be filled by the patwari, or any other person deputed by the administration.

2. Sync the collected data of Aadhar with land record at Tehsil or NIC center.

3. Verify the authenticity of Aadhar of the landowners with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) server. For that, specific permission is required from UIDAI as per the Notification no. G.S.R.490(E) dated 5.8.2020 of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Central Government. Rule 3 of the above notification makes it compulsory, and Rule 4 provides for a proposal of permission which reads as follows:

“3. Purposes for Aadhaar authentication. – (1) The Central Government may allow Aadhaar authentication by requesting entities in the interest of good governance, preventing leakage of public funds, promoting ease of living of residents and enabling better access to services for them, for the following purposes, namely: –

(a) usage of digital platforms to ensure good governance;

(b) prevention of dissipation of social welfare benefits; and

(c) enablement of innovation and the spread of knowledge.

(2) Aadhaar authentication under sub-rule (1) shall be on a voluntary basis.

4. Preparation of proposal. – The Ministry or the Department of the Government of India or the State Government, as the case may be, desirous of utilising Aadhaar authentication for a purpose specified in rule 3 shall prepare a proposal with justification in regard to such purpose for which Aadhaar authentication is sought and submit. the same to the Central Government for making a reference to the Authority.”

4. Get the authentication of the Aadhar and its linkage with RoR of landowners approved in the specially convened Jalsha-e-aam (public meeting) in the village on pre-fixed date and time of the landowners.

5. After approval/consent of the landowners, Aadhar of the landowners be locked with land records.

6. Government owned, panchayat and shamlat, municipalities and corporations land may be linked to the Aadhar of the officer who is responsible for managing and supervising of the land of their respective departments or such lands may be locked by the order of competent authority so that no registration could be possible without specific permission of that department or organization to save these lands from fraudulent transfer.

7. In the event of taking appointment, Aadhar is entered which will fetch the details of the land of the landowner and, if it matches with the transaction, go ahead for the appointment.

8. At the time of registration, get the authentication of the land of landowner with Aadhar linked land records from UIDAI server which will generate a digitized number for registration and same will be printed on the face of document by the registering authority and document will be registered by following rest of the process.  

9. A special counter may be erected for the authentication and linking of the Aadhar with land record in the Tehsil if the landowner/s has/have left for the linking of the Aadhar with his/her land records.

10. A follow-up plan for the continuous collecting and linking of the Aadhar needs to be drawn for the left-over landowners during the work such as girdawari for this purpose. Patwari or the revenue official for registration may collect the Aadhar of remainder of the landowners.

11. For grievance redressal of the linking process, Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) may be declared as First Appellate Authority who will redress the grievance within a month.

12. Deputy Commissioner may be declared as Second Appellate Authority.

The second way is to link the revenue record of landowners with PPP id. of the landowners. About 72 lakh families of Haryana state have been registered on the Parivar pehchan Patra (PPP) portal and out of these about 68 lakh families have been verified. PPP Authority possesses reliable and verified data of the families in digital form. PPP has enabled the people to access various government schemes seamlessly. More than 400 government services of more than 60 government agencies have been linked to PPP. The land record of landowners may be linked to PPP id. of the landowners. Data of PPP of the landowners may be collected following a similar process as that of Aadhar which has been described in detail above. Since, PPP is a state government programme for extending services to the common people in transparent and hassle-free environment, land records of the landowners can easily be linked to PPP.

Way forward

1. Land records must be updated by sanctioning all the pending mutations whether that of inheritance or otherwise.

2. Ownership of landowners broadly exists in two forms in land records i.e. Agriculture land and non-agriculture land (gair mumkin). Updating of the land record is continuous and regular for agriculture land compared to non-agriculture land because landless people are also owner of the dwelling units outside the Lal Dora and within the phirni (circular road of a village) by way of either allotment of residential plots or purchase of residential plots by their own. The process of linkage of agriculture land may be taken first or linking of whole land records with Aadhar or PPP may be taken up at a time.

3. NIC and PPP Authority are the specialized agencies and needs to be consulted to assess the feasibility and streamline  the process of linking of land records with Aadhar and PPP.