The Odisha government has proposed a significant revision to the definition of “homesteadless.” Under the new proposal, individuals will be considered homesteadless if they own less than one-twenty-fifth of an acre of homestead land. Currently, a person is classified as homesteadless only if they do not own any homestead land in the state.
The Mohan Majhi Government has come out with a draft of the Odisha Government Land Settlement (Second Amendment) Rules, 2024, proposing to change the definition of homesteadless. The government has elicited objections and suggestion to the changes within 30 days from Thursday.
The draft rule says the extent of land to be settled in favour of a homesteadless person shall be such that the land so settled together with the homestead land, if any owned by him and the homestead land owned by all the members of his family who are living with him in common mess, shall, on no account, exceed one- twenty fifth of an acre.
It means the government would provide deficit land parcel to make it one-twenty fifth of an acre under the new definition of homesteadless. The proposal says where land is not sufficient, settlement shall be made subject to the limit of availability.
The government has made clear that the land settled in favour of a homesteadless person would be heritable but not transferable.
The State government has been distributing four decimals (one-twenty-fifth of an acre) of government land under Vasundhara Scheme to needy (homesteadless) people since 1974-75.
According to an enumeration conducted in the year 2004-05, as many as 2,49,334 families were homesteadless in the State. A majority of these families have been provided land under the scheme. With the change in definition, the number of homesteadless families is set to rise dramatically. They will be eligible for settlement under Vasundhara scheme.
Published – December 13, 2024 03:40 am IST
