Land Survey and Settlement System in Telangana A Case Study of Warangal District

Abstract

After becoming the Diwan of the Hyderabad State, to fill-up the state coffers, Salarjung introduced certain revenue reformations. As part of these reformations, the new Land Taxation Act was introduced in 1317 Fasli. This Act provides for a scientific way of measuring the land across the State, identifying the actual cultivator of the land to provide him the ownership rights. Based on the fertility of the land and water facilities for cultivation, the Act enables the government to levy and collect tax. The land that was till then under the control of landlords and money lenders will have to be under the ownership of the actual cultivator. The feudal landlords and the rich have opposed all such measures. As part of this opposition, the government officials too have connived with the landlords and wealthy farmers denying the ownership rights of the actual leaseholder cultivator. Even after the merger of Hyderabad State with the Union of India in 1948 all attempts on the part of the government failed. The direct consequence of this failure was the Telangana Armed Struggle of 1948 with the aim of struggle for Land, Food and Freedom. The land disputes continued even after the formation of Andhra Pradesh. Centred round these land disputes, the Naxalite Movement took birth in 1968. This shows that all the legislations and reformations relating to land have failed in their stated objectives. The interest that the governments showed in bringing in such legislations was found wanting when it came to implementation, as a consequence they have failed to yield proper results. newline