The Hindu Business Line : Kerala Land Utilisation Order irrelevant, says study

The Order leaves farmers with no option to but to carry on with the cultivation of food crops, no matter what the costs and returns tend to suggest otherwise.

Thiruvananthapuram , Sept. 13

THE Kerala Land Utilisation Order 1967 that vests district collectors with vast powers to enforce cultivation of food crops has become irrelevant and antiquated, according to a study by the Institute for Enterprise Culture and Entrepreneurship Development based here.

The circumstances that necessitated the promulgation of the Order do not any more exist, says Mr Sebastian Mathew, Chairman of the institute.

The order was framed at a time when the country ran up huge foodgrain deficits and also had to contend with restrictions on inter-State movement of the same.

This state of affairs is a thing of the past and we are now food surplus, Mr Mathew said in the study report titled, `Antiquated law as a weapon against enterprise: A fresh look at Kerala Land Utilisation Order 1967'.

In the name of enforcing the Order, the collector is empowered to auction out the land or assume the role of a cultivator and even use force. By denying farmers the fundamental right to make a livelihood by putting the resources under their command to what they perceive as nothing but the best use, this law seems to militate against the very interests it seeks to protect.

The Order leaves farmers with no option to but to carry on with the cultivation of food crops, no matter what the costs and returns tend to suggest otherwise. And these have miserably failed to jell, if available data is any indication.

If anything, the order only helped spawn a state of lawlessness with agricultural labour unions owing allegiance to a major political party and going about destroying sundry crops standing on fallow lands as part of a campaign. It can therefore be seen that the Order has hardly served any purpose other than pitting two vulnerable sections of the society, namely agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers, against each other. The clashes could become widespread since the political party spearheading the unionists has reportedly declared itself in favour of the campaign.

The solution to the impasse lies in raising agricultural production to create more employment opportunities to farm labourers. This would be possible only if an environment is created for enterprising cultivators to try out new crops and farming practices.

The State is best placed to facilitate this through appropriate changes in the legal and institutional environment.

Given this context, it would be ideal if the Government considers repeal of the Order immediately except where the cultivation of alternative crops threatens to cause environmental damage. A committee of environmentalists could be set up to identify environmentally sensitive areas.

This will facilitate cultivation of more profitable crops in paddy fields lying fallow and to that extent the employment opportunities will also go up.

The Government should devise some mechanism for providing incentives or subsidy to encourage cultivators employ local agricultural labourers.

The fear that the repeal will ring the death knell for paddy cultivation in the State is exaggerated.

The fact is that there are large tracts of fields where only paddy can be grown.

In some cases, it is not material returns but the emotional gratification that motivates farmers to take up paddy cultivation.

Instead of forcing all and sundry to cultivate paddy, the Government will do well to promote this segment of paddy cultivators.

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Kerala Land Utilisation Order irrelevant, says study