KL This Week: Govt Distributes 31,000 Land Titles to Beneficiaries

NewsClick brings you a round-up of the important developments from across Kerala during the week including the observation of Black Day by farmers’ organisations on February 23 following the “repression” of Delhi farmers’ struggle, distribution of 31,499 land titles to beneficiaries by the state government, conduct of ‘Face to Face’ programme by the chief minister with students, and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) gaining upper hand in the by-elections held for 23 local body seats.

FARMERS’ ORGANISATION CONDEMN ATTACK ON PROTESTS

The Kerala Karshaka Sangham (the state unit of the All India Kisan Sabha [AIKS]) observed February 23 as Black Day, condemning the brutal attacks by the Haryana police on the protesting farmers at Shambhu border, leading to the death of Shubkaran Singh, a 22-year-old farmer from Punjab. 

The farmers marched to the Accountant General (AG) office in Thiruvananthapuram condemning the “continuous repression” of the farmers demanding Minimum Support Price (MSP) as per the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation. President of Kerala unit of AIKS M Vijayakumar led the protest march and burned the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condemning his “pro-corporate and anti-farmer policies”. 

The AIKS demanded that the Haryana government stop the “inhuman attacks” on the protesting farmers including the use of pellets, tear gas, barbed wires barricades, and digging up of roads to prevent the farmers from marching to Delhi. 

CM INAUGURATES LAND PATTA DISTRIBUTION

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated a state level program for distributing house pattas (titles) to 31,499 beneficiaries in an event held in Thrissur. This was the fourth such title distribution mela since the LDF government assumed power for the second consecutive term in 2021. Since the last two and a half years, the revenue department has ensured distribution of titles to 1,53,103 families. 

The families who settled on forest lands before 1977 are being handed over titles as per the laws enacted by the state government.

The ‘Patta Mission' was created with the aim of ‘Land for All, Titles for All’, by the LDF government in 2016. A total of 3.14 lakh pattas have been distributed since 2016, with 1,76,000 titles handed over during the first tenure of the LDF. 

‘FACE TO FACE’ INTERACTION WITH STAKEHOLDERS ON ASPIRATIONS 

The chief minister held meetings with different sections of the population to understand their aspirations, following the completion of the Nava Kerala Sadas. Sessions on aspirations of students to improve the quality of higher education on par with global standards was the first to be held by the government of Kerala. Around 2,000 students from different streams of education, including arts, science, medicine, nursing, and other professional courses participated and aired their opinions with the chief minister and the ministers.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addressing the ‘Face to Face’ programme with the representatives of dalit and tribal communities in Kannur (Courtesy: twitter.com/PinarayiVijayan)

On February 23, a session was held in Kannur with thousands of people belonging to the tribal and dalit communities. Issues relating to the development of the communities in social, economic, and employment-related aspects were discussed during the programme. A session was also held with women representatives from different walks of life.

LDF GAINS UPPER HAND IN LSG BYPOLLS

The LDF and United Democratic Front (UDF) won 10 local self government (LSG) seats each in the by-elections held to 23 vacant seats; whereas, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won three seats. The LDF managed to increase its tally from five seats to 10, whereas the UDF’s tally went down to 10 seats from 14, with the BJP losing one seat. 

The Communist Party of India (CPI) won back the Vellar ward of the Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation from the BJP and increased its tally to 52 in the 100-member corporation. By losing a ward in the Nedumbassery village panchayat, the UDF has lost power in the LSG to the LDF.