Legwork For Land Reforms Policy:-

Legwork For Land Reforms Policy:-

Modernisation of the agriculture sector is a major feature of the upcoming land reforms policy, said Haribol Ghimire,chairman of the high level land reform commission (HLRC) in an interaction or ganised here today. The government formed the commission on December 10 last year to end all forms of disputes in land ownership and utility of land. "We are focusing on increasing agricultural producing through modernization," Said Gajurel. Disteibuting land to the poor will not be sustainable without increasing productivity, he adds. According to the 2001 date of the central bureau of statistics(CBS),66 per cent of Nepalis depend on agriculture. Land reforms is a high priority of the present government. The prosocialist government has decided to end discrimination based on land ownership and use.Around I million Nepali families comprising 800,000 in villages and 200,000 in town are landless. HLRC is consulting experts, activists and political parties to set the framework if land reforms."we are planning to land suggest some points which could make the country self-sustained in food," Said Gajurel .He points out that four major points----application of scientific land celling measures, promotion if agro based in dustries ought to be included in the new policy. Acording to Gajurel, HLRC is planning to suggest punishment for those who leave land barren. However, the commission is still not clear what kind of land ownership it should suggest to the government. "HLRC is collecting data and opinion from people. We will come to a conclusion within three months," he said." perhaps, there will be three kinds of ownership---government, cooperation and private. We are in dilemma whether to opt or cooperation or commune ownership." Nepal communist party (UML) leader keshav Badal favoured full ownership of the people. Acording to Badal, production cannot be increased without guaranteeing ownership of the people. "If the state cannot give a guarantee of land ownership, we will face the same situation that Vietnam did in the 1970s,"he said. Over 75 percent Vietnamese were in absolute poverty before 1986. Vietnam adoped a 'doi moi' policy in 1986 to modernize its agriculture. Now it is the world's second largest rice exporter. People below poverty line have dramatically decereased to 10 per cent and per capital has reached $1027 from$120 in22 years. The Community country is slowly distributing land ownership rights to citizens. Deputy speaker of the constituent assembly purna subedi said land reforms policy should be based on the needs of the people. "we have unique geo-physical and ethnic diversity, and so our needs are different than those of others, "she said. Nepali congress leader Laxman Ghimire stressed that the new land reforms policy should benefit the lower classes people and especially labour groups