Judicious enforcement of farmland protection must
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 14, 2022 -

IT obvious that failure to effectively enforce The Manipur Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetlands Act, 2020 will only result in prolonging the state's dependence on others for food and vegetable crops.

Since adoption of the Act, eviction drives were carried out in some parts of the valley districts to clear the farmland of structures unrelated with the agriculture sector and notices served to private parties to dismantle houses constructed in paddy field.

Amid the government's effort to ensure judicious and expeditious enforcement of the Act's provision to preserve the existing paddy land, there are hard evidences of many houses spared from the eviction drives with some owners running from pillar to post to possess official documents to prove legitimacy of their buildings as the only residential places, as is permissible under specific provision of the same legislation, or showcase the structures as livestock facilities.

Due to such intense lobbying, especially by those having connections with those in the corridor of power, and official patronage, eviction drives often face roadblock mainly out of fear that any further attempt to push through the dismantling exercise would inevitably result in receiving legal notices.

Nevertheless, as the Act was framed and promulgated with the specific objective to prevent encroachment on prime agricultural land and facilitate production of food crops in abundance, there should be no leniency or favouritism in its enforcement if at all the government intends to achieve the target of enabling farmers to produce more from the same land at lesser cost and simultaneously realise higher prices for their produce.

Understandably, the outcome of such a policy will not be uniformly benigned for rendering someone homeless on account of violation of the Act would lead to unwanted situation as not all settlers in the government prohibited location belong to the wealthy and elitist class.

However, as increase in agricultural production could guarantee relieving the state from chronic dependence on others, there is no reason why there should be selective eviction of structures from areas officially classified as agricultural land.

Besides emphasising on sufficient food production, the governments at the centre and in the state make it a point to earmark fund to build roads to facilitate the food producers have convenient access to the markets products, increase the allocation for organic farming, provide cheaper credit to small farmers and create infrastructure funds for fisheries and animal husbandry.

Thus, all such endeavours will not serve any purpose if the government authorities cannot ensure impartial enforcement of The Manipur Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetlands Act, 2020 simply because some powerful individuals, if any, convert land previously owned as agricultural asset to undertake construction for non-agricultural purposes.

As such, the case of new structures coming up in agricultural land in Kanglatongbi area of Imphal West district years after adoption of the Act compels one to wonder whether the eviction drives are being carried out selectively or some corrupt elements within the land revenue and settlement department are hand-in-glove with the wealthy class of the society to dilute the government's vision for erasing the dependency syndrome.