New irrigated land development is the largest component of ETI programme. The new developed land is supposed to benefit the small-holders not only in terms of increased area for production but also in terms of additional fungible assets for collaterals and other securitization usage. That is only possible if there are secure recorded titles for such land for the owners.
In Gilgit-Baltistan, there are different types of land holdings. The most relevant ones in the course of the implementation of the ETI-GB are the following:
- Barren land: A barren land is defined as a piece of fallow land or uncultivated land. In the context of Gilgit-Baltistan, the term “barren land” is mostly used when referring to “Khalisa land”.
- Khalisa land: A Khalisa land is a land under the ownership of the government; it is a state land.
- Shamilat Deh: A Shamilat Deh is the common property owned by the villagers. The latter have equal share in case of a distribution of the land and they have equal rights in the use of the land, as defined in the waijb-ul-arz.
- ALLOTMENT OF LAND THROUGH ETI-GBn development by district land records cells along with beneficiaries. To initiate the system, the digitized maps of land selected for development and data of the beneficiaries along with allocated parcels of lands will be recorded in a new computerised system. District Revenue Administration will provide land classification and ownership status certificate for each parcel of land selected for irrigation development prior to initiation of any work on that scheme.
In pursuance of ETI-GB’s aim to develop 50,000 thousand acres of land for cultivation, a new modern system of Land Titling needs to be developed to ensure that farmers’ rights over land is established and maintained by law. Currently, Gilgit-Baltistan is composed of settled and unsettled districts. Under ETI-GB, districts of Ghizer and Diamer are unsettled, and the districts of Astore and Ghanche are settled. Lands are being managed through informal and customary mechanisms, which gives rise to disputes between individuals and communities. After the introduction of a new system of Land Titling, the existing land records would be updated and digitized, allowing for effective land management.
- New irrigated land development is the largest component of the ETI-GB, with around 50,000 acres that would almost double the current irrigated agriculture area. The new developed land intents to benefit the smallholders, not only in terms of increased area for production but also in terms of additional fungible assets for collaterals and other securitization usage. That is only possible if there are secure recorded titles for such land for the owners.
- The Programme will ensure that the developed land is allocated in equitable and fair manner among the beneficiary community, and that all the landless and women-headed households get an equitable share in a secure and legally enforceable manner in the new developed land.
- The institutional set-up for the land titling and settlement in Gilgit-Baltistan is still incomplete as compared with other provinces. There is no Board of Revenue and there are no fully operational Revenue Courts due to capacity issues. The development of new irrigation lands under the ETI-GB needs to be pegged to some credible system of classification of the land in terms of its ownership, determination of the share of community members in the new developed land and a system of award of titles to persons who benefit from a share in such land. For this purpose, an Interim Land Development Regulation has been envisioned in the project design to be approved by the Gilgit-Baltistan Lands Reforms Commission and approved by the Cabinet.
- COMPUTERIZED SETTLEMENT AND LAND TITLING SYSTEM
The ETI-GB will assist in procurement of servers and computers along with allied equipment for at provincial and district levels along with developing software for Computerization of land record and introducing a land titling regime. Basic equipment for putting in use the software for land records data of ETI sponsored land development and issuance of titles to the beneficiary households will be procured through project funding and installed at provincial and district offices.
ETI-GB will assist in the recording of data and maps of lands selected for irrigation development by district land records cells along with beneficiaries. To initiate the system, the digitized maps of land selected for development and data of the beneficiaries along with allocated parcels of lands will be recorded in a new computerised system. District Revenue Administration will provide land classification and ownership status certificate for each parcel of land selected for irrigation development prior to initiation of any work on that scheme.