A FARCE CALLED THE GREEN BELT

 By Vijayakumar K.

Unlike most States in the country, we have a draconian and unconstitutional land reforms law in Karnataka that defies logic, common sense, and progressive thinking, and does not in any way serve the objective for which it was primarily conceived.
The law does now permit anyone who wishes to buy land and pursue agriculture, unless he is an agriculturist, with land records in his name to prove he is eligible. In addition, assuming he qualifies, he must also prove that his collective family income, over the preceding 5 years, is less than Rs. 2 lakhs per annum, when land values all over Karnataka range from not less than a few lakhs per acre to several crores per acre. If he is already an agriculturist and meets these conditions, he must then prove that whatever land he wishes to buy further is funded only by income from agriculture, which is a near impossibility, given the fact that profit from farming is a non existent dream for most agriculturists, apparent and visible with the hundreds of suicides that occur in indebted farming families all over the country.
It is therefore no surprise at all that this is observed more in the breach and Sub Registrars, Tahsildars, and the authorities all collude and turn a blind eye when hundreds of non agriculturists produce fabricated documents to prove eligibility and register land purchases.
In the periphery of Bangalore and other major district headquarters it is an open secret that most of the cultivable and non cultivable lands are in the hands of those who see business opportunity or real estate value in these acquisitions. Irrespective of these supposedly farmer protective rules and policies a tiller or farmer whose only asset is his land, will have no choice but to pledge or sell his holding when faced with a crisis or an emergency, and no government rule or regulation can prevent him from giving it away.
The farmer is therefore at a huge disadvantage when he cannot offer this in the open market for the best possible price, but must relinquish this only to those who are eligible in line with the laughable and ridiculous Land Reforms Act.
Adding insult to injury is the random and arbitrary designation of the Green Belt, mandating all poor farmers whose lands fall within these illogical boundaries, to provide lung space and ecological equilibrium for the rich, the wealthy, the industrial fraternity and the urban residents who are primarily responsible for the 'green' imbalance.
Why is it that the economically weak and resource less farmers' have to assume this responsibility to earn carbon credits for those who destroy it with disdain. What is his crime that he should shoulder this burden? Especially when the Government itself is apathetic and has nothing to rectify this green imbalance!
When the BDA, KIADB and ther government authorities continuously acquire thousands of acres of land and convert it for housing and for industries, why should they not acquire additional and adequate land to provide a balancing green cover to compensate for the polluting urban growth?
All over the world in well developed countries the acquisition, development and preservation of lung space and green belts is the sole and exclusive responsibility of the government and they should in fact first provide the green cover, and then determine to what maximum extent housing and industry should be permitted around such environs, rather than expect poverty stricken farmers to restore ecological balance for crimes committed by the Government, the urban population and the unchecked proliferation of industries.
All these rules are therefore observed more in the breach and and an aerial view of these so called green belts will reflect hundreds of violations, unbridled growth and construction, with nothing in them to even call them green. How do you expect farmers in the green belt to helplessly watch their neighbours sell their lands for crores of rupees in areas marked for development, and simultaneously comply with the 'green belt' regulations that reduce his own land to no value?

When there is a ridiculous draconian law that defies imagination, logic, and reason, the government cannot expect it to be judiciously observed. For every site that the Government sells, and for every industry that the government sanctions, it should set aside a reasonable sum to acquire land and hand it over to a department that can monitor, control, and afforest it, providing much needed lung space and environment that balances and compensates urban growth.
Let the poor farmer sell his land to whoever is interested in agriculture, and let him not be punished for posterity by a callous, insensitive and impractical government that expects him to provide solutions for an issue that is more easily resolved by a government that can evaluate, assess, and manage government acquired green belts, by suitably amending these laws and bringing in reforms that can bring back the 'green' to Bangalore and Karnataka.
The sooner these self defeating set of regulations, that ironically serves to destroy the interests of farmers rather than protect them, are withdrawn, and an alternative plan that actually ensures a large enough government managed green belt over the next 10 years is put in place, the better for Bangalore, for the Ecology and Environment, and for the farmers of Karnataka.