{"id":98723,"date":"2020-02-06T20:29:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T02:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98723"},"modified":"2020-02-05T23:09:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T06:09:37","slug":"what-happens-if-state-land-is-privatized-farmers-are-given-title-deed-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/06\/what-happens-if-state-land-is-privatized-farmers-are-given-title-deed-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens if State Land is Privatized & Farmers are given title deed ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Interlinked to the MCC US Government\ngrant of $480m are some crucial topics that the ruling government, the\njudiciary and citizens cannot ignore. 84%\nof Sri Lanka\u2019s land belongs to the state. What happens if this 84% state land is\nprivatized?<\/strong> Will the Govt be able to impose tax and gain revenue. Will the\nbulk money given at purchase of land be sufficient to run a country?\nConfounding matters is the removal of restrictions prohibiting foreigners to\npurchase land & property. A Government is only trustee or custodian of the\nland for a term of office and an overruling principle is the inalienability of\nland with sovereignty. WITHOUT land no\ncountry is sovereign<\/strong>. So if a country\u2019s land is privatized its sovereignty\nis questioned. That is one aspect that policy makers need to seriously ponder.\nSri Lanka managed to salvage itself from 4 attempts by the previous government\nto privatize State land. Is the\ndistribution of title deeds to farmers an alternative to privatizing state\nland? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Sri Lanka lacks a sound and secure\nland policy is a fact. That Sri Lanka has been depending on proposals and\nreports given by foreign private contractors is also a fact. How far these\nproposals gel with the country and its people\u2019s needs or wants is a different question\naltogether. What these foreign proposals\ncontinuously recommend is to view land as a commodity and open up for foreign\ninvestments.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving aside the controversies\nsurrounding the proposed MCC economic corridor and the numerous pink dots in a\nmap circulating drawing fear of US bases being set up across the country, let\nus take the subject of farmers being given freehold title deeds.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers\nholding LDO permits given title ownership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The previous government was on a\nhurricane attempt to dish out 1million deeds to farmers. Why were they in such\na hurry to hand over deeds to those holding only permits under Land Development\nOrdinance of 1935? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permit\nholders of the LDO could not fragment land, mortgage the land, dispose of it\nwithout the GA\u2019s permission but the land could be passed on to a nominated\nsuccessor so long as he\/she continued the livelihood given to the original\nallottee. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LDO\npermits were intended to ensure no State land would be alienated to any other\nperson than citizens of Sri Lanka<\/strong>. But now foreigners can purchase any\nland and any property. All restrictions upon foreigners was removed by the\nprevious government ahead of attempts to privatize land, ahead of signing ACSA,\nahead of launching preconditions given by MCC teams regularly arriving in Sri\nLanka since 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka from being known as the\nGranary of the East has become a country now importing rice and most foods that\ncould easily be grown in Sri Lanka for local consumption. The pride that our\nancestors brought to our island in developing agriculture has virtually\ncollapsed. The farmers today are engulfed in poverty & debt. These are sad\nrealities that we have to face. But is\ngiving a title deed to a farmer in poverty & debt the solution? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A farmer holding a LDO permit is in a\nplot of land that does not belong to him. The land he and his family had been\nliving for generations belong to the State of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the LDO permit enabled the\nfarmer to have a livelihood, he had a roof over his head, he had a place for\nhis family to live. He had security in the form that as a member of the farmer\ncommunity, they could make appeals to a government and obtain some form of\nconcessions. The state banks would also assist whenever possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nimagine this farmer getting 100% title ownership to the land.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His links to the government immediately\nceases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He becomes a private owner fending for\nhimself. The government has nothing to do with him and no obligations to him.\nHe is one his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will a bank give a loan to a farmer\nwithout consistent monthly income? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the collateral security the\nbank will demand \u2013 obviously the land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when the farmer cannot\nrepay the loan? The Bank confiscates the land and eventually puts it to\nauction. How many can afford such land up for auction? With foreigners able to purchase\nland, will it not be them who will come forward and grab the land? (was this\nthe plan all along)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nhappens next to the farmer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He loses the land his family had been\nliving for generations <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has no means of livelihood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has no place to live<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has lost the land he had been\npreviously living under lease <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family doesn\u2019t have a place to live\nor a means of indirect livelihood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his entire family are displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nif 1million such farmers are to be given title ownership to land \u2013 wont this\n1million eventually end up without land, without a job and without a place to\nlive? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\ntheir dependents we are looking at a minimum of 4million people who are likely\nto be displaced, without home and livelihood.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a government who doesn\u2019t have\nany state land because all 84% of state land under its custodianship was\nprivatized going to do about the scenario? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nwill a government provide a place to live for this 4milion displaced people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When 84% state land is privatized \u2013 a government\nhas no land under its jurisdiction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are living in an island \u2013 there is only the sea around us\u2026 where will these 4million displaced people without any livelihood, without any money and without any place to live go to and as citizens of Sri Lanka how will the Sri Lankan Government look after them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali\nD Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interlinked to the MCC US Government grant of $480m are some crucial topics that the ruling government, the judiciary and citizens cannot ignore. 84% of Sri Lanka\u2019s land belongs to the state. What happens if this 84% state land is privatized? Will the Govt be able to impose tax and gain revenue. Will the bulk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}