Bhoodan Samiti to release land rights

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN
Ahmedabad: The decades old Bhoodan (land gift) Movement initiated by Vinoba Bhave that took place in Gujarat between 1951 and 1958 is getting a refreshing touch. The Gujarat Bhoodan Samiti has decided to amicably settle the issue of illegal purchase of Bhoodan land by people, mostly builders, in the city. They propose to do this by releasing their rights of this land that they have been holding since decades. Many beneficiaries of Bhoodan land in Ahmedabad and Baroda sold off this land. Technically, however, they cannot sell it as the landlordship is that of the Bhoodan Samiti. Moreover, these tracts of land were once suitable for agriculture, are no more so due to the spread of city. “So, it has become inevitable for us to release Bhoodan land rights by taking money from the purchasers.’’says Gujarat Bhoodan Samiti’s president Jagdish Shah. The samiti will release the land rights and in turn charge market rates for the land. This money will then be used to purchase land elsewhere and hand it over to the landless and marginalized people for agriculture. Recently, the samiti acquired 25 acres land in Bharuch district for this purpose. According to sources, the samiti has collected close to Rs 2.5 crore from builders and other Bhoodan land buyers. The collections from releasing land rights are likely to go up to Rs 20 crore. The samiti will also spend this money helping those people who have been given wasteland by government in the state. “At many places, large tracts of this wasteland are not suitable for agriculture. In such places, we will help them cultivate the land by various means like levelling, giving seeds and equipment and others,” added Shah. “This is also a one kind of Bhoodan work” says Chunibhai Vaidya, the veteran Gandhian who spearheaded ‘Save the Land Movement’ (Zameen Bachao Abhiyaan) following which government allotted 18,920 acres land to 6,723 families in the state. In mid-1950s, Ravishanakar Maharaj, Babalbhai Mehta, Jugatram Dave were the leaders, who had been instrumental in Bhoodan movement in Gujarat. During this period, 50,984 acres land had been distributed to 10,230 families in the state by Gujarat Bhoodan Samiti.