India Land Governance Assessment

As India continues to urbanize and move
towards a less agricultural- and more industry-based
economy, land demands will continue to grow. Its urban
population is expected to increase by more than 200 million
by 2030, requiring 4 to 8 million hectares of land for
residential use alone. Demands for infrastructure and
industry could add a similar amount, summing to total land
demand of 5 to10 percent of the land area currently used for
agriculture. If not handled well, such massive land use
change may increase vulnerability and food insecurity,
rent-seeking, environmental problems, social dislocation,
inequality, and conflict. But it also provides an
opportunity to address the underlying structural issues,
propelling India into the league of middle-income countries
and laying the ground for significantly advancing shared
prosperity and reduced poverty. This synthesis report
presents results from land governance self-assessments by
six states: The fact that land is a state subject implies
that actions to improve land governance need to be initiated
at state level. To identify opportunities, six states
implemented the Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF),
a tool that allow comparing the status of their land
governance against international good practice along a set
of dimensions in a very participatory process. Results are
summarized in state reports that were validated publicly and
discussed with policy makers in each state. This national
report complements these and draws out common areas.