In Nepal land is not only a source of livelihood but is closely tied to one’s identity, dignity, and a prerequisite to access to essential services. Governmental services including agricultural inputs, credit, electricity, water and financial services require land ownership. Hence landless or functionally landless are systematically excluded from these benefits affecting both individual and family rights. As such landlessness expands poverty and marginalization.
An estimated 1.3 million families are without formal land ownership:often residing in areasat risks of displacement and disasters. The Nepalese government, in relations, has taken several policies and legal initiatives but challenges in implementation remain.
Formation of the Land Commission
On November 13, 2024 (Kartik 13, 2081 BS), the Government of Nepal established Land Issue Resolving Commission to address the long-standing challenges faced by landless Dalits, squatters, and informal settlers and by January 2025, the Commission had formed district-level committees in all 77 districts.Similar commissions were formed in 2020 and 2021, the Commission aims to secure land ownership for landless and informal settlers. According to the Commission's official records, the three periodic commissions have systematically signed agreements with 744 local governments, distributed land ownership certificates to 4,839 households, while data from 1,102,283 applications have been formally registered in the computerized system.
The latest Commission, given the current pace is unlikely to fulfill its responsibilities within the designated time frame. The task at hand is enormous both in its scale and complexity as it involves millions of people within a society with deeply rooted structural issues.Thus, the commission must therefore critically review its operational policies and plan more realistically with an active involvement of the three levels of governments based on the past learnings.
Current Challenges and Gaps
Even with several legal instruments and institutional mechanisms in place, the implementation of land-related programs in Nepal is sluggish. For instance, fewer than 500 out of the targeted 25000 households received land ownership certificates in the current fiscal year.One of the major challenges is inadequate cooperation among responsible agencies and stakeholders. Additionally, the appointed representatives of LIRCat various levels have inadequate knowledge on land issues and its legal framework and also are not efficiently mobilized. Moreover, some of the existing laws and policies, though well-intentioned, have proven to be impractical. Local governments, which play a crucial role in the land distribution process, often lack the required technical expertise, equipment, and human resources
Address Landlessness with Justice and Urgency
The Land Issue Resolving Commission while recognizing these issues must urgently develop and adopt a clear, actionable roadmap to ensure progress. This roadmap should strengthen institutional coordination and equip local governments with technical resources including human resources.
Identify Key Actors and Ensure Coordination
Solving the problems of nearly 1.3 million landless and informal settlers requires effort and support from other actors beside the Commission’s active engagement. The Commission must thus map all relevant stakeholders and actors connected and stipulate their roles, capacities, and potential contributions while it manages coordination, facilitation, and strategic direction-setting.
At the federal level, coordination between the multiple departments and institutions involved in land management is crucial. There is a need to create an environment of extensive cooperation and joint effort, ensuring that all levels of government and related institutions work together towards a common goal while letting go of the blaming culture.
Data collection, validation and Verification
The process of collecting application of landless and informal settlers started in 2020 for which the facilitation committees formed at the ward and municipal levels played a crucial role. Even after five years, this data collection and verification process is incomplete while people have informally bought and sold land which challenges the maintenance of accurate records.
Given these circumstances, it is essential to carry out this task as a time-bound national mission. Except for Madhesh Province, other provinces have completed data collection of more than 85 Percent of landless Dalits, landless squatters, and informal settlers while verification process is yet to be completed. To finalize this process, the Commission should announce a final public notice nationwide with a deadline of 35 days to collect applications. Once verified and managed, a near exact number of families requiring land is ascertained which will also answer the age old question "How many landless people are there in the country?"
Assessing and Addressing Challenges
To identify the procedural and legal challenges related to land, the Commission should form an internal study team tasked to prepare and publish a timely and detailed report. Learning through experience is key — operational guidelines developed in the past might not be practical when applied, and those should be reviewed and revised as necessary based on the ground experiences.Unrealistic or impractical laws must be amended and it is the Commission’s responsibility to bring these issues to public attention.
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
The Commission must prepare a transparent and well-structured monitoring and evaluation plan.which would allow tracking of efforts, targets and achievements. Clear targets and responsibilities should be assigned at the district and provincial levels without which there is a risk of poor mobilization of appointed officials and members. Publicizing each local government's performance through the website is also very important.
Use of Technology
In addition to meetings, the Commission should regularly run radio programs including interactive Q&A sessions, sharing good practices, and progress updates from each province and district. Other technologies like podcasts, YouTube, and digital platforms should be used for effective, wide-reaching information dissemination.
Delegation of Authority
The current practice of requiring verification from districts before land measurement might prove counterproductive. Local governments should be made fully responsible for record collection, verification, and certification, and land measurement activities. District committees should then be responsible to ensure compliance of land ownership certificates with legal standards.
Conclusion
Even after six months of formation, the progress of the new Land Problem Solving Commission has not been encouraging. With only Chitwan, Makwanpur and Sunsari reportedly distributing land certificates, it seems unlikely the annual targets will be met.
The Commission must thus critically review its performance, accelerate its campaigns, and address operational bottlenecks. The landless communities must also increase their collective activism and advocacy to demand justice. Unless the new Commission learns from past failures and adopts a more proactive, campaign-driven, and participatory approach, Nepal’s landless families will continue to suffer systemic injustice.
