KATHMANDU, Nov 17: The government is considering naming 77 district level committees to address the problems facing the Dalist and landless settlers across the country. An eight-member federal Land Related Problem Resolution Commission headed by Hari Prasad Rijal, in office since last month (October 29), is to supervise the district level committees.
According to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Minister Balram Adhikari is in discussions to form the district level committees in all districts within the next 10 days. The minister’s chief personal secretary Bhesh Raj Pandey said that Minister Adhikari had discussed this matter with Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak on Saturday morning. Pandey also mentioned that Minister Adhikari had held a similar discussion with Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba three days ago.
The government will appoint four members, including a chairperson, one female member, one expert member, and one additional member, as specified in the formation order. Ganesh Bhatta, spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, stated that the ministry has prepared an internal action plan to form the committees in all districts as soon as possible.
The district committees will be formed through a ministry-level decision.
Applications of 1.2 million landless people collected
The National Land Commission, formed on September 10, 2021, under the chairmanship of Keshab Niraula, was dissolved by the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal on March 21, 2024, following a change in the coalition. After that, the process to form a new commission was initiated. However, against this government decision, two central members of the previous commission, Govardhan Kohli and Tek Bahadur Shahi, along with 17 others, filed a case in the Supreme Court on April 5, 2024.
On April 7, 2024, the Supreme Court issued an interim order directing the government not to form a new Land Commission and to maintain the status quo of the commission led by Niraula. As a result, the process of forming a new Land Commission was halted. However, after the previous members who had filed the case withdrew their petition, the Cabinet passed an order for the formation of the new commission.
Various commissions and committees under different names have been formed in Nepal since the early 1950s to address issues such as landless people and other related problems.
According to the Ministry of Land Management, the commissions and committees formed over time for landless people have provided 47,000 bighas of government and public land to 150,000 landless families so far.
The first land survey commission for landless people was formed in 1953, led by Nardamuni Thulung. Since then, commissions and committees have been formed under different names, although the purpose remained more or less constant. Whenever there has been a change in government leadership, the old commission/committee has been dissolved, and a new one has been established.
Earlier, during the tenure of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the Land Related Problem Resolution Commission was formed under the chairmanship of Devi Gyawali on March 14, 2020. After the fall of the Oli government, a new commission was formed under the leadership of the Nepali Congress. So far, 14 commissions for solving landless people’s issues, three high-level land reform commissions, and five land registration and management committees have been formed to address issues including those of landless people.
The government has been making efforts to provide land to landless people in an organized manner since the 1950s but the issue remains unresolved.
