Patna,(BiharTimes): The principal secretary, revenue and land reforms department, Vyasji Mishra, said on Sunday that his department would take initiative to reduce the gaps and constraints in existing rules and provisions for homestead land.

Speaking at a programme on Homestead Land he said the state government’s joint land reforms core commission has been working since 2014 to get Right to Homestead Act enacted.

Sanjay Kumar of Deshkal Society, a Delhi-based research organization, which jointly organized the programme with revenue and land reforms department at the A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, said the entitlement to homestead land has established and strengthened 480 village-level community-based organizations (CBOs), 54 panchayat-level CBOs, four block-level CBOs and one district-level CBO in Gaya district.

According to him the Society had succeeded in delivering 100 per cent entitlement to homestead land to Dalit communities in the first phase of the pilot project in 74 villages spread over three blocks comprising 6,800 Dalit households.

Former Patna College principal and retired Professor of Economics, Nawal K Chaudhary, who presided over the first session, underlined how land issue raises uncomfortable questions, as it is linked to the dignity and existence of the oppressed community. It requires both action and study and a broader perspective of development, he added.

Sociologist M N Karna, P P Ghosh of ADRI, social activist Satya Narayan Madan and author Sudhindra Sharma also took part in the discussion.