Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Background:
1.1 Mizoram, earlier called the Lushai Hills, which lies in the remotest part of North
East India was, in the pre-British era, under the rule of the village Chiefs who,
with the assistance of village elders looked after the welfare, security and safety of
their respective villagers along with the maintenance of the environment,
including lands of the villages. Since each village has its own Chief and the
accompanying elders who looked after practically everything, despite the absence
of alphabets, writing tools and written record, the immediate presence of the
sovereign Chief or vassal Chief in each village supplemented by a simple tribal
custom and close-knit society the Lushais/ Mizos had made it possible to have
smooth administration of justice, welfare and land related matters.
1.2 After the military expeditions from the British in 1871 and 1889, the Lushai Hills
was annexed to the British India in 1895 and the whole of it (South and North
Lushai Hills) became a part of Assam in 1898 as Lushai Hills District. The
name of the District and the Autonomous District Council was later change vide
the Lushai Hills District (Change of Name) Act, 1954. The Lushai Hills
Autonomous District Council was created on 16.04.1952, and the rights of the
Chiefs were acquired by the Government vide the Assam Lushai Hills District
(Acquisition of Chiefs’ Rights) Act, 1954 (Assam Act 21 of 1954) under which
the charge of any Ram or Village land was taken over by the Lushai Hills
Autonomous District Council (later renamed as Mizo District Council), and in the
southern parts by the Pawi-Lakher Regional Council (now comprising the Lai
ADC, Mara ADC and Chakma ADCs, all under the Sixth Schedule to the
Constitution of India).
1.3 The introduction of democratic form of Government and the accompanying socio-
economic and cultural changes brought in by the post-Independence Lushai Hills
consequently awakened the need for generation of revenue, and the need for
proper land records in the then administrative machinery of the District Council,
as the once tribal society which had been satisfied without any written records had
then to adopt a proper written law and records of properties. Despite the zeal to
keep in pace with the modern world, such an abrupt change in the administrative
system inevitably felt the vacuum in particularly land administration. The Village
Councils which were established in each village to run the administration of the
village took over the Chiefs, but had limited power over land and revenue under
the Lushai Hills District (House Sites) Act, 1953 except in few locations where the
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British Government had its officials stationed, named as Station Areas, such as,
Aizawl, Lunglei, Demagiri (Tlabung), Sairang, Kolasib, Champhai and North
Vanlaiphai. The land administration in the said station areas was fully vested in
the District Council or the Administrator, and the Mizo District (Land &
Revenue) Act, 1956 governed the land and revenue administration in these station
areas and any other new station areas notified by the Government. The Mizo
District (Agricultural Land) Act, 1963 also governed the allotment and utilisation
of land for agricultural purposes, and the Mizo District (Transfer of Lands) Act,
1963 governed transfer of property while protecting the rights and interests of the
tribal inhabitants. All those land laws attempted to have the land holdings recorded
and regulated while imposing affordable revenues from them. However, only the
lands in the said station areas, and the agricultural lands to be permanently settled
with the holders were to be mandatorily demarcated under those laws.
1.4 Despite the enactments of a few land laws by the erstwhile District Council, there
had been a large gap in land recording and to meet this need, the Mizoram (Land
Survey and Settlement Operation) Act, 2003 was legislated, and in 2013, a new
land-revenue Act Mizoram (Land Revenue) Act, 2013 was legislated which is
rather a consolidation of the earlier land laws, repealing all the land laws of the
erstwhile District Council. Despite these attempts, having all the lands recorded
has still been beyond reach mainly due to poor economy of the State. Till date, the
Government has so far notified few settlement areas as station areas as shown
hereunder:
Table 1: Notified towns/ station areas (excluding Districts of Lawngtlai and Siaha
where the Autonomous District Councils concerned administer land)
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Table 2: Revenue Administrative structures:
1.5 Most of the notified station areas/ towns have multiple Village Councils, and
though the notified towns are supposed to be fully surveyed and demarcated, the
achievement in survey and demarcation in these towns are still very low. At the
same time, land holdings in villages which are not declared as towns or station
areas have never been surveyed or demarcated. In short, the existence of proper
land records even with conventional methods, not to mention the modern
surveying technology, is still minimal in the State of Mizoram.
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Table 3: Fund received under the NLRMP/DILRMP (amounts in lakhs of Rs.)
2.2 With the funding under the DILRMP, the mainland Indian States may be able to
fulfil the aims of the Scheme by digitising existing land records and resurvey of
lands already surveyed and demarcated. But the case with Mizoram is completely
different as the lands, though small portions of notified towns have been surveyed
with conventional methods using magnetic compass, in order to keep in pace with
to-day’s advancement in land recording and to ensure ease of doing business in
land administration, all those land parcels already surveyed as such need to be
covered again with modern surveying with the help of GPS and electronic Total
Stations, and to have holistic and reliable land records, all the remaining lands
under rural villages and agricultural lands, and also forest reserves and community
lands have to be surveyed and demarcated completely.
3. Requirement of adequate fund for land related administration:
3.1 As briefly explained above, it can be understood that, while the majority of the
Indian States have their lands fully surveyed, recorded and digitised, the coverage
here in the State of Mizoram is still pathetic. In order to cope with the fast rate of
development of modern world, the Government of Mizoram has to have its lands
fully surveyed, recorded and digitised and processed through internet-abled land
record management system.
3.2 Not only in land record management, but in the area of land valuation, revenue
assessment and payment or collection including registration of deeds and
documents, adoption of computerised system is the need of the day which,
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however, could never be achieved with the present economic condition of the
State Government.
3.3 Since in order to achieve the desired level in land recording, developmental
growths in the infrastructures pertaining to the said task have to be established and
strengthened properly, some items have been proposed in the main Memorandum
to the 15th Finance Commission earlier as highlighted below:
Table 4:
3.4 Now, besides the proposal submitted earlier in the main Memorandum, the Land
Revenue & Settlement Department, Government of Mizoram has prepared the
project related to strengthening of land revenue administration through complete
survey and demarcation of all lands under the Government of Mizoram. This will,
while ensuring maintenance of accurate land records, will also ensure ease of
doing business for the public and enhancement and stabilisation of the State’s
revenue collection greatly. The additional projects proposed to achieve this are as
given in the following pages.
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4. STATE SPECIFIC PRIORITY LIST OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:
The following are the list of critical infrastructure considered to be imperative to
be included in the Memorandum to the Fifteenth Finance Commission:
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Construction of Officers and Staff Quarters at Mamit
(a) Type IV - 1 unit @ 50 lakh
5. (b) Type III – 2 unit @ 35 lakh 260.00
(c) Type II – 4 unit @ 20 lakh
(d) Type I – 4 unit @ 15 lakh
Construction of Officers and Staff Quarters at Aizawl
(a) Type IV - 1 unit @ 50 lakh
6. (b) Type III – 2 unit @ 35 lakh 260.00
(c) Type II – 4 unit @ 20 lakh
(d) Type I – 4 unit @ 15 lakh
TOTAL 1,560.00
(Rupees fifteen crore sixty lakh only)
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4.3 STRENGTHENING OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CELL:
In order to improve governance by use of Information Technology, Land Revenue
and Settlement Department and Directorate of Stamps and Registration is likely to
be completely computerized in the near future. However, computers have their
limitations and have to be maintainedwith a human touch and hence computer-
literate employees are required. It is proposed that Assistant Inspector General of
Registration (IT) / Assistant Director (IT), Programmer and Data Entry Operator
etc., are engaged in the overall supervision of works and administration of IT. The
Cell will also look after computerization of land records in line with the
Government of India’s Digital India Programmes.
Table 7:
Requirement of
No. of Basic fund for five
SL No Name of Post
Posts Pay + GP years
(Rs in lakh)
1. Asst. IGR (IT) / Asst. 1 PB 3+5400 (Level 41.60
Director (IT) 10)
2. Programmer 2 PB 3+5400 (Level 83.02
10)
3. Computer Operator 5 PB 2+4400 (Level 7) 150.30
4. Data Entry Operator 10 PB 1+2800 (Level 5) 222.50
Total 18 497.42
(Rupees four crore ninety seven lakh forty two thousand only)
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Survey includes all operations incidental to the identification, determination,
measurement, demarcation and record of any land or boundaries and includes re-
survey. The Project shall mainly be focused on the following activities:
(a) Survey of agricultural and non-residential areas of four districts which cannot
be covered under DILRMP;
(b) Survey for regularisation of un-registered land holdings;
(c) Survey of land holdings in villages where survey operations were not carried
out;
(d) Survey for settlement of land and land revenue allotted by competent
authorities;
(e) Survey, demarcation and digitisation of village perimeters and village
council jurisdiction areas;
(f) Survey of potential areas for agriculture along river banks;
(g) Survey of un-cultivable areas in high lands for exchange with potential areas
along riverine reserve forest;
(h) Survey of land for common public utility such as public water source,
playground, public cemetery, community hall, grazing ground, public toilet,
public park, etc.
Amount
Notified Area left to
Name of Total area required
Sl no town area be surveyed
district In sqkm. (Rupees in
In sqkm. In sqkm.
lakh)
1 Kolasib 1382.00 111.00 1271.00 228.78
2 Mamit 3025.00 142.07 2882.93 518.93
3 Siaha 2557.00 53.00 2504.00 450.72
4 Lawngtlai 1399.00 1399.00 251.82
TOTAL 8363.00 306.07 8056.93 1450.25
Survey operations have been carried out only in notified towns. Therefore, for
proper maintenance of land records, for settlement of land and land revenue, for
developmental planning of all the villages and for the realization of land revenue,
taxes and fees, all the un-surveyed villages need to be surveyed.
Table 9: No of Projected Households for 2019.
No of Households
As per 2011 Census
Name of As per Surveye Un-
Sl no Growth Projected
District 2001 d surveyed
Total rate % for 2019
Census notified villages
towns
1 Aizawl 64,753 70,138 12,386 82,524 27.44 105,169
2 Lunglei 27,889 18,509 14,549 33,058 18.53 39,184
3 Champhai 22,059 13,679 11,841 25,520 15.69 29,524
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4 Serchhip 10,116 9,655 2,967 12,622 27.77 16,127
5 Kolasib 14,053 11,907 5,363 17,270 22.89 21,223
6 Mamit 12,253 7,630 10,101 17,731 44.71 25,659
7 Siaha 11,109 11,144 0.32 11,180
8 Lawngtlai 13,902 22,984 65.33 37,999
TOTAL 176,134 131,518 57,207 222,853 286,065
Table 10: Requirement of fund for survey of house site in un-survey villages
of all land holdings and recording the legal ownership of the land held by the
land holders.
No of households in unsurveyed Amount
Name of villages Rate per required
Sl no
district Per 2011 Projected for plot (Rupees in
Census 2019 lakh)
1 Aizawl 12,386 15,922 800.00 127.37
2 Lunglei 14,549 17,245 800.00 137.96
3 Champhai 11,841 13,699 800.00 109.59
4 Serchhip 2,967 3,791 800.00 30.33
5 Kolasib 5,363 6,591 800.00 52.73
6 Mamit 10,101 14,617 800.00 116.94
7 Siaha 11,144 11,180 800.00 89.44
8 Lawngtlai 22,984 37,999 800.00 303.99
TOTAL 91,335 121,044 800.00 968.35
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Table 12: Requirement of fund for survey/re-survey of sites for public
amenities such as Playgrounds, Community Halls, Public Fountains, Public
Cemetery, Crematorium, Sites for NGO, CBO, Church Organisations and
sites for Institutions, Central and State Government Departments, etc.
No of villages/ No of sites
Amount required
Sl no Name of district Local proposed for
(Rupees in lakh)
Councils survey
1 Aizawl 179 936 936.00
2 Lunglei 145 739 739.00
3 Champhai 108 489 489.00
4 Serchhip 49 232 232.00
5 Kolasib 52 268 268.00
6 Mamit 87 443 443.00
7 Siaha 92 273 273.00
8 Lawngtlai 173 564 564.00
TOTAL 895 3,944 3944.00
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2) Web GIS 70.00 70.00
3) Arc GIS 5 Users 5 Users x 8 8.75 70.00
4) Arc GIS 15 Users 15 Users 26.25 26.25
5 Desktop Computer 100 Nos 0.60 60.00
6 Scanner 10 Nos 5.00 50.00
Printer 10 Nos 5.00 50.00
Plotter 10 Nos 5.00 50.00
7 Survey Drone Lidar 80.00 80.00
8 HRS Emergency for Lunglei, Siaha and Lawngtlai districts 200.00
9 Purchase of vehicles for survey teams 10 8.00 80.00
10 Referential GPS Main Station at Headquarters 50.00
11 Capacity Building 100.00
TOTAL 1766.25
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Table 16:
Sl No Items Amount required
(Rupees in lakh)
1 GIS software (open source or proprietary):
1. Enterprise GIS software for web based GIS
implementation.
190.00
2. Customised GIS Software.
3. Creation of various layers of geospatial
information.
2 MIS software (open source or proprietary):
1. Land Record Management System. 180.00
2. Property Registration System.
3. Bespoke development & implementation
3 Infrastructure Cost:
1. Civil & Furniture work for data centre
2. Electric & LAN 51.00
3. UPS (15 KVA with 2 hrs backup)
4 IT infrastructure components:
1. Racks and Firewall
2. Intrusion Protection System
3. Centre core switch
4. Storage Area Network (SAN)
5. Network Attached Storage (NAS)
6. Application Server for GIS and MIS
7. Web and Database Server
8. Racks and Firewall
9. Intrusion Protection System
10. Centre core switch
11. Storage Area Network (SAN) 250.00
12. Network Attached Storage (NAS)
13. Database Server
14. Application Server for GIS and MIS
15. Web and Domain Server
16. Backup Device and Media
17. Desktop PCs
18. Scanners with ADF, Desktop Laser Printer
19. Router
Software CPU based licenses:
1. RDBMS (production & backup server)
2. Network Management System
5 Other Cost:
1. Training and implementation (GIS and MIS) 110.00
2. IT Audit cost.
3. Data Entry.
TOTAL 781.00
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5. SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:
Table 17: Abstract
Sl No. Name of Project Cost Estimate
(Rupees in lakh)
1 Infrastructure Development 3,120.00
2 Strengthening of Information Technology Cell 497.42
3 Survey/Re-Survey 10,004.65
4 Software and Hardware Infrastructure 781.00
TOTAL 14,402.42
(Rupees one hundred seventy five crore and three lakh seven thousand only)
(R. LALRAMNGHAKA)
Special Secretary to Govt. of Mizoram
Land Revenue & Settlement Department.
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