Tamil Nadu146;s landladies

With 42 women receiving land, Katchur is the biggest beneficiary of the state government8217;s land for landless scheme, reports Jaya Menon

There is excitement in Arumugam8217;s house in Katchur village. His wife, Meera, was one of fortunate ones gifted two acres of land by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. Living on his daily wages of Rs 40, the family had never dreamt of owning a piece of land. Today, while Arumugam works in his employer8217;s fields, Meera slogs it out in her two-acre land.

In April, when the DMK released its long list of pre-poll freebies, among them being acres of land for the landless, there were many in Katchur and neighbouring Venkatapuram and Perincherry villages who rejoiced. But Katchur was the biggest beneficiary 8211; 42 women the land pattas are gifted in the names of women only here were short-listed to receive land. Ten were chosen from the other two villages.

Tucked deep into Thiruvallur district and just about 65 km from Chennai, development is still a far cry in these stretches. Many of the villagers here are farm hands who never thought they would ever own land.

When the Agriculture Engineering department took over 90 acres of wasteland in Katchur in August to make it cultivable, there were many sceptics. For the past hundred years no farming had been done in this pebble-covered barren land. The department had a difficult time removing pebbles and reaching down to the red soil.

When Karunanidhi unveiled the scheme at a function at Venkatapuram, the land was ready for cultivation. Geologists had helped identify points for sinking borewells, eight of which were installed. The agriculture department planted mango saplings and jatropia crops. While paddy can8217;t be sown here, the villagers can make a decent living growing short duration crops, including watermelon. For the government, which invested Rs 3,000 for developing each acre, the Katchur gamble had paid off.

8216;8216;We hope to earn at least Rs 5,000 every year from our land,8217;8217; says Mariamma Neelamegam, thrilled to finally own a piece of land. She and her friends Jayaseeli Jayavel and Meera Arumugam hope to pool in their resources to take care of their farms.

With a serious shortage of land, many were left out of the scheme. But, the ruling DMK boasts that its pre-poll promise of land to the landless had ushered in unprecedented land reforms in the state8217;s agrarian backyards.

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Officially launching the scheme at Venkatapuram village on September 17, which happens to be the birth anniversary of Dravidar Kazhagam founder E.V. Ramasamy, better known as Periyar, Karunanidhi said 26,321 acres of wasteland was being distributed across the state to 24,949 persons in the first phase of the programme, which, would be 8216;8216;a continuous process.8217;8217; The state government had sent a team of officials to West Bengal to study the wasteland development and land distribution to landless farmers there. Before the state polls, the DMK claimed that 55 lakh acres of land were available for redistribution.

The ground reality was very different. There were only about 1.91 lakh acres available for distribution. But Karunanidhi has promised that 8216;8216;Tamil Nadu would do better in the next five years on land reforms than what West Bengal did in the last ten years.8217;8217;