Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has temporarily prohibited registration and mutation of Bhoodan land across the state until further orders, as it rolls out a time-bound exercise to prepare an authentic, searchable digital database of Bhoodan and Gramdan land.
The Revenue and Disaster Management department has formulated the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)-2026 to preserve historical Bhoodan and Gramdan land records, reconcile them with existing Records of Rights (RoR) and address the administrative and legal issues surrounding such land.
Revenue and Disaster Management Department Additional Chief Secretary Aravinda Kumar Padhee has issued necessary directions to all Revenue Divisional Commissioners (RDCs), the Secretary of the Board of Revenue and district Collectors.
The Bhoodan movement, inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and led by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, sought equitable distribution of voluntarily donated land among landless families. A substantial quantity of land was received in Odisha by the Bhoodan Yagna Samiti under the movement.
While a considerable portion of the land was distributed among landless beneficiaries, a significant quantity remains undistributed. In several cases, mutation of legally allotted Bhoodan land has also not been carried out in the Records of Rights, creating difficulties for genuine beneficiaries.
The absence of accurate and authentic records and an integrated database of Bhoodan land in different parts of the state has resulted in several legal and administrative complications.
Padhee said the proposed centralised digital database would help identify and rectify discrepancies in historical records, identify and protect undistributed Bhoodan land and facilitate its planned utilisation in the interests of genuine landless beneficiaries. The Revenue department has also been allotting land to eligible landless families under the Vasundhara scheme.
However, despite legal restrictions on transfer of Bhoodan land, the department has detected irregularities at some places, including unauthorised commercial occupation and illegal transfer. Protection of the rights of genuine beneficiaries and enforcement of legal restrictions through reconciliation and re-verification of records are among the key objectives of the exercise.
Under the time-bound mission, all Bhoodan land records in the state will be digitised and incorporated into an authentic and searchable database, with preservation and digitisation of old historical records accorded the highest priority.