Land Titling: Empowering people, capitalizing assets
An interesting new law aimed at simplifying land titles and land records, has been proposed by the government. The draft of the Land Titling Bill 2010 , is now on the website of the Department of Land Resources. In the following article I look at the some of the problems in laws and regulations governing land, and assess the possible impact of the new proposal. I also suggest a few key points that might make this innovative law really transformative one. A version of this article was published in the Wall Street Journal Online, under the title " India lands in a mess ", on July 13, 2010. Tthe proposed property-rights bill could have far-reaching, positive implications for the economy. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachhan cannot buy a piece of farm land outside Mumbai, the city he made his home 40 years ago, because he has first to prove that he or his family are farmers in his home state of Uttar Pradesh. A businessman ended up paying twice for a piece of land in a Himalayan mounta...