News on Land

NAGAPATTINAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Last year farmer Veeramani leased a modest plot of land from his village temple in southern India to grow rice. He borrowed 40,000 rupees ($625) to prepare the field before the rains.

Then the rains failed. Veeramani, 31, was so distressed he suffered a massive heart attack on his field and died, leaving behind his wife, Kavita, and two young daughters. He also left a sizeable debt that Kavita was not aware of.

Land is integral to securing shelter, agriculture for food security, mobilising investments and for the sustainable management of resources. With these issues in focus, Habitat for Humanity's Solid Ground Campaign, in association with the Urban CSO Cluster of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) of UN-HABITAT, will be hosting a conference in Pretoria, 15-17 August.

Modern land registration systems are usually compulsory. Countries must be able to keep track of land, ownership and land use. This is important for planning, real estate sales and urbanization. When land is properly and legally registered, it should protect landowners.

The National Land Policy (NLP) will seek to ensure that a staggered, accessible and affordable process of compulsory registration is enforced after the ratification of the policy.

Mental Health Australia says governments need better response to ‘slow-burning, invisible kind of tragedy’

Governments are better at tackling natural disasters than longer-term problems in remote Indigenous communities, the head of Mental Health Australia has said.

After a technical break, the seven-member Land Inquiry 2017 Commission headed by Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire handled two big cases from July 24 –28.

Burned-out homes in this dry landscape have become a symbol of the tensions around Tuesday's presidential election as Kenyans prepare for the possibility of yet more deadly violence.

For more than a year now, farms and homes in Laikipia County have been under siege.

The National Land Commission has revoked title deeds held 32 schools le deeds held by private developers laying claim on their land.

Through a gazette notice, National Lands Commission chair Muhammad Swazuri revoked 1,100 titles deeds safeguarding 32 public schools and institutions whose lands hand been grabbed.

Lavington Primary in Nairobi whose land had been grabbed by the Kensom Holdings was among the beneficiaries.

Indigenous community leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma came down heavily on the government saying that thousands of people from the minority communities are sinking under the high tide of country’s “so-called development”.

“The government says that high tide of development spreads across the county, but actually thousands of people of the minority communities are sinking by the so called tide,” said the president of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum.

Demand removal of GST on fish sales, increase in nautical limits for fishing

Mumbai: The Akhil Maharashtra Macchimaar Committee and the National Fishermen Forum (NFF) on Tuesday held a protest meeting expressing concern about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), land ownership and transfer of property, unequal allotment of licences, need for local fish markets, and pushing the nautical limits for fishing from 12 miles to 60-70 miles.