Telangana | Setting the land record straight

For over a century, Bhutharaju Jangaih’s forefathers had cultivated two acres of inam land that the erstwhile jagirdars had gifted his ancestors. In 2020, the revenue divisional officer had issued the 56-year-old Jangaih an Occupation Rights Certificate (ORC) for over one-tenth of an acre of that land in Yacharam village in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district. But the Dharani portal—launched by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government the same year—had left him in limbo, for it had no provision to issue a patta (land title right with passbook) to someone with an ORC. Now, with the passage of the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Bill, 2024, Jangaih—and thousands like him across 12 occupancy categories—are hopeful of finally getting their ownership rights.