Without land life on earth is not possible. It is one of the most important natural resources in the world. What’s more, it is mankind’s ultimate aim to acquire land, maintain it and prevent it from getting degraded. The Central and State Governments of India are taking a lot of initiatives at all levels to promote the acquisition of land in an orderly and disciplined manner and help the pace of development of wastelands or degraded lands.

CENTRAL LEVEL:

There are 2 main Ministries that oversee the development of land at the Central level – the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Urban Development. The former Ministry looks after the land matters in rural areas, administration of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 as well as examines all State legislative proposals covering any enactment of the subject of acquisition and requisition of property/ land. The ‘Department of Land Resources’ is the main authority, within the Ministry, to deal with matters of land reforms, land tenures, land records, acquisition of non-agricultural land or buildings, etc. The Ministry of Urban Development is mainly responsible for enacting laws like Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act, 1976 and Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999, that is, concerned with varied aspects of land in urban settings.

STATE LEVEL:

At the State level, there are various Departments which deals with matters of land acquisition, housing, infrastructure, town planning, etc, which are Department of Rural Development, Planning Department, Public Works department, Land Department and similar departments. They all look after the development of urbanization in the country other matters relating to land in the rural as well as urban areas. Further, there are several Urban Development Authorities in the States for achieving the speedy development of urban estates.