The Jharkhand government Wednesday clarified that the proposed amendments in the Chhotanagapur Tenancy Act (CNTA) and Santhal Paragana Tenancy Act (SPTA) were in favour of the land owners and were, in no way, designed to harm the interests of the tribal land owners. On the other hand, top officials claimed, these changes would only bring economic prosperity to the land owners. In July, the state government had sent an ordinance for the proposed amendments to the Governor. There are many people feeding misrepresentations of the actual fact.”“The proposed amendments mainly pertain to allowing freedom to the tribal land owners to use their land for non-agricultural purposes also. The proposed amendments seek to abolish the SAR courts and, in pending cases, return the land to the tribal land owners.

Source: Indian Express October 19, 2016 14:05 UTC