Eye on industries, Kerala plans key land law changes

THIRUVANANTHPURA: Moration and circulated among key government departments proposes sweeping changes to the state's land laws, paddy land and

wetland protection regulations

, and the powers of local self-government institutions (LSGIs).
The proposals could dismantle some of the very laws that successive Left govts introduced - such as

Kerala Land Reforms Act

, Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land, and Wetland Act - along with the decentralized planning framework that gave local bodies control over industrial approvals. If implemented, the changes could lead to large-scale industrial land acquisition, widespread

paddy land conversion

, and reduced authority for local bodies.
Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, which abolished feudal ownership and imposed land ceilings to ensure equitable distribution, faces a potential major overhaul.
The proposal suggests exempting all industries from land ceiling limits, which could open the floodgates for corporate land accumulation.

It also recommends increasing the land ceiling for industrial projects from 15 acres to 100 acres, with the possibility of even larger exemptions granted by a high-level committee.
While the government justifies these changes as necessary to attract large-scale investments, critics argue that they contradict the core principles of land reforms.
Even more controversial is the proposed dilution of Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008, which was enacted to protect the state's rapidly shrinking agricultural land and wetlands.