Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has strongly criticized the previous BRS government over its implementation of the Dharani land records portal, alleging that it systematically removed the rights of marginalized communities. Speaking in the Telangana Assembly, the Chief Minister stated that the digital land records system erased the names of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Dalits, Adivasis, and landless Backward Classes (BCs) who worked as tenant farmers and sharecroppers.
The Chief Minister explained that the traditional Kasara Pahani land record system maintained comprehensive documentation that included both landowner names and the names of actual cultivators. This older system recognized tenant farmers and sharecroppers who worked on others’ land, providing them with certain usage rights and, in some cases, eventual ownership opportunities through government initiatives. These records served as proof of cultivation and helped protect the interests of marginalized farming communities.
According to Revanth Reddy, when former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) introduced the Dharani portal, it replaced the old land records system but failed to incorporate the Kasara Pahani details. This transition resulted in the removal of names of actual cultivators from official records, leaving only landowner information in the digital database. The Chief Minister emphasized that this change disproportionately affected vulnerable sections of society who depended on tenant farming for their livelihood.
The impact of this policy shift has been particularly severe for tenant farmers who lacked formal land ownership but had been cultivating land for generations. These farmers, predominantly from SC, ST, Dalit, Adivasi, and landless communities, lost their documented connection to the land they farmed. The Dharani system, while intended to modernize land records and reduce corruption, apparently did not account for the complex realities of land use and cultivation patterns in rural Telangana.
The Chief Minister’s statements in the Assembly highlight ongoing concerns about land rights and the protection of marginalized farmers in the state. Revanth Reddy asserted that the Dharani portal effectively stripped away the rights of tenant farmers who had been making their living by cultivating landlords’ land, leaving them without legal recognition or protection under the new digital land records system.
