Well-conceived interventions can make land rights real for India's rural poor. In West Bengal, the combination of amended legislation, political will, and capable institutions led a million and a half sharecroppers to register their names and assert their rights to the land they cultivate. With the help of an NGO, women in Bihar formed work groups and receive more produce and income from the land they farm. Legal aid services provided by law students in Andhra Pradesh are resolving land disputes that have been pending for years.
And these are only a few example of very early efforts. The range of land issues that could be driven forward by well placed interventions is considerable. The number of communities that could be benefited is staggering. And the potential for those interventions to have concrete, positive impacts on the daily lives of India's rural poor is enormous.
