The Prime Minister of India symbolically distributed Hakku Patra (land title deeds) to a few families of the Banjara (Lambani) community, a nomadic Scheduled Caste group, in the Kalaburagi district, Karnataka.
More than 50,000 families got land titles during the programme.
The Lambanis are nomadic tribes with the majority of the population living in north Karnataka.
Hakku Patras or title deeds
It is a property ownership document.
It enables owners to avail of bank loans with the said document. They will also be eligible to buy or sell land to which the title deed is granted by the government.
The Banjaras are a key scheduled caste sub-group in Karnataka. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes together make up nearly 24% of the state population.
In 2017, the state government of Karnataka passed a law to grant ownership of houses to agricultural labourers living in unrecorded habitations, the law was expected to benefit more than 2 lakh people living in the Lambani community and other settlements of different backward communities, such as Kurubarahattis, Haadis, and Palyas.
