On Ambedkar Jayanti this year, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy formally launched Bhu Bharati, the Congress government’s much-touted digital land records management system. Bhu Bharati replaces the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government’s Dharani, one of the major poll planks of the Congress, which had alleged many irregularities with the portal: from being misused to enable land-grabbing by BRS leaders, to denying financial assistance to farmers.
Backed by the successive BRS and Congress government’s Record of Rights laws, then Dharani – and now Bhu Bharati – is meant to be an integrated land records portal, for the registration of agricultural and non-agricultural properties in the state.
Bhu Bharati, which was launched on a pilot basis in four mandals, is expected to have better grievance redressal systems that are more accessible and decentralised compared to Dharani. While the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2024, was passed in the Assembly in December 2024, it came into force on April 14, when the rules for its implementation were also issued.
This was welcomed by stakeholders, since no such clear rules were framed under the previous BRS government to implement the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 2020.
In this backdrop, a comparison of the two laws is in order.
Rectifying errors and other grievances
The new Bhu Bharati law decentralises grievance redressal. People can now approach local revenue officials including the tahsildar or revenue divisional officer (RDO) with their appeals, a provision missing in the 2020 Act and the Dharani portal.
Under the 2020 Act, people were forced to directly approach civil courts, as the Dharani portal did not have any other avenues for grievance redressal. Farmers had to take the costly, time-consuming, and burdensome route of approaching civil courts to correct even routine errors such as their name and extent of land in the records.
With Bhu Bharati, those unhappy with the decision of the tahsildar or RDO can escalate their appeal to the District Collector, the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA), and even the Revenue Minister.
However, for correction of records for land whose market value is above Rs 5 lakh, the correction has to be done by the Collector. The tahsildar or RDO are not authorised to do this.
Sarampally Malla Reddy, Telangana vice president of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), argued that this market value limit must be increased in the backdrop of rising land values. He said that such a low limit would force even small farmers or landholders to approach the Collector, which could prolong the resolution.
As per the new rules, people seeking rectifications in land record entries can approach officials through the Bhu Bharati portal within a year from the date of commencement of the new Record of Rights law (April 14, 2025), or a year from the date of wrong entry in the records.
This means applications for corrections can be filed until April 13, 2026.
Land tribunals, which will hear such appeals, are also to be formed under the Act.
Malla Reddy noted that while farmers were expected to pay Rs 1,600 for corrections in land records, under Bhu Bharati too, they are required to shell out Rs 1,000 for ‘corrections in record of rights and also for filing appeals’.
“Why should farmers pay for mistakes made by officials?” he asked. He also objected to the collection of Rs 2,500 per acre for mutation or succession (transfer of land ownership) per acre, calling it a burden on beneficiaries.
Accurate records
While Dharani’s focus was entirely on digital records, Bhu Bharathi stresses on maintaining physical documents too at revenue offices, to prevent any mismanagement of land records.
The names of those who are in enjoyment (use) of the lands will be recorded manually as well to provide them legal rights, in cases where digital records are not up to date.
All land record details are to be updated by the revenue officials concerned. As part of this, details of abadi (residential land in a village) and non-agriculture lands will be maintained separately on the Bhu Bharati portal. Land coordinates will be used to determine the boundaries and maps will be prepared.
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas has said that the new Act mandates a survey map at the time of registration, which was lacking in the previous system. This is expected to minimise boundary disputes.
Regularising informal land transactions
The Congress government has also alleged that regularisation of sada bainama lands (informal land transactions done on a white paper without registration) was not accommodated adequately under the Dharani portal. The previous BRS government had invited applications in 2020 for regularisation of such unregistered land transactions, with June 2, 2014 (the state’s formation day) as the cut-off date for these transactions.
In Bhu Bharathi, however, the Congress government has said that while over 9 lakh sada bainama applications are pending, the genuine claims among them will be considered and processed.
The RDO is empowered to send a notice seeking information from the applicant in the form of an affidavit. Action will be taken based on a probe, in which evidence will be gathered by speaking to neighbouring farmers and elders in the village. Orders will be issued in 90 days if no illegality is found in the transaction.
Malla Reddy argued that since the previous BRS government had given only a one-month window to apply for regularising sada bainama transactions done up to June 2, 2014, the Congress government must allow fresh applications and include transactions done up to December 7, 2023, when the party came to power.
Part B lands
Nearly 18 lakh acres of land in the state are categorised under Part B, which consists of lands involved in disputes related to land ownership, mutations, and registrations that have not been conclusively resolved. This includes Waqf lands and Bhoodan lands.
With these disputes remaining unresolved, lakhs of farmers were losing out on benefits such as investment support schemes and subsidised crop loans.
Unlike Dharani, which made it difficult for tahsildars and other officials to make changes in the land records, the Congress government has said that Bhu Bharati will make such resolutions simpler.
Other expected improvements
In case of inherited property, there was no scope for appeal after registration by a party in Dharani. But Bhu Bharati ensures that notices are issued to all stakeholders when an application is made for registration, and only then the property records are updated. This ensures that there is no scope for misuse by any one stakeholder.
While holders of assigned lands – government land assigned to the poor or landless for livelihood, with the condition that they cannot be transferred – did not get pattadar passbooks (documents certifying one’s property ownership) earlier, they are eligible to get one under the new Act.
Along with issuing a unique Bhudhaar number for lands, the new law also has a provision to fund legal aid in case a farmer is unable to file appeals because of financial difficulties.
Criticism of Bhu Bharati Act
While the Bhu Bharati rules seem like an improvement from Dharani, they have also come under some criticism. Farmers’ rights activist Ravi Kanneganti said that the new Act still fails to address certain core issues.
He said that a land resurvey is long overdue in Telangana, which neither the BRS nor Congress have initiated. He noted that the last comprehensive land survey in the region was done in 1931, which causes confusion on land use statistics.
In the absence of updated data on the extent of arable and forest lands, the government is relying on unverified, outdated data from the Dharani website, said Ravi, questioning how land record laws have been changed five times over the years without a resurvey of lands.
“When CM Revanth Reddy alleges that KCR’s farmhouse is spread over 1,000 acres, why is he not calling for a survey of the land?” Ravi asked.
Calling for a comprehensive land use policy that can balance land resource management with sustainable practices, Ravi said that treating land as a commodity instead of a limited natural resource has led to a situation where farmers are struggling to buy local land out of their own income, while outsiders are able to buy large swathes of arable land for commercial purposes . “Bhu Bharati doesn’t address this issue,” he said.
Tenant farmers’ issues unresolved
Ravi also noted that tenant farmers continue to suffer under Bhu Bharati as well, as successive governments have failed to initiate measures to identify them and provide benefits.
Ahead of the 2023 Assembly election, now Chief Minister Revanth Reddy wrote an open letter to tenant farmers promising to address their concerns. Revanth had acknowledged the disadvantages of tenant farmers, from lack of access to crop loans and input subsidies to crop insurance. He had promised annual assistance of Rs 15,000 per acre for tenant farmers and Rs 12,000 for farm labourers. The government, however, is yet to take any steps towards identifying them as per the Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011.
Malla Reddy too said that when it comes to tenant farmers, there’s little difference between Dharani and Bhu Bharati.
G Ram Mohan is a freelance journalist based in Hyderabad. He writes on education, agriculture, and health.
