In many countries around the world, the land administration system deals only with formal land rights, often subject to legislation passed during the colonial period. Formal or statutory tenure is where a landholder’s rights are specified in the law. This enables the owner(s) or rightholder(s) to rely on the law to defend his or her rights. But the poor often hold their land through customary or informal tenure systems which are often not recognized in law or in practice and therefore they lack the tenure security provided by the law.

This Report is the outcome of a deep commitment on part of the Land Rights Initiative research team to create systematic knowledge on land issues in India with a view to meaningfully evaluating legal and policy initiatives that can contribute to creation of more equitable land regimes for all. The Report has been in the making for five years and yet remains a work in progress. The dismal plight of the Scheduled Tribes in India is the result of complex current and historical, institutional,social, political, and economic dynamics that have been difficult for us to assess in their totality.

This book delivers new conceptual and empirical studies surrounding the design and evaluation of land governance, focusing on land management approaches, land policy issues, advances in pro-poor land tenure and land-based gender concerns. It explores alternative approaches for land management and land tenure through international experiences. Part 1 covers Concepts, debates and perspectives on the governance and gender aspects of land. Part 2 focuses on Tenure-gender dimensions in land management, land administration and land policy.