Bihar’s land survey hits linguistic barrier, state to hire experts from neighbour UP

Patna, Sep 23 (IANS) The Bihar government’s land survey, which began on August 20, had been facing criticism over its lack of planning and now encountered a new hurdle – deciphering the old registry records written in a script that has long fallen out of use, leading to the entire exercise being put off for three months.

The old records are in Kaithi, an old script used primarily in Bihar and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh for official documents, including land records, but now long in decline due to the rise of Devanagari and other newer scripts.

As many of Bihar’s old land registry documents are in Kaithi, state government officials are facing a challenge in accurately deciphering these records, which are crucial for ongoing land surveys and legal processes. However, there is a marked shortage of officials skilled in this script who can understand the old script. Though the state government launched training programmes, these had limited success, as the complexity and ancient nature of the script make it difficult for people to master it quickly.

The lack of those who understood the Kaithi script has created hurdles for officials and landowners alike, due to the difficulties in accessing important documents like the Raiyat and Khatiyan (official records of land rights) papers, which are essential for verifying land ownership.

Many individuals, particularly those with older land documents, are struggling to retrieve their registry papers, leading to long queues at Circle Offices where people wait to obtain critical land-related documents, including the Khatiyan.

Now the state government is planning to hire Kaithi language experts to help expedite its land survey and ensure the accuracy of the process by interpreting the old documents. For this, it is looking for assistance from its northern neighbour.

It has been decided to rope in Kaithi experts from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Gazipur, Jaunpur, and Varanasi, where knowledge of the script is more prevalent.

The imbroglio over Kaithi not only shows the importance of preserving linguistic heritage but also highlights the practical challenges posed by historical scripts in contemporary governance.

Recognising these challenges, Bihar’s Land Reforms and Revenue Minister Dilip Jaiswal on Saturday ordered the postponement of the land survey by three months.

–IANS

ajk/vd