By Rajan Narayan

IT IS the Uniform Civil Code that is forcing both bhatkar and mundkar to sell Goan land to outsiders. It is the sale of land to people from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru that is converting Goa into a Gurgaon, Bandra, or New Delhi. The Uniform Civil Code has led to the splintering of land holdings with each generation, both in the case of bhatkar and not to mention mundkar.
The land holdings inherited by generation X, which is the pre-Portuguese generation, are much less than what was inherited by the post-2000 generation Z. The big bhatkar are not interested in cultivating the land because they lost a large part of it to tenants or mundkar. Most large land holdings are under bitter dispute between brothers and sisters and nephews and cousins as they are not happy with the share given to them. They are even unhappy with the valuation of various properties in different parts of Goa.
LET us take a look at the process of the splintering of the size of land holdings. For the sake of convenience let us presume that a bhatkar born before 1947 who will be 80 years now, has inherited a hundred hectares of land. The bhatkar and his wife probably have eight to nine children. In pre-Liberation times over 80% to 90% of Goa lived in the villages. Traditionally, in villages, whether in Goa or any other part of the country the tradition was to have large families and these were joint families growing up together in a common ancestral house.
In any case in Portuguese Goa there was no tradition of family planning and both the Church and Portuguese regime encouraged couples to have as many children as they could have. In Catholic families they were forbidden from adopting any family planning methods. The Church teaching is that sex even in marriage is only for the purpose of producing children who are a gift of god.
So let us assume that the 1940s couple had 12 children. Which was not unusual but quite normal. The population was small at about five to six lakh. There was no entertainment like even radio or TV, leave alone WhatsApp. Perhaps there was nothing to do in the late evenings except to produce children. Moreover, the bhatkar did not cultivate land on their own but leased it out to the tenants who did the field work. They also doubled as the large army of domestic servants who were given land of 100 or 200 mts to build on the property of the bhatkar or landlord.
THE ten sons of the landlord only inherited ten hectares each of the 100 mts plots that their father had. By the time it came to the next generation each of the ten children probably had five children each. This meant that the ten hectares were divided equally and each son or daughter got two hectares. Even if the next generation had only two or three children they would get a very small portion of the parental share of two hectares. The problem then gets compounded by bitter infighting between children, sons-in-law and nephews, nieces, cousins for their share of the property.

EQUAL SHARE PROBLEMS
FOR the Uniform Civil Code which Goa inherited from the Portuguese stipulates that sons and daughters are entitled to get an equal share of the property of their father. This is unlike in the rest of the country where property is automatically inherited by the eldest son. Though in Goa the daughters were also entitled to an equal share of the property the parents inevitably gave them their share as dowry when they got married. The daughters have to sign an affidavit to the effect that they have got their share and would not make any claims on the rest of the property.
In theory, the Uniform Civil Code stipulates that when a spouse dies the remaining spouse is entitled to 50% of the property. Unfortunately, at the time of marriage, every bhatkar family forces the bride to sign a pre-nuptial agreement. Under the pre-nuptial agreement the bride is forced to give an undertaking that she will not stake a claim to any part of her husband’s property.
In the case of the tenants or mundkar it is even worse. When the property debt is claimed by the tenant under the Tenancy Act 1964, and is subdivided over three generations there is very little land left. In the case of the mundkar the legal provision is that they can get 300 sqmts at a fixed price dating back to 1970 and 150 sqmts in urban areas. If they are divided over three generations of families of tenants there is virtually nothing left. It is unfortunate that there are hundreds of cases of the children of bhatkar and mundkar fighting with each other over rightful share of ancestral property.
EVERYONE is selling their land regardless of bhatkar or mundkar. The bhatkar are selling the property because they are tired of legal problems within the family with the tenants. It is easier for them to sell the property to an outside builder who will use money and muscle to get the tenants to get out. With property prices touching the sky there is pressure all around to make a big fat buck so that it could be distributed amongst fighting daughters and sons and sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. Similarly is the case with the mundkar. To me it appears that it would be better option to surrender their rights to the bhatkar so that they can at least get some money to distribute to all their children.

BITTER TRUTH
THE final bitter truth today is that no Goan can afford to buy land in his own homeland Goa. Forget about buying land. Goans cannot even afford to buy a flat even in rural areas, let alone urban areas. Whether it is in urban areas like Panaji or Margao or rural villages like Saligao or Siolim there are no paddy fields left. All of them are taken over by multi-storied apartment buildings or Portuguese-style houses.
The identity or asmitai of Goa has been destroyed not by poor migrants who have been providing the power needed to support rich Goans and rich migrant settlers. It is the rich migrants looking for a second home or relocating to Goa who are buying up all the land. It is very profitable for them to do so as compared to the price of land in posh colonies in Delhi, Mumbai, or Bengaluru, real estate is less than one-third of the price in Goa. This is why the rich bhaile are willing to pay Rs5 crore or Rs50 crore for a piece of paradise in Goa. This is not fiction but a sad fact of life.
DLF who destroyed Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi are offering villas in Reis Magos for Rs50 crore. The Lodha group is offering farm houses in Mayem in Bicholim for Rs5 lakh to Rs10 crore each. Even flats in Dona Paula or Caranzalem cost a minimum of Rs2 crore to Rs5 crore in a society that has a swimming pool, gym, and the mod cons which are normally available only in the metro cities.
When I came to Goa in 1983 I got a bank loan to get a small one-bedroom flat in Taleigao for around Rs4 lakh. The now more than 25 year old flat may now be worth quite a bit given its advantageous location. But we could not live in a 1BHK with one bathroom and less than 10 years ago we could have got a better 2BHK flat in a Models buildings for Rs15 lakh.
It was not to be, in fact, a friend of mine bought two adjoining flats in the Models Millennium Complex for Rs25 lakh. Indeed, I was offered a large flat in Model Status around the time of my 60th birthday for just Rs 15 lakh – but the flat was turned down by my better half in her wisdom of not having enough money. At that time neither of us thought about borrowing a few extra lakh required from generous relatives, friends or even banks and let a good offer go by.
This is only to show how much property prices have gone up in Goa. Investment in property is the best investment. Because no other asset whether it is gold or shares grow so much in value as property.
In most of the states in the country, only the locals can purchase agricultural property. Even in the case of outsiders, there is a rule that only those who come from a farming background can buy agricultural land in any other state. In states like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, no outsiders are permitted to buy land in the state.

`DO BIGHA ZAMEEN’
UNFORTUNATELY, in their greed, successive chief ministers and Town & Country planning ministers put up Goa for sale. The process was started by Atanasio Babush Monserrate with the notorious 2011 Regional Plan. The sale of Goa has taken place at a much higher level by present TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane. minister. The former chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, Ferdino Rebello, has pointed out that in no other state have MLAs and ministers auctioned land belonging to Goans. The threat to Goa is not from the poor bhaile. It is not even from the rich bhaile, the threat is from bhatkar (landlords) and mundkar (tenants) competing with each other to auction off land belonging to their fathers forefathers.
We are heading for a real-life situation of the classic film Do Bigha Zameen directed by Bimal Roy in 1953. There is a very classic story about a man who was very greedy for land. He went to the king seeking land. The king told him that all the land he could cover from 6am to 6pm on foot would be given to him. The greedy man started running. He did not have breakfast, or lunch, and did not stop for even water. By the 6 pm deadline, he fell dead. Finally, all the land he needed was a six foot plot to mark his burial place.