ROSHINI SCHEME

Subject:  Govt Schemes

Context: Jammu and Kashmir administration decided to annul all actions taken under the Roshni land scheme and announced that it will cancel mutations and retrieve all land sanctioned under the scheme within six months.

This was so because it failed to realize the desired objectives and there were also reports of misuse of some its provisions.

Concept :

• The Roshni Act envisaged the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to the payment of a cost, as determined by the government.
• It set 1990 as the cutoff for encroachment on state land.
• The government’s target was to earn Rs 25,000 crore by transferring 20 lakh kanals (one-eighth of an acre) of state land to existing occupants against payment at market rates.
• The government said the revenue generated would be spent on commissioning hydroelectric power projects, hence the name “Roshni”.