Abstract:
The government of Sri Lanka has been directing its efforts
for several decades, at increasing the development of the country#
The achievement of this goal depends on the efficacy/ of
mobilising the factors of production of land, labour and capital.
It is found that there are constraints in getting the maximum
out of the land. As a result of these constraints, sufficient labour
is not being engaged on or sufficient Capital is not being invested in
the land.
The land ownership pattern moulded by the intricate laws of
succession, which in turn is a result of the historical and cultural
background of the people, has been a major constraint in obtaining the
maximum from the land. This situation has been aggravated by the lack of
proper land records.
The undesirable effects of this system have been the inability
of getting capital for investment on the land or the prevalance of
disputes resulting in the neglect of such lands.
This study is directed at the identification of such problems
and finding solutions for them.
After a critical study of the land ownership system leading to
the identification of problems, in Chapter 2, two cose studies are
directed at making an assessment of the effect of these problems on
development. A comparative study of the situation in a representative
selection of countries have been done in Chapter 4. Ths study carried
on those linos is directed at the formulation of proposals and a plan
of aotion for salving these problems.
(iii)
The proposals are aimed at s
(a) Simplifying the land law and land tenure,
(b) Simplifying the procedure in land transactions, and
(c) Maintaining a systematic record of rights in land, to be
used as an aid in development administration©
The #lan of action covers a 25 year period and is aimed
at the implementation of the proposals taking into account the
development projects already initiated by the Government©
