Land reform proposal | Bangkok Post: learning

About agriculture

Land ownership inequalities will be targeted with land tax, cap on ownership, land bank, zoning, and database.

For essential land reform vocabulary, please see: Essential Land Reform Vocabulary.

For more information on the current proposals written in the Thai language, see this article.

The photo below is of a title deed being handed to a landless farmer many years ago. In the past, efforts at land reform have been plagued by many problems (See articles #1 and #2).

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AGRICULTURE: Land reform proposed to end inequality by Achara Ashayagachat

Political parties are being encouraged to adopt the National Reform Committee's land reform proposals as part of their policy platforms in an attempt to solve the country's long-standing land ownership inequalities.

The NRC yesterday suggested agricultural land reform as part of a raft of proposals aimed at solving social and economic inequities and bringing about national reconciliation.

The land reform proposal consists of five policy measures: restricting property ownership to 50 rai a family; setting up a national land database; establishing a land bank to buy unused land and reallocate it to landless farmers; imposing a progressive land tax to discourage large-scale landholding; and zoning land for agriculture.

The measures, if adopted, could reduce inequality, NRC chairman Anand Panyarachun said yesterday.

The former prime minister conceded that the 50-rai land restriction would be difficult to impose and could lead to misunderstandings that state agencies would attempt to seize land from the owners
.
Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam was reported on Sunday as saying he disagreed with the cap.

He said state agencies should find other means to acquire unused land for allocation to the poor.

The chairman of the NRC's subcommittee on land reform, Pearmsak Makarapirom, said the committee's proposals were a "strong dose of medicine" to solve the country's land problems.

We can no longer allow the piecemeal measures proposed by the present government," Mr Pearmsak said yesterday.

We suggest core agencies from the agriculture, interior and natural resources ministries come together and implement [our proposal] within five years.

Figures show there were 889,022 landless farmers nationwide in 2004, while 517,263 more farmers had land but not enough for cultivation and more than 811,000 farmers occupied plots without title deeds

(Source: Bangkok Post, Local News AGRICULTURE, Land reform proposed to end inequality, 08/02/2011, Achara Ashayagachat, link) 

reform - a change to correct a situation that is wrong or unfair, improvements in the way government or an organization operates การแก้ไข การปฏิรูป
land reform - a government program to take the ownership of land from large land owners (the rich, the government) and give it (redistribute) to poor small farmers (See Wikipedia)

propose (verb) - suggest, presented as a possible project (but not yet chosen or decided upon)
proposal (noun) - a plan or suggestion for a group to consider ข้อเสนอ

inequality - economic inequality, when most of a country's income and assets are possessed by a small group of people, not spread equally over the whole population like it is in many European countries like Sweden and Switzerland, see a colour-coded map of world economic inequality as measured by the Gini coefficients (See Wikipedia)

Gini coefficient - a measure of inequality (in income or consumption expenditure here) rich western countries are usually around 0.3, Latin America is the worst around 0.5 (See The Economist on Gini Coefficient and Inequality and Wikipedia)

parties - people, companies or organizations entering into a business arrangement or deal
encouraged - having more confidence or hope about something มีกำลังใจ
adopt - to accept or to start using something new นำมาใช้

National Reform Committee (NRC) - a group of experts appointed with the goal of resolving the long-standing conflict in Thailand and achieving "national reconciliation" (See article)

policy - a plan of action to guide decisions and achieve outcomes (See Wikipedia) นโยบาย
long - to want something very much ต้องการ ปรารถนา

raft - large number 2. usual meaning: a small light boat made of rubber or plastic แพ เรือแพ
a raft of proposals - a large number of proposals
reconciliation - the process of two friends who have fought becoming friends again, the process of forming a new and friendly relationship with someone you argued or disagreed with before การประีนีประนอม การปรองดอง
national reconciliation - when different groups within a country become friends again after fighting

measures - actions taken to solve a problem มาตราการ
property ownership - owning land
database - a large amount of information stored in a computer in an organised way ฐานข้อมูล
land bank - the buying and holding (rather than developing) of land for future development or use (See Wikipedia)
reallocate - take a collection of things (here: land plots) from one set of owners and give to a new set of owners

progressive tax - a tax imposed so that the tax rate increases as the amount subject to taxation increases, this means rich people (higher income) get taxed at a higher rate (See Wikipedia)
discourage - to make someone feel like something should not be done ทำให้ไม่อยาก (ทำสิ่งใดสิ่งหนึ่ง)
scale - size (relative size)
large-scale landholding - owning large amounts of land
zoning - when a city is divided into different areas, some areas only have homes (residential), some only businesses (commercial),  local laws and regulations about how a piece of land can be used การแบ่งโซน

conceded - admitted unwillingly that something is true ยอมรับ
restriction - a rule, action or situation that limits or controls someone or something การจำกัด, การควบคุม
impose - make people accept something new like a new law or new way of doing things การกำหนด, นำกฎหมายมาบังคับใช้
seize - to take something using force and official power จับกุม, ยึกครอง, เข้ายึดพื้นที่
cap - limit (set largest amount that it cannot go beyond)
means - methods; ways วิธี, วิธีการ
acquire - to get; to obtain ได้มาซึ่ง
allocation - 1. dividing up something and giving it to people การจัดสรรปันส่วน, 2. an amount or share of something that is given to someone การแบ่งส่วน
dose - an amount of drug that you take at a single time to cure a disease ปริมาณยาที่ให้ต่อครั้ง

core - the center, the most important or most basic part of something ส่วนสำคัญ
natural resources - things such as coal, trees and oil that exist in nature and can be used by people ทรัพยากร
implement - put a plan into action, to make something such as an idea, plan, system or law start to work and be used นำ แผนหรือนโยบายมาปฏิบัติ, นำมาใช้
nationwide - throughout a whole country ทั่วทั้งประเทศ
cultivation - growing plants
plots - pieces of land
title - the legal right to own land or property (real estate)
deed - a written agreement signed in a formal way that shows ownership of real estate such as a house
title deed - same meaning as "deed"

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