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Keta Guntha is beaming with a great sense of security. It’s a feeling she says she hasn’t known before, and it comes from a single piece of paper — legal title to the parcel of land that her family farms in the Indian state of Odisha.
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For Keta, who lives with her husband and three children in Koraput District, life before receiving a land title was one of uncertainty. But that changed in 2012, when Keta received a land title, or patta, through a land allocation program by the state government of Odisha, in partnership with Landesa.
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“Now that we have the title to our land, we have no fear of losing it anymore,” says Keta.
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With documented land rights, Keta’s children were eligible for a free public education. Her daughters, Rashmita and Sasmita, are enrolled in primary school; her son, Jagdish, graduated from high school earlier this year.
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Secure land rights also empowered Keta to make an investment in her land. She has grown 300 sweet corn plants, from seeds that she purchased for 180 rupees (about $3 USD). She sells her sweet corn at a nearby vegetable market, and expects to earn about 9,000 rupees ($130 USD) this season alone – a remarkable profit and a boon to her family’s income.