What is jamma bane?

Answer 1

A system of land tenure, known as Jamma, was formerly instituted in Kodagu during the pre-colonial Paleri Dynasty of the Lingayat Rajas [5]. Jamma agricultural lands (generally reserved for wet-rice cultivation) were held almost exclusively by Kodavas as a hereditary right, and were both indivisible and inalienable. Importantly, rights over the adjacent forests (bane) were also attached to Jamma tenure, such that relatively expansive agricultural-forestry estates have remained intact across Kodagu. The exclusion of plantation crops, such as coffee, from India's Land Ceiling Act has further insulated these holdings from postindependence land reform efforts across India. Importantly, rights over the adjacent forests (bane) were also attached to Jamma tenure, such that relatively expansive agricultural-forestry estates have remained intact across Kodagu. A unique feature of Jamma tenure is that tree rights remained with the Rajas, and were subsequently transferred to the colonial and post-independence governments and remains an import determinant of land use practices in the district.