Abstract

Access to land is considered to be the constituent element of empowerment of common people. There are many challenges in the way to ensure access to land i.e., land rights. Unfortunately, law itself is an important barrier in attaining this right, though they were supposed to be designed to remove the obstacles. The proposition is more correct in case of land related legislation. Anti-poor elements in land law frustratingly widen the possibility of landlessness. It is noted that legal regime of land law in Bangladesh bears a colonial legacy. It tends to perpetuate poverty and requires a landslide reform. In this article, law on land records, land ceiling, settlement of khas lands and water bodies, land acquisition, alluvion and diluvion, indigenous people’s land rights and vested property have been critically assessed to establish that land rights, poverty and empowerment had a close nexus in the democratic polity.