LAND POLICY

LAND POLICY, State’s activities in the field of land relations. State regulation of relations Bashkirs with regard to their land dates back to the 13th century. The Golden Horde rulers issued yarlyks to the Bashkirs, in which they guaranteed the preservation of the Bashkir tribes’ and clans’ patrimonial land. In the course of Accession of Bashkortostan to Russia, representatives of the Bashkir tribes were conferred with Zhalovannyye Gramoty, that guaranteed the patrimonial land preservation on an area of approx. 35 million dessiatinas (ref. Patrimonial Law of the Bashkirs). Between 17–18th centuries, land policy was aimed at preserving the land of the Bashkir holders of patrimonial estates. There was an increase in the rate of colonization: the establishment of fortresses and fortified border lines, the development of the settlement movement and the construction of mining plants and monasteries. The new stage of L.p. began with the organization of the Orenburg Expedition of 1734–44 and decrees on February 11th 1736, which secured land plots to Pripushchenniks for use without paying rent. According to the decrees on August 20th 1739 and October 13th 1753, Mishars, Tatars, Teptyars and other Pripushchenniks on the Bashkir holders of patrimonial estate lands, who participated in the uprisings (ref. Bashkir Uprisings of the 17–18th centuries), were granted the right to use the land without paying rent. For the first time, the so called pustoporozhniye (empty) lands of the Bashkirs were declared stateowned and were designated as a fund for the allotment of land to immigrants. After the Peasant War of 1773–75, the Senate decided to ban the transfer of Bashkir patrimonial lands to the possession of Mishars and Teptyars, who retained in their use only those lands for which they had official documents. Since 1765, a general land survey was conducted in Russia. Between 1818–32, the Bashkir land sale was banned. Minimum inalienable allotments were allowed to the Bashkirs (40–60 dessiatinas per male capita) and to the Pripushchenniks of military (30 dessiatinas) and civil (15 dessiatinas) departments. The canton system and serfdom abolishment gave rise to a new stage of L.p. According to the Regulations on the Bashkirs dated May 14th 1863, the Bashkirs retained all land ownership. The Regulations regarding the Bashkirs also confirmed the size of inalienable land plots (40 dessiatinas). Unallocated land was considered the collective property of the landowners. In 1869, the size of land plots for multi land and small-land dachas was determined, a fund of reserve lands was created, and the peasant migrants received the right to acquire land. In 1894, the law On the Admission to the State Institution of the Ufa and Orenburg guberniyas Bashkir Forests was adopted. During the Stolypin Agrarian Reform, the L.p. was aimed at the destruction of the Bashkir and peasant communities and contributed to the Bashkir lands area reduction. Between 1917–21, in the course of the Bashkir National Movement development and the establishment of the Bashkortostan’ autonomy, resolutions of the All Bashkir kurultays (Congresses) declared the need to preserve Patrimonial Law of the Bashkirs and to return the lands to the Bashkir people. In 1919, the 1st legislative act of the Bashkir government was adopted, which was called Temporary Rules on the Use and Allocation of Land in the Bashkir Soviet Republic. In 1922, the Land Code of the BASSR was adopted. The Code provided for the prime allocation of land to the Bashkirs, all other things being equal. All lands obtained in the course of equalization distribution and all lands allotted to socialist communes and artels were assigned for the permanent use of the Working Class. The permanent use of land in the territory of the Bashkir Republic and beyond its borders was prohibited. For mountain and forest area communities, the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture of the BASSR secured the indisputable and actual use of the arable land and the hay fields, as well as the Bashkirs dwelling lands and tebenyovka (winter grazing) lands. Since the beginning of the 1930s, L.p. in the RB was carried out in accordance with the Nationwide Land Policy.

In 1995, as part of the 1990s land reform the RB referendum was held, in which 84.4% of its participants opposed the privatization of agricultural land. Since 2001, the RB L.p. has been carried out in accordance with Federal Law.