Jhapa, Dec. 2 -- year-old Champa Kumari Rajbanshi and her family migrated to the Phulbari area in ward 13 of Mechinagar Municipality in Jhapa in around 1999, they arrived with nothing-no home, no land.

Alongside her husband Birkha Bahadur and their children, they settled on the empty land beside the Phulbasa stream just north of the East-West Highway, constructing a makeshift shelter. For about 25 years they have lived there but remain without proper land ownership documents.

"We built our house on six dhur (1 dhur is 16.93 square metres) of land. Over the years, we filled out application forms four times, hoping that the government would give us land ownership certificates. Once even had the land surveyed," she complained. "But the lan...