Goa, July 31 -- Starting August 1, the Goa government will roll out what could be one of the state's most politically significant and socially sensitive exercises in recent memory. The legalisation of nearly one lakh houses built before 1972. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has promised that homeowners who apply for land ownership and house legalisation through their local panchayat secretary for a modest fee of Rs 1,000, will receive clearance within seven days.

On the surface, this appears to be a corrective measure finally addressing a decades-old lapse in land and housing regulation. But beneath that veneer of efficiency and populism lie two glaring questions that cannot be ignored. First, if the 1971 survey listed roughly 1.5 lakh stru...