PATNA, March 23 -- The Bihar government's high-profile push to digitise and clean up land records is collapsing under its own weight. Two flagship campaigns - Bhu-Mapi Mahaaviyan and Rajaswa Mahabhiyan - that were supposed to wrap up by March 31 are now staring at a certain miss, with the very officers meant to drive them either on strike or ready to join one any day.

Circle officers (COs) and revenue officers (ROs), the backbone of ground-level execution, have been on indefinite mass leave since March 9. On top of that, the state's 1,000-plus government amins (land surveyors) affiliated with the Bihar Rajaswa Ameen Sangh (BRAS) have announced a day-long dharna on Monday and warned of indefinite mass leave if their long-pending demands a...