Vice:
India’s colonial-era land laws give powers to land revenue officials to declare a person dead, a declaration that’s nearly impossible to overturn. If you’re dead in Indian government records, you can’t buy a registered mobile, rent a home, start a business, get married, get divorced—in essence, you’re a dead person walking.
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India’s last census in 2013 found that 7 percent of Indians control over 47 percent of the country’s land.