S.No. | Topic | Notes Link |
---|---|---|
1. | Introduction | Read Now |
2. | Land Tenure | Read Now |
3. | Raiyatwari System | Read Now |
4. | Mahalwari System | Read Now |
5. | Zamindari System | Read Now |
6. | Land systems at the Time of Independence Feudal Agrarian Structure | Read Now |
7. | Objective of Land Reforms | Read Now |
8. | Bhoodan – Gramdan & Land Reforms | Read Now |
9. | Impact of Land Reforms | Read Now |
10. | Review of Land Reform Measures | Read Now |
11. | Reasons for Low Progress of Land Reforms | Read Now |
12. | ElemSuggestions for Improvement | Read Now |
The term ‘land reforms’ involves procurement and redistribution of large holdings of agricultural land among the small farmers and landless agricultural labourers. It is an instrument to bring about improvements in the institutional framework of land. The responsibility of land reforms is owned by the government with a view of benefiting those who either have petty holdings or have no land at all. As big land owners are quite unlikely to share their holdings with their landless counterparts, intervention by the government using force of law/ legislation is necessary to secure social justice for the masses.
Land reform usually refers to redistribution of land form the rich to the poor. More broadly, it includes regulation of ownership , operation leasing, sales, and inheritance of land. In an agrarian economy like India with great scarcity, and an unequal distribution, of land, coupled with a large mass of the rural population below the poverty line, there are compelling economic and political arguments for land reform. Not surprisingly , it received top priority on the policy agenda at the time of Independence. In the decades following independence India passed a significant body of land reform legislation. The 1949 Constitution left the adoption and implementation of land and tenancy reforms to state governments. This led to a lot of variation in the implementation of these reforms across states and over time , a fact that has been utilized in empirical studies trying to understand the causes and effects of land reform.
There were a large number of land tenure systems
prevalent in India in pre- Independence period. But the following three were more prevalent in different parts of the country.
Under this system, every registered holder is recognized as its owner. The owner cultivator or peasant proprietor is responsible directly to the government for the payment of land revenues and other dues. There is no intermediary between the government and the cultivator. This is perhaps the best system of land tenure. The peasant Proprietor Does not fear ejection by the government so long as he pays the land revenue. He can make permanent investments in his land as he is sure to reap its benefits. Thus, this system can ensure an increase in agricultural productivity.
Under this system , land is held (owned) jointly by a collective body of village. This body collective body of village . This body collects land revenues from the owners or cultivator peasants and is responsible to the government. This system is found in some part of U.P. Punjab and Haryana . This system facilitates cooperative farming to get maximum yield from land. The small holdings of peasant cultivators can be combined for this purpose. The main drawback with this system Is that it encourages absentee landlordism.
In Zamindari system , there is a separation of ownership of land from its cultivators. Under this system, one person known as zamindar owns a village and is responsible for the payment of land revenues to the government . This system existed in West Bengal , some parts of U.P. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu . Now this system has been abolished.
At the time of Independence, India inherited a semi – feudal agrarian structure with onerous tenure arrangement over substantial areas. The ownership and control of land was highly concentrated in a relatively few landlords and intermediaries. The principal interest of this controlling group in agriculture was to extract maximum rental from Tenants , either in cash or in kind .
Under this arrangement, economic motivation to develop farm land for increased production or to improve the economic conditions of cultivators was lacking. At the same time, working cultivators after paying high rent had no surplus to invest in farm improvement. They had neither resources nor knowledge for increasing agricultural production. Thus, the agricultural land resource of India. Along with its operators was gradually impoverished because economic motivation tended exploitation rather than toward investment and improvement.
The basic objective of land reforms in India has been the creation of a system of peasant proprietorship . ‘Land to the tiller’ has been the motto. Through the redistribution of land by applying ceiling on land holdings, the idea has been to build up a vigorous Independent peasantry consisting of small farmers and to help these farmers class with extension of credit and distribution facilities, largely through a network of cooperative service organization.
The Planning Commission gave two basic objectives of land reforms, namely.
Land reform was the main focus of the First Five Year Plan. Vinoba Bhave started the Bhoodan Andolan to encourage big landless farmers. Many people came out in support of Vinoba Bhave and donated land.
The impact of land reform measures on agrarian structure of the country can be discussed under following heads.
Review of Land Reform Measures Though the land reform measures have been
instrumental in bringing about some desirable changes in Indian agrarian structure, yet, they have failed to secure, a justice to a large section of the rural population. The results of land reforms implemented so far have been far from satisfactory.
Some of the glaring examples of weakness in land reform measures are listed as under.
The task force on agrarian relations set up by the planning Commission to appraise the progress and problems of land reforms, identified the following reasons for the poor performance of land reform measures.
The land reform measures were thoroughly reviewed by planning Commission and other committees. Based on their findings, National Commission on agriculture has suggested following measures to reinforce the implementation of land reforms.