Land Reforms in India – Objectives, Phases, Impact

Land reforms refer to the series of measures implemented by the Indian government to address the unequal distribution of land and promote social justice. Land reforms have been an integral part of the nation’s post-independence journey towards addressing socio-economic inequalities and promoting social justice. The objective was to create a more equitable society by redistributing land to landless farmers and providing marginalized communities with access to agricultural resources.

Overall, land reforms have played a crucial role in transforming India’s agrarian landscape and promoting social and economic justice, though continued efforts are required to address persistent challenges and ensure the equitable distribution of land resources.

Background of Land Revenue System in India

The land reforms that took place in India in the early decades after Independence can be understood in the background of Indian agrarian history under British rule.

Pre-Independence Period

The land revenue policies in British Indiawere adopted and modified to suit the economic and political requirements of the British economy.

• Zamindari system (1793): The ownership of the land was conferred upon the native tax collector and cultivators became mere tenants-at-will in their fields.
• Ryotwari system (1820): No intermediary proprietors were recognized and actual tillers were vested with a heritable and transferable right of property in their lands.
• Mahalwari system (1822): The state made settlements with the village community. Each such fiscal unit was called a ‘mahal’ and some recognition was given to collective proprietary rights.

Post-Independent Period

After Independence, the Indian National Congress (INC) appointed the Agrarian Reforms Committee headed by J.C. Kumarapppa, to conduct a study of the agrarian relations prevailing in the country.

• Based on the recommendation of the committee, states enacted legislation for the abolition of intermediary tenures in the 1950s.
• Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements (1951): It was launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, in Andhra Pradesh, and had the purpose of appealing to landowning classes to donate their surplus land to the poor.
  • It created awareness about the issue of landlessness and brought it to the forefront of public discourse.
• The Emergence of Gramdan (1955): It was also started byVinoba Bhave to establish self-governing and self-reliant village communities where the resources, including land, would be collectively owned and managed.
• Five-Year Plans (FYPs): The basic orientation of land policy set by the FYPs was to provide a framework for economic development and political stability. 
  • The objectives were to remove such impediments in agricultural production arising from the agrarian structure inherited from the past and eliminate all elements of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system.

Objectives of the Land Reforms in India

Land reform is crucial in India’s agrarian economy due to its scarcity and unequal distribution of land. The following are the main objectives of land reforms in India:

• Social Justice: Eradicate feudalism, transfer land to the landless, and promote social and economic equality.
• Increased Agricultural Productivity: Allocate land for efficient farming to maximize its potential.
• Poverty Alleviation: Distribute land to the landless to improve their socioeconomic status and reduce rural poverty.
• Tenancy Reforms: Protect tenants’ rights, ensure tenure security, establish fair rents, and prohibit unjust eviction.
• Land Holdings Consolidation: To improve agricultural output and cultivation efficiency, and avoid land fragmentation.
• They also aimed to reduce rural poverty, improve tenant security, create a more equitable society, and enhance agricultural productivity.

Components of Land Reforms in India

The government introduced many acts to remove any legal impediment to implementing land reforms. Various agrarian reform measures were undertaken after independence as mentioned below.

Abolition of Intermediaries

Legislative measures aimed at abolishing intermediary tenures began with the enactment of the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act of 1950.

• Key elements of the Zamindari Abolition Act: 
  • It abolished all rights of Zamindars and Jagirdars and banned further acquisition of land.
  • The abolition of intermediary tenures was effected on payment of compensation to the landowners.
  • The vast mass of the peasantry was freed from all illegal exactions in cash, kind, and services.
  • Land records were created and surveys and settlements were carried out in these areas.
  • Holdings were demarcated based on the individual as a unit.
  • Challenges: The removal of intermediaries strained the state’s finances with hefty compensation paid. Former landlords retained control, displacing many tenants. Absentee landlords rose in prominence, worsening land ownership problems.

Tenancy Reforms

Tenancy reforms in India aimed to address issues related to the leasing of land, high rents, and insecurity of tenure.

• The reforms focused on three important guidelines:
  • Rent: The rent should not exceed one-fifth to one-fourth of the gross produce. It aimed to ensure fair and reasonable rent for tenants.
  • Security of tenure: All tenancies should be declared non-resumable and permanent, except in certain specified circumstances. This guideline aimed to provide security to tenants, allowing them to make improvements to the land and receive a fair share of the produce.
  • Ownership rights: In the case of non-resumable land, the landlord-tenant relationship should be terminated by conferring ownership rights on tenants. This guideline aimed to eliminate absentee landlordism and provide tenants with ownership rights.
• Challenges: The failure to ensure full security for the tenants has been attributed to the deficiencies in the Act, the absence of proper land records, weak administrative machinery, etc.
  • Where tenancy has been abolished, concealed tenancy is being carried out under the guise of personal cultivation.
  • Reverse tenancy is increasing in areas benefiting from the Green Revolution strategy, as small landholdings are not compatible with developed technology, reducing them to agricultural labourers.

Ceiling on Landholdings

To reduce the extent of inequality in the ownership of land, the land ceiling legislation was implemented in two phases.

• Phase 1: Pre-revised ceiling laws (1960-1972):
• During the Second FYP, the debate over applying ceiling laws to families or individuals arose. Land transfers within families often contradicted legislative goals. Balancing disparities from different ceiling laws posed a challenge.
• Phase II: Revised ceiling laws after National Guidelines (1972):
• The Central Land Reforms Committee, 1971, reviewed the ceiling legislation due to its ineffectiveness, agrarian unrest, and agricultural production demands.
• It laid down national guidelines for future land ceiling legislation.
• Implementation and progress: The implementation of ceiling laws varied across states, and most of the laws were included in the Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, providing immunity against legal challenges.
• Continued challenges of exemptions: Despite the revisions, certain categories of land remained exempt from the ceiling, creating opportunities for evasion through the transfer of lands to these exempted categories.
  • Jurisdiction of civil courts was barred in respect of land reform cases because of their inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution in 1990.

Assessment of Land Reforms

The land reform to a large extent succeeded in breaking down the stranglehold of the traditional zamindars and the absentee landlords. The following are the impacts of land reforms.

• Increased productivity: Security of tenure and distribution of land has resulted in the occupants of the land taking an interest in its development and increasing its productivity.
• Protected tenancy status: It has been strengthened by making provisions in the law regarding termination of tenancy, Green Revolution eviction of tenants, surrender by tenants, and purchase of tenanted land by the tenants.
• Land possession: Land provides not only economic benefits but also social prestige. Land reforms made it necessary to keep records of holdings, which had previously been optional.
• The financial burden on landowners: Landowners, particularly absentee landlords, have had to incur substantial expenses and seek the assistance of legal professionals and bureaucracy to circumvent the ceiling laws.

Shortcomings

• Lack of strong political will: Because land reforms are a state subject, the Central Government’s role was limited to developing broad guidelines and persuading state governments to put them into execution.
  • The state government’s political will to enforce the legislation were weak in most states, and the bureaucracy was largely indifferent.
• Land records: The successful implementation of land reforms heavily relies on accurate and up-to-date land records. In many states, land records have not been adequately maintained.
• Loopholes in land distribution: There is still a significant gap between land distribution and actual occupation by beneficiaries, which is hampered by physical prevention and litigation (beneficiaries such as landless labourers and poor peasants cannot afford it).
• Protection of tribal lands: In all the scheduled areas, land transfer from tribal to non-tribal population was prohibited by law. However, due to several legal loopholes and administrative errors, the tribals’ alienation from their land persisted on a vast scale.
• Identification of benami land: It is the land held under a different name to circumvent the law. It is not possible through the efforts of the administration alone. For this, support of the local organizations of the beneficiaries or the organizations representing the interest of the beneficiaries of land distribution is necessary.
• Malafide transfer of land: To avoid the regulations governing land ceilings, the Zamindars have engaged in extensive land transfers to family members or kinsmen. Such malafide transactions do not make any change in the operational aspect of agriculture.

Land Reforms in India UPSC PYQs

Question 1: Critically discuss the objectives of Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave and their success. (UPSC Mains 2013)

Question 2: With reference to land reforms in independent India, which one of the following statements is correct? (UPSC Prelims 2022)

1. The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings.
2. The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless.
3. It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation.
4. Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits.

Answer: (b)