Land Reforms in India

Relevance:

Prelims:

• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Economic and Social Development: Poverty, Inclusion, Social Sector initiatives, etc.

Mains: GS III

• The term ‘land reforms’ specifically refers to land tenure reforms. The word tenure, derived from the Latin word “teneo”, means ‘to hold’. Therefore, land tenure is used to refer to the conditions under which land is held.
• Land reforms are visualised as an instrument of social justice as they seek to do away with exploitative relationships characterised by sharp inequalities between rich landowners and impoverished peasants with no security of tenure.
• It is a step against the concentration of landholdings in the hands of a few absentee/non-cultivating owners, through the imposition of ceilings on the size of holdings, which can be owned by a family.
• Although land reforms are popularly understood to mean redistribution of land, their scope is much wider. They encompass mainly five components:
  1. Abolition of intermediary tenures;
  2. Tenancy reforms;
  3. Ceiling of land holdings and distribution of surplus land;
  4. Consolidation of holdings; and
  5. Compilation and updating of land records.

• By the time the British rule came to an end, intermediary tenures in zamindari and jagirdari areas and sub-leasing in the ryotwari areas had given rise to an agrarian structure in which unproductive interest groups held the reins.
• Simultaneously, the concentration of land in the hands of a few continued to grow and landlessness, hunger, unemployment and indebtedness reached unprecedented heights.
• Eviction and insecurity of tenancy aggravated the problems, which needed to be addressed immediately in independent India.

1. After Independence, the government appointed the Agrarian Reforms Committee under the Chairmanship of J.C. Kumarapppa, for making an in-depth study of the agrarian relations prevailing in the country. The committee recommended that all intermediaries between the state and the tiller should be eliminated and the land must belong to the tiller subject to certain conditions.
2. Various measures through which the land reforms were achieved are:
   1. Abolition of Zamindari:
      • This reform in the 1950s abolished the zamindari system and acknowledged the 'occupancy rights'(person to whom the land actually belongs) of the peasants. However, it failed to recognize the tiller's rights. 
      • It was successful in states like West Bengal and Kerala due to political will and strong rural mass social base; but failed in other states due to lack of political will, bureaucratic apathy, corruption and zamindar's influence the implementation process.
   2. Tenancy rights:
      • The subsequent land reforms recognised the rights of tenants. According to the Second Five Year Plan, abolition of intermediary tenures and bringing the tenants into direct relations with the state would give the tiller of the soil his rightful place in the agrarian system and provide him with full incentives for increasing agricultural production.
   3. Land ceiling: 
      • The term ‘ceiling on land holdings’ refers to the legally stipulated maximum size beyond which no individual farmer or farm household can hold any land. Like all other land reforms measures, the objective of such a ceiling is to promote economic growth with social justice.
      • In 1959, Indian National Congress (Nagpur Resolution) resolved that agrarian legislation to cover restrictions on the size of land holdings must be implemented in all states by the end of 1959. Accordingly, all the State Governments excepting north-eastern region imposed ceilings on land holdings in the 1960s.
   4. Land Consolidation: 
      • The term ‘Consolidation of holdings’ refers to amalgamation and redistribution of the fragmented land with a view to bringing together all plots of land of a cultivator in one compact block.
      • However, due to lack of adequate political and administrative support, the progress made in terms of consolidation of holding was not very satisfactory, excepting in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

One of the key objectives of land reforms has been to increase agricultural productivity. Experts bring out following relations between land reforms and agricultural productivity:

1. Small farms tend to be more productive than large farms. This inverse farm-size productivity relationship is widely documented by economists.
   • The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity suggests that land reform could raise productivity by breaking (less productive) large farms into several (more productive) small farms.
2. Owner-cultivated plots of land tend to be more productive than those under sharecropping tenancy.
   •  lower productivity under sharecropping suggests that land reform could raise productivity by converting sharecroppers into owner-cultivators.
3. On the other hand, some experts advocate Land Consolidation: 
   • Due to the growing pressure of population on land and the limited opportunities for work in the non-agricultural sector, there is an increasing trend towards sub-division and fragmentation of landholdings.
   • Consolidating plots makes the task of irrigation management, land improvement and personal supervision of different plots efficient and easier, thereby improving productivity.
4. Agricultural Credit: Access to credit becomes easier due to land ownership under tenancy law. Access to credit & increase in land holdings incentivize farmers to invest in new farming practices.
5. Wastelands were reclaimed and production increased resulting in food sufficiency.
6. Modernising agriculture:
   • Technology has touched the agricultural practice in India and has brought manifold advantages which are evident since the Green revolution. Land being its basis has to stay in tandem with technological changes for maximum benefits.
   • Technological advancement in the field of information dissemination, micro-irrigation, marketing, storage and transportation etc. have provided a unique opportunity to make, otherwise averse, farming an attractive employment esp. for rural youth.
   • Land reformation is required for:
     1. Mechanization of farming by utilizing latest technological tools like tractors, thrashers etc. 
     2. Deploying high cost & water efficient micro-irrigation technology is not feasible for small farms.
     3. Technology has made price discovery platforms like e-NAM & forward marketing (Negotiating Warehouse Receipts) and storage of produce easier. But land required for these will need easier land acquisition process. 
     4. Boom in FinTech companies – land reforms have expected to make lending to farmers easier by providing land records and land-use history. Payment banks in future will also be eligible to lend.
7. In the context of globalization, it is clear that the small and marginal farmers are handicapped when it comes to participation in domestic and foreign markets. Their competitiveness is hampered due to the small size of landholdings and low output of production.
8. Tenancy reform can redress the issue by regulating aspects of the tenancy relationship, such as the crop share and the duration of the contract (security of tenure). Tenancy reform increases the bargaining power of tenants vis-a-vis landowners.

• Oppressive land relations were certainly barriers to growth and land reforms have created preconditions favourable for growth.
• Because the majority of India's population depends upon land for their livelihood, poverty issues are also closely associated with the land policy. 
• According to Prof.V.M. Rao,
  • Land reforms have to serve as a link helping integration of growth policies with poverty alleviation programmes. Such integration is necessary to focus on the development strategy as a whole – and not merely the individual schemes and programmes – on the rural labourers and poor. 
  • At the ground level, land reforms and improved access to common lands need to be part of a package of measures specifically designed to the requirement of different subgroups of rural labourers and poor.
  • The ultimate goal of land reforms and other structural reforms is to promote the emergence of a viable and modernized peasantry consisting of small farmers and providing as much room as possible for the landless to enter the peasant sector.
•  Land equity: Marginalized farmers got ownership over more land area and thus increase in social status
• Protection of the Tribals: Land reforms are significant here since land is the main source of livelihood for the tribal people and they do not have much upward mobility.
• Abolition of the zamindari system curtailed exploitative practices such as bonded labour. 
• The Watershed Development Programme has been one of the important land policy interventions in the recent past and has impacted poverty alleviation, conflict management and environmental management significantly

Successes:

• Succeeded in breaking down the stranglehold of the traditional zamindars and the absentee landlords.
• Distributed the surplus land among the landless and the weaker sections of the society.
• Provided security of tenure: the tenants are now assured that they can cultivate the land for a long period of time. in some instances, tenants even are given ownership rights.
• Avoided exploitation of tenants by fixing rent in the range of 25-33%
• The movements were inspired by Gandhian methods hence were non-violent.
• The cumulative effect of the abolition of zamindari, tenancy legislation and ceiling legislation was seen as it motivated the cultivators to invest and improve agricultural practices.
• Even though their success was limited, they made a significant impact on poverty removal.

Failures:

• The report of the Task Force on Agrarian Relations of the Planning Commission of India (1973) had the following overall assessment of land reforms in India: “The programmes of land reform adopted since Independence have failed to bring about the required changes in the agrarian structure.’”The report directly blames the political will of the state governments for this failure.
• Failure of land reforms have triggered Naxalism in some states.
• Legal definitions of the terms have left room for different kinds of interpretation affecting the process of realising the goals of the programmes.
• Distribution of land continues to be skewed. Agricultural workers, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who constitute the bulk of the agricultural labour force, have not gained much from the abolition of zamindari.
• There remains a wide gap between the land distributed and its actual occupation by the beneficiaries, which is obstructed by physical prevention and litigation (the beneficiaries like landless labourers and poor peasants can hardly afford it).
• Since land reforms constitute a state subject, the Central Government’s role is restricted to formulating general directions on this issue and persuading the state governments to take them up for implementation. The political will on the part of the state governments to enforce the legislation is weak, and the bureaucracy rather indifferent.

• Solving the dilemma:
  • On one hand, consolidation of holdings brings agricultural efficiency through economies of scale and mechanized farming. On the other hand, social equity might be compromised as it brings separation between the landed and landless. Hence, what is required is an efficient combination of land ceiling and consolidation so that both agricultural efficiency and social equity can be realized.
  • This might be achieved through cooperative farming. A recent scheme called Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana which promotes organic farming in clusters of 50 acres is a progressive model.
• Model contract farming law:
  • It brings forth significant aspects like tenancy security and formal contract agreements that even act as collateral for loans.
  • This reform in contract farming improves agricultural efficiency because of fixed terms of contract (security) and provides a sense of ownership of land for the tenant.
  • Also, loans can be easily availed at bank rates. Social equity is ensured because there will be no scope for exploitation of tenant by the landlord. Hence, all the states need to put forth these reforms to increase efficiency and also ensure social equity.
• National policy on land records: The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) brought out a Vision Document for Computerisation of Land Records in 1999 to bring uniformity in land administration. This document, for the first time, spoke about the standardisation of a Land Information System Formulating and implementing a national policy on land records is now due.

An egalitarian society cannot be created until land reforms are undertaken efficiently. With increasing farmer distress, falling productivity levels, and rising suicides, land reforms provide a means to alleviate rural distress. However, this agenda is still unfinished and needs to be effectively revisited and fairly implemented.