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Land Reforms in India

 Land reforms refer to a set of policies and measures aimed at addressing issues related to land
ownership, tenancy, distribution, and land use.
 Land reforms typically aim to achieve equitable access to land, enhance agricultural productivity,
alleviate rural poverty, and promote social justice.

Constitutional & Legal Provisions

 Article 39 (b) : The ownership and the control of material resources should be distributed to serve
the common good.
 Article 39 (c ): The economic system should not concentrate wealth and the means of production to
the detriment of the public.
 The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and
Resettlement Act (2013): It mandates fair compensation to landowners, proper rehabilitation for
displaced persons, and transparent processes for land acquisition.
 Forest Rights Act (2006): This act recognizes the rights of tribal and forest-dwelling communities
over forest land and resources, allowing them to own and cultivate the land they have traditionally
used.

Phases of Land Reforms in India

Pre Independence :(i) Under the British Raj, the farmers did not have the ownership of the lands they
cultivated, the landlordship of the land lied with the Zamindars, Jagirdars etc. (ii)Land was concentrated in
the hands of a few and Leasing out land was a common practice.
Post Independence :
(1) The Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements(1950s & 60s) : (i)Urged the landed classes to voluntarily
surrender a part of their land to the landless giving it the name- Bhoodan Movement. (ii)The objective of
the Gramdan movement was to persuade landowners and leaseholders in each village to renounce their
land rights and all the lands would become the property of a village association for an egalitarian
redistribution and joint cultivation

(2)Kumarappa Committee's (1949) report recommended comprehensive agrarian reform measures - (i)The
Abolition of the Intermediaries (ii)Tenancy Reforms (iii)Fixing Ceilings on Landholdings
(iv)Consolidation of Landholdings.

These were then implemented in phases :

(i)Abolition of the intermediaries(zamindari system): The first important legislation was the
abolition of the zamindari system, which removed the layer of intermediaries who stood between the
cultivators and the state.

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 (ii)Tenancy reforms: Introduced to regulate rent, provide security of tenure and confer ownership to
tenants (The rent paid by the tenants during the pre-independence period was exorbitant; between 35%
and 75% of gross produce throughout India.) Eg: In West Bengal and Kerala, there was a radical
restructuring of the agrarian structure that gave land rights to the tenants.
(iii) Ceilings on Landholdings : Land Ceiling Acts legally stipulated the maximum size beyond which
no individual farmer or farm household could hold any land. National guidelines(1972) under the Land
Ceiling Policy (1971), prescribed ceiling limits varying from region to region, depending on the kind of
land, its productivity, and other such factors. Eg : 10-18 acres for best land, 18-27 acres for second
class land and for the rest with 27-54 acres of land with a slightly higher limit in the hill and desert
areas.
(iv) Consolidation of Landholdings : Consolidation referred to reorganization/redistribution of
fragmented lands into one plot. Under this act, if a farmer had a few plots of land in the village, those
lands were consolidated into one bigger piece of land which was done by either purchasing or
exchanging the land.

Post-1990s Reforms: (i) Focused on modernizing land records, promoting land leasing, and
encouraging corporate farming. (ii) Initiatives like the Digital India Land Records Modernization
Programme (DILRMP) aimed at digitizing land records for transparency and efficiency.

Achievements of Land Reforms

 The abolition of intermediaries made almost 2 crore tenants the owners of the land they cultivated.
 In West Bengal and Kerala, there was a radical Tenancy reforms that gave land rights to the tenants.
 Consolidation of Landholdings enabled state to identify and take possession of surplus land (above
the ceiling limit) held by each household, and redistribute it to landless families and households in
other specified categories, such as SCs and STs.

Issues associated with Land Reforms

 Political Resistance: The Swatantra Party(1959) was supported by wealthy landlords, & opposed
government intervention in land ownership.
 While the states of J&K and West Bengal legalised the abolition, in other states, intermediaries
were allowed to retain possession of lands under their personal cultivation without limit being set.
 Few states in India have completely abolished tenancy while others states have given clearly spelt
out rights to recognized tenants and sharecroppers, which were mostly ignored
 Landowners circumvented land ceiling regulations through methods like benami transfers to
relatives or servants to retain control and exploited loopholes like divorcing wives to claim
additional land shares legally designated for unmarried women.

Way forward
 Achieve targets of Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) to
computerise all land records, improve transparency in the land record maintenance system,update
all settlement records and minimise the scope of land disputes.
 Implement the provisions of Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016 of NITI Ayog to
facilitate leasing of agricultural land to improve access to land by the landless and marginal
farmers.

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  Improve the Coverage of SWAMITVA scheme to map residential land ownership in the rural
sector using modern technology like the use of drones.

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