ECONOMIC LAND REFORMS AGRICULTURE

ECONOMIC LAND REFORMS AGRICULTURE

·         INTRODUCTION :

          When India became independent, Indian agricultural sector was very backward. Changes of two types were necessary for agricultural reconstruction namely mechanical changes and institutional changes. The former were related to provision of modern agricultural inputs and latter were related to the changes like provision of agricultural marketing facilities, institutional credit and measures for changing the ownership structure of agricultural lands. This third set of measures is known as Land Reforms.

·         DEFINITION :-

                                          “Land Reforms can be defined as the measures taken by the government to change the distribution of land ownership and to make the agricultural land holdings economically viable.”

·           OBJECTIVES OF LAND REFORMS :-

                   Broadly speaking the objectives of land reforms can be described as economic efficiency and social justice. Economic efficiency means to increase agricultural production and social justice means to   reduce economic inequalities. These are known as TWIN OBJECTIVES because if the land reforms are properly introduced then both the objectives would be simultaneously achieved.

·           COMPONENTS & PROGRESS OF LAND REFORMS :-

                  The various components of Land Reforms are Zamindari abolition, Tenancy Reforms, Land ceiling, Land consolidation and encouragement of Co-operative farming.

1)        ABOLITION OF INTERMEDIARIES :

         Under the British rule, various systems of intermediaries Such as Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari had developed. These Systems were a great obstacle in the way of raising productivity in the agricultural sector. So the most important component of the land reforms was abolition of the intermediaries. Under this the waste lands and forest lands with the Zamindars have been taken away by the state. In all 175 million acres of land were taken away and distributed among landless workers. About 20 million farmers are brought into contact of government.

2)        TENANCY REFORMS :

             The tenancy reforms aimed at improving  the  economic conditions of the tenant farmers who used to cultivate the land belonging to the Zamindars by paying a rent. The tenancy reforms had three components namely fixation of rent, security of tenancy rights and in certain cases ownership of the land for the tenants, various states have passed legislations in this direction. The rents have been lowered to 25% to 40% of the produce. Farmers are also given a security of their rights.

3)        LAND CEILING :

           The ceiling on land holdings has been considered necessary in the light of severe land inequalities in the distribution of land ownership. Accordingly the govt. has fixed a land ceiling of 54 acres for non-irrigated lands, of 27 acres for partly irrigated land where two crops are taken and of 18 acres for perennially irrigated lands for a family of four i.e. Husband, wife and two minor children. Measures have been taken for acquiring surplus lands from the Zamindars, and distributing those lands among the landless laborers, advises, harijans, marginal farmers. About 21.15 million hectares of land has been thus distributed. This has benefitted 54.84 lakhs farmers.

4)        LAND CONSOLIDATION :-

           

       Out of the other two components of land reforms, one is consolidation of land holdings which aimed at bringing together various pieces of lands to make them economically viable. About 20 million Hectares have been consolidated so far.

5)        CO-OPERATIVE FARMING :

              Here the govt. wanted the farmers to organize farming on a co-operative basis. Practically no progress has been achieved on this front as the farmers have not been able to under.

EVALUATION OF LAND REFORMS:

                

As pointed out by the 4^th plan document, the program of redistributing the land ownership through land reforms has resulted into a fiasco. A variety of factors have contributed to the failure of land reforms. Thus land reforms have practically failed.

Factors Responsible For Poor Progress Of Land Reforms:

1.      There is absence of up to date and reliable land records in the rural areas.

2.      Secondly the poor farmers are unaware of their rights etc. and are unorganized.

3.      The administrative machinery in India comes from the elite class and has no sympathy for the cause of the poor farmers.

4.      There were many loopholes in the land legislations, the benefit of which has been fully taken by the landlord class.

5.      Most of the state government does not have enough political will to put the land reforms into action.

6.      The judicial system is costly and beyond the reach of the farmers.

7.      There was a conspicuous absence of rural leadership in the farming sector.

8.      There was a great delay in passing and implementing the land legislations.

9.      The landlords are a very powerful class both socially and economically which does not allow the govt. to push through the land reforms.

10.  The land ceiling legislations have failed because in earlier years the ceilings were not only very high but also many concessions were given for keeping extra lands.