Mrunal Land Reforms

- Mrunal - http://mrunal.org -

[Land Reforms] British Land tenure System: features,

Consequences of Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari, Mahalwari

2. What is land reform?

3. Players in Land tenure system? 1. The State 2. Owner 3. Superior tenants 4. Inferior Tenants 5. Share croppers 6. Landless laborers

4. Land Tenure System: British Legacy 5. Permanent Settlement: Features 6. Permanent Settlement: Consequences 7. Ryotwari System

1. Ryotwari System: Features 2. Ryotwari System: Consequences 8. Mahalwari System

1. Mahalwari System: Features 2. Mahalwari system: Consequences 9. Consequences of British Tenure systems

1. Land becomes a property 2. Panchayat lost Prestige 3. Food insecurity

4. Cash economy & indebted farmers 5. Serfdom

6. Rural Industry destroyed 7. Lack of Capitalist Agriculture 10. Mock Questions

Prologue

 _{General studies Mains Paper 3: Land reforms in India.}

 But that is not ‗the end‘ of land reform. Same topic and points also relevant for

GS Mains paper land reform topic indirectly associated with

1

 Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions

 Social empowerment

 poverty and developmental issues

 Post-independence consolidation

2

 Ministries and Departments of the Government;

 Pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

 Indian Constitution: significant provisions

 The role of NGOs in Development processes.

 Issues relating to poverty and hunger

 e-governance

3  Linkages between development and spread of extremism

Besides, Land reform topic is also part of many optional subjects in UPSC Mains: Optional Subject land reforms included in:

Political Science Paper 1

Planning and Economic Development : Green Revolution, land reforms and agrarian relations

Sociology Paper 2 Agrarian social structure – evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

Geography Paper

2 land tenure and land reforms;

Economics Paper 2 Agriculture: Land Reforms and land tenure system, Green Revolution and capital

formation in agriculture.

History Paper 2

1. Land revenue settlements in British India: The Permanent Settlement; Ryotwari Settlement; Mahalwari Settlement;

2. Economic impact of the revenue arrangements;

3. Rise of landless agrarian labourers; Impoverishment of the rural society. 4. Land reforms

This [Land Reforms] Article series will (try to) cover following issues: 1. Three land tenure system of the British: Their features, implications 2. Peasant struggles in British Raj: causes and consequences

3. Land reforms, Before independence: by Congress governments in Provinces, their benefits and limitations

4. Land reforms, After independence: abolition of Zamindari, Land Ceiling and Tenancy reforms. Their benefits and limitations

5. Land reforms by non-governmental action: Bhoodan, Gramdan, NGOs etc. their benefits and limitations

6. Land reforms in recent times: Computerization of land records, Forest rights Act, land reform policy etc. their benefits and limitations.

Sources used for this [Land reform] Article series

1. IGNOU MA (Rural Development) Course code MRDE 003 2. Bipin Chandra: India‘s struggle for independence

3. Bipin Chandra: Freedom Struggle, NBT 4. Bipin Chandra: Indian since independence 5. Sumit Sarkar: Modern India (1885, 1947)

6. Rajiv Ahir, Brief History of Modern India, Spectrum 7. Ramchandra Guha: India After Gandhi

What is land reform?

 Robin Hood took money from rich and redistributed among the poor.

 Similarly land reform involves taking away land from rich and redistributing among landless.

 _{Although land reform involves not just about ‗redistribution of land‘. It involves} many other reforms, example:

Static (50s to 80s)

1. Abolish intermediaries, Zamindar, Jagirdar etc. 2. land ceilings- redistribute surplus land

3. Tenancy reforms

current (after 80s)

1. computerize land records 2. forest rights act

3. land consolidation

Formal definitions

definition Land reforms mean:

#1 Improving land tenure and institutions related to agriculture.

#2

 redistribution of property rights

 For the benefit of the landless poor.

#3

 integrated program

 to remove the barriers for economic and social development

 Caused by deficiencies in the existing land tenure system.

Observe that word ―tenure/Tenancy‖ keeps reappearing. So what does that mean?

Tenancy:

 Tenancy in derived from the word ‗tenure‘ = ‗to hold‘.

 Tenancy= Agreement under ―tenant‖ holds the land/building of the original owner.

Players in Land Tenancy system?

The State

1. enforces tenancy contracts 2. Maintains law and order.

Earns revenue for doing 1+2

Owner

 The owner: the guy who owns land

 They pay Revenue to the State.

 Rich farmers, Zamindars etc. own hundreds of acres of land. Can‘t cultivate it on their own.

 Similarly minors, disabled, widows, soldiers, fishermen may also own land but they can‘t cultivate for one reason or another.

 So these people ‗lease‘ their land to other farmers (tenants).

tenants  These are hereditary tenants. Meaning they cultivate same land generation after generation.

 They pay rent to the owner.

 They have almost the same rights as the owners.

 They can sell, mortgage or rent out the land.

 They cannot be evicted against their will.

Inferior Tenants

 Other names: tenants at will, subordinate tenants, temporary tenants, subtenants.

 They till the land leased from other tenants/owners.

 They pay rent to the owners/superior tenants.

 They have limited rights over the land.

 They cannot sell or mortgage the land.

 They can be evicted easily.

Share croppers

 Sharecroppers= cultivate other person‘s land (Owner, Superior/inferior tenant)

 They get share from the produce, and remaining goes to the tenant/owner.

 The equipment and inputs items may be provided owner/tenant

 They have no rights whatsoever on the land.

 They cannot sell, rent or mortgage the land.

 Can be evicted easily.

Landless laborers

1. They get paid in cash or kind by the owners (or tenants) 2. Sometimes work under begari/bonded labour.

Ok well and good. So far we know: what is land reform and who are the players in a land tenancy system. We have to study land ‗reform‘. Meaning some badass thuggary was going on, otherwise if everything was well and good, then there was no need for

‗reforms‘! So what was the cause of thuggary/grievance/resentment? Ans. Land tenure systems of British.

Land Tenure System: British Legacy

In the initial years, East India company faced following problems:

1. Demand for British goods in India=negligible. (Because East India company was yet to destroy our handicraft and artisans)

2. Under the Mercantilism policy of British: one country‘s gain required another country/colony‘s loss. Therefore, British Government prohibited East India company from exporting gold and silver from England to pay for Indian goods import.

3. Company needed truckload of ca$H to maintain an army for defeating and subjugating native rulers.

East India company came up with following solution: 1. start collecting revenue from Indians

2. Use that Revenue to buy Indian raw material- export to England 3. Import finished goods back to India=> make profit.

But this solution had a problem: the revenue system under Mughals and Native rulers=too complex for the British to understand, and there were no coaching classes or Wikipedia to help white men understand this complex system.

Lord Cornwallis comes with a novel idea: just ‗outsource‘ the tax collection work to desi-middlemen: Zamindars, Jagirdar, Inamdars, Lambardar etc. Consequently, British

introduced three land tenure systems in India:

Tenure

system Presidency Features:

Permanent settlement

1. Bengal 2. Bihar

(BeBi)

 Who? Cornwallis + John Shore. In Bengal + Bihar. 1793

 Company ‗outsourced‘ the revenue collection work to Zamindars

 Very exploitative. Led to many revolts. Hence British didn‘t implement it in other parts of India.

 In Awadh/Oudh, Lord Delhousie wanted to implement

Mahalwari but then 1857‘s munity broke out. Later Lord Canning introduced Talukdari system-similar to Permanent settlement. Ryotwari 1. Madras, 2. Bombay 3. Assam (MBA)

 Who? Thomas Munro and Read in Madras. (1820)

 Who? Wingate and Goldsmid in Bombay (1835). In 1820 it

was tried in Poona but failed. Later Wingate and Goldsmid start Bombay Survey System in 1835 for individual

settlement system.

 Company directly collected revenue from farmers.

 Madras was initially under Permanent settlement type system but Thomas Munro convinced the directors of East India company to convert this area under Ryotwari / direct settlement system.

valley 2. north-west provinces, 3. parts of central India 4. Punjab

community itself. –Technically village headman (Lambardar) was made responsible for tax collection

 North West Provinces initially had Permanent settlement but transformed to Mahalwari system by Holt Mackenzie.(1822)

Overall coverage

Tenure system % of Agri.land in British Provinces Zamindari 57

Ryotwari 38 Mahalwari 5 Total 100%

Permanent Settlement: Features

1. Cornwallis + John Shore. In Bengal + Bihar. 1793

2. All the land belonged to the state and was thus at their disposal.

3. British designated zamindars (local tax collectors) , as owners of the land in their district. This system was adopted in several forms such as Zamindari, Jagirdari, Inamdari, etc.

4. These zamindars had to collect revenue from farmers and deliver to the British. 5. Converted Zamindars into landlords. The right to the land conferred on the

zamindars was

6. Revenue amount was fixed at the beginning and remained the same permanently. 7. Zamindar were given freedom to decide how much to demand from the cultivators.

Stiff penalties on defaulters.

8. there was a provision of keeping a portion of taxes for the zamindar himself. 9. Zamindar‘s right over land was

1. Alienable: meaning British could take it away and give it to another Zamindar, if first Zamindar did not meet the Revenue collection ‗targets‘. 2. Rentable: meaning Zamindar himself could further outsource his work

among more smaller zamindars

3. Heritable: meaning Zamindar dies, his son/brother etc would get it. 10. Farmers became tenants. Two types

1. Tenants-at-will: farmers who cultivated on Zamindar‘s land. They had no rights. They could be evicted as per whims and fancies of Zamindar.

2. Occupancy Tenants: farmers who owned land. Their occupancy rights were heritable and transferrable and were not tampered with as long as they paid their taxes.

Permanent Settlement: Consequences

 gave financial security for the British administration.

 Cost of running administration decreased. Because British had to collect Revenue from only a few Zamindars instead of lakhs of farmers.

 British got new political allies (Zamindars). They would keep their own militia to suppress peasant revolts, and act as ‗informers‘ and remained loyal to British rule.

#learning from mistake

 _{Permanent settlement system led to many agrarian revolts.}

 Government‘s income declined over the years, Because Revenue was permanently fixed + number of intermediaries kept increasing.

 _{Hence, British learned from the mistake and did not extent this permanent} settlement/Zamindari system to the whole of India. Instead, they established Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems in the remaining parts.

#Farmers lose bargaining power

 Textile industry was the driver of industrial revolution in Britain. = raw cotton imported + finished textile exported to India.

 To prevent any ‗competition‘ from Desi textile industries, the British imposed variety of taxes and tariffs on them=>desi textile business collapsed. Lakhs of weavers became unemployed, migrated to villages in search of work.

 Since they did not own any land, they had to become tenants-at-will for Zamindars.

 Now Zamindars had the monopoly of controlling livelihood of thousands of people. They extorted more and more taxes.

 Moreover, the ―begar‖, unpaid work which the tenants were forced to perform on the zamindar‘s land, took larger proportions. On the average, it amounted to 20-25 % of the lease.

 Western Bengal: Farmers got divided into two categories i) Jotedars (Rich farmers) ii)Bargadar (Sharecroppers)

 Eastern Bengal: Jute cultivation. Independent farmers with small to middlesize land holdings

#More outsourcing

 Permanent settlement system created landed aristocracy for the first time in India. Zamindars used to chow down part of the land Revenue collected. Thus they became wealthy and lazy. They ‗outsourced‘ their work to more intermediaries / sub-tenants.

 It became quite common to have 10 to 20 intermediaries, more or less without any specific function, between the government and the farmers, And they all had a share in the cultivation yield + other illegal taxes.

 As a result, 70-80% of farmer‘s produce went to just Revenue and commissions only=> poverty, debts.

 None of these middlemen or Zamindars invest money in agricultural improvement or new technology. They just kept increasing rents. Hence traditional agriculture did not shift to capitalist agriculture, unlike other economies.

Ryotwari System

By Sir Thomas Munro at first in Madras State and then adopted in Bombay, and Assam. But Why?

1. In permanent settlement areas, land Revenue was fixed. But over the years, agriculture prices/exports should increase but government‘s income did not increase. (Because middlemen-zamindars chowed it down)

2. Zamindars were oppressive- leading to frequent agrarian revolts in the permanent settlement areas.

3. In Bihar, Bengal, there existed Zamindar/feudal lords since the times of Mughal administration. But Madras, Bombay, Assam did not have Zamindars / feudal lords with large estates. So, hard to ‗outsource‘ work, even if British wanted.

4. No middlemen in tax collection=> farmer has to pay less taxes=>increased

purchasing power=>will improve demand for readymade British products in India. Consequently, all subsequent land tax or revenue settlements made by the colonial rulers were temporary settlements made directly with the peasant, or ‗ryot‘ (e.g., the ryotwari settlements).

This model was based on English yeomen farmers.

Ryotwari System: Features

1. government claimed the property rights to all the land, but allotted it to the cultivators on the condition that they pay taxes. In other words, It established a direct relation between the landholder and the government.

2. Farmers could use, sell, mortgage, bequeath, and lease the land as long as they paid their taxes. In other words Ryotwari system gave a proprietary rights upon the landholders.

3. IF they did not pay taxes, they were evicted

4. taxes were only fixed in a temporary settlement for a period of thirty years and then revised.

5. government had retained the right to enhance land revenue whenever it wanted 6. Provided measures for revenue relief during famines but they were seldom applied

in real life situation.

Ryotwari System: Consequences

 Farmers had to pay revenue even during drought and famines, else he would be evicted.

 Replacement of large number of zamindars by one giant zamindar called East India Company.

 Although ryotwari system aimed for direct Revenue settlement between farmer and the government but over the years, landlordism and tenancy became widespread. Because textile weavers were unemployed= they started working as tenant farmers for other rich farmers. In many districts, more than 2/3 of farmland was leased.  Since Government insisted on cash revenue, farmers resorted to growing cash crops

instead of food crops. And cash crop needed more inputs=>more loans and indebtedness.

 After end of American civil war, cotton export declined but government didn‘t reduce the revenue. As a result most farmers defaulted on loans and land was transferred from farmers to moneylenders.

Mahalwari System

 Location: Gangetic valley, north-west provinces, parts of central India and Punjab. But why?

 In North India and Punjab, joint land rights on the village were common. So, British decided to utilize this utilize this traditional structure in a new form known as Mahalwari system.

Mahalwari System: Features

2. taxation was imposed on the village community since it had the rights over land. 3. The village community had to distribute these tax collection targets among the

cultivators

4. Each individual farmer contributed his share in the revenue. 5. Everyone was thus liable for the others‘ arrears.

6. Farmers had right to sell or mortgage their property.

7. The village community did not necessarily mean entire village population. It was a group of elders, notables of high castes.

8. A village inhabitant, called the lambardar, collected the amounts and gave to the British

9. British periodically revised tax rates.

Mahalwari system: Consequences

 Since Punjab, Northern India = fertile land. So British wanted to extract maximum Revenue out of this region. Land Revenue was usually 50% to 75% of the produce.  As generations passed- fathers would divide land among sons=>

fragmentation=>farms became smaller and smaller and productivity declined.  But still British demanded Revenue in cash. So, farmers had to borrow money to

 As a result, more and more farms passed into the hands of moneylenders. When farmer failed to repay debt, Moneylender would take away his farm but he has no interest in self-cultivation so he‘d leasing it to another farmer.

 Thus, sub-leasing, indebtedness and landlessness became more and more common in Mahalwari region

Why is it called Modified Zamindari system?

 Because in Mahalwari areas, the Land revenue was fixed for the whole village and the village headman (Larnbardar) collected it. Meaning theoretically Village itself was a landlord/zamindar.

 Other names for this system: Joint rent, „joint lease‟, „brotherhood‟ tract (mahal) holding and „gram wari‟ etc.

Result of British Land Tenure system: Perpetual indebtedness, exploitation. When we gained independence, picture was following:

Farmers Agro-land of India 7% villagers (richest, Zamindar and other

intermediaries) Owned 75% of fertile land

48% of villagers (tenants, sub-tenants) Owned 25% of fertile land. (=imagine the land fragmentation and size of landholdings)

45% of villagers Owned no land. Worked as farm laborers, petty traders, craftsman etc.

Total 100% Total 100%

Consequences of British Tenure systems

Land becomes a property

Before British During British rule

 private ownership of land did not exist

 land belonged to the village community

 Land was never treated as the property of the kings -benevolent or despotic, Hindu, Muslims or Buddhist.

 Land was not treated as individual cultivator‘s property either.

 Introduced private ownership of land

 This divided village into 1) landlords 2)tenants 3)labourers

 This this material transformation the agrarian society in India witnessed profound social, economic, political, cultural and psychological change.

 with generations- land kept dividing among sons=>land fragmentation, diseconomies of scale, lower production.

Panchayat lost Prestige

Before British During British rule Land matters and civil disputes were

adjudicated by Panchayat within the village.

 Farmer had to approach British courts for matters related to Revenue, property attachment, debt-mortgage etc.

Food insecurity

Before British During British rule

 farmers usually grew foodcrops- wheat, maize, paddy, jowar, bajra and pulses

 Since British demand revenue in CASH, farmers resorted to growing cash crops: indigo, sugarcane, cotton=> Area under foodcrop cultivation declined

 Then, Lacks of People would die of starvation during famines.

 Even after independence, and before green revolution- India was not self-sufficient in grain production.

 at independence India was faced with an acute food shortage  near-famine conditions in many areas.

 Between 1946 and 1953 about 14 million tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 10,000 million had to be imported = this was nearly half of the total capital investment in the First Five Year Plan (1951–56).

Canals

Before British During British rule

 Kings constructed ponds, canals and wells to improve agriculture

 irrigation taxes were moderate.

 British did construct new canals

 Positive: more area brought under cultivation, particularly in Punjab.

 but most canals caused salinity and swamps=>declined productivity over the years

 Taxes on Irrigation were quite high. Therefore Canal irrigation was used to grow sugar, cotton and other cash crops, instead of food crops=>food insecurity, starvation and death during famines.

Cash economy & indebted farmers

Before British During British rule

 Land Revenue was paid in kind.

 Village was a self-sufficient economy with cooperative units.

 e.g. blacksmith would make farm-tools, would get yearly payment in grains/kind.

 Moneylending, mortgaging were negligible.

 British obliged the farmers to pay revenue in cash and not in kind.

 The land revenue was increased arbitrarily to finance British wars and conquests. But The farmers had no right to appeal in the court of law.

 Farmers had no understanding of cash economy + frequent droughts and famines

 Hence they had to borrow money from unscrupulous grain traders and money-lenders=> compound interest rate, perpetual indebtedness.

 Eventually, the typical Indian villager was stripped of all savings, caught in debt trap, mortgaging almost everything-whether personal jewelry, land and livestock, or tools and equipment.

 Collective village life based on common economic interests and

 A new village came-where existence was based on competition and struggle among independent

resultant cooperative relations individuals.

 Farmers shifted from food crop to Cash crops. But cash crops need more inputs in terms of seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation, hence farmer had to borrow more.

 This brought moneylenders, Shroff, Mahajan, Baniya, into limelight- they were in control of village land without any accountability.

 Thus British land revenue system transfered ownership of land from farmer to moneylender.

 towards about the end of the colonial period, The total burden on the peasant of interest payments on debt and rent on land could be estimated at a staggering Rs 14,200 million

 According to RBI‘ss survey in 1954:

credit supplier gave ___% of farmers‘ loan requirements moneylenders 93%

government 3% cooperative societies 3% commercial banks 1%

Serfdom

Before: slavery/bonded labour/Begari almost non-existent. But During British raj  Zamindars gave loan to farmers/laborers and demanded free labour in return.  This practice prevented farmers/laborers to bargaining wages.

 Begari, Bonded labour, or debt bondage became a common feature in large parts of the country.

 Even in ryotwari areas, upper caste controlled the land. Lower caste was reduced to sharecroppers and landless laborers.

Rural Industry destroyed

Before British During and After British rule

 India was steadily becoming more urbanized,

 Significant portion of the Indian population living in large or small towns.

 de-urbanization and de-industrialization of India

 This led to even greater pressures on agriculture since large categories of highly skilled artisans and non-agricultural workers were thrown out of work.

 When the British left, India had become a village-based agricultural economy.

 With an enormous population pressure on

agriculture and an adverse land–man ratio of about 0.92 acre per capita at independence.

 Even in Villages, there was skilled artisans like weavers, potters,

carpenters, metal-workers, painters etc.

 Trade tariffs and excise duties were set so as to destroy Indian industries, and squeeze domestic trade.

 Bihar and Bengal: severe restrictions were placed on the use of inland water-ways — causing fishing

and inland shipping and transportation to suffer.

Lack of Capitalist Agriculture

In most economies, the evolution is traditional farming=>capitalist farming methods. But in India, it did not happen, why?

1. Large landowners in zamindari and ryotwari areas leased out their lands in small pieces to tenants.

2. Small tenants continued to cultivate them with traditional techniques= low productivity.

3. Rich farmers/ zamindars lacked the riskbearing mindset for capitalist mode of production (i.e. invest more money in seeds, fertilizer, animal husbandry, contract farming, large-scale capitalist agriculture using hired wage labour under their direct supervision. etc).

4. Even if they wanted to take ‗risk‘, government did not give any agricultural support, credit, insurance etc. yet demanded high taxes.

5. It is not surprising, therefore, that Indian agriculture, which was facing long-term stagnation, began to show clear signs of decline during the last decades of

colonialism.

farming technology in 1951 % of farmers wooden ploughs 97%

iron plough 3%

Use of improved seeds, artificial fertilizers, etc rare

some more points

Drain of Wealth

Independent Farmer / tenant was hardly left with any money to re-investment in agriculture. Most of his ‗surplus‘ income/profit went into paying taxes. These taxes were used for exporting raw material from India to Britain. = Drain of wealth.

Social Banditry

when individuals or small group of farmers couldnot organize a collective action against Zamindars/government, they started robbery and dacoity.

When India got independence, the situation was:

VILLAGERS ASSOCIATED WITH

FARMING AGRO-LAND

7% villagers (richest, Zamindar and other

intermediaries) Owned 75% of fertile land

48% of villagers (tenants, sub-tenants) Owned 25% of fertile land. (=imagine the land fragmentation)

45% of villagers Owned no land. Worked as farm laborers.

Total 100% Total 100%

5 marks

1. Important features of Munro settlement. 2. Mahalwari Settlement.

3. Superior and Inferior Tenants

12 marks: comment on following statements

1. British land tenure systems were moulded by greed and desire to encourage certain type of agricultural exports.

2. Absentee landlordism was a consequence of Bengal‘s permanent settlement. Comment

3. Though the permanent settlement had serious defects, it gave tranquility to the countryside and stability to the government.

4. Permanent settlement disappointed many expectations and introduced many results that were not anticipated.

15 marks

1. What the impact was of early British land tenure policy on the villages of North and Western India?

2. Examiner the major factors shaping British Land revenue policy in India. How did affect Indian society?

3. Describe the impact of British Policy on agrarian society.

4. What were the consequences of British rule on Indian villages?

5. What were the three kinds of land settlement during British rule in India? Briefly discuss their features and implications.

6. What do you understand by Commercialization of agriculture? Discuss its impact on rural India.

In the next article, we‘ll various peasant revolts because of these oppressive land tenure systems.

- Mrunal - http://mrunal.org -

[Land Reforms] Post Independence: Abolition of Zamindari,

Reasons, Impact, Obstacles, Limitations, First Amendment

1. Prologue

2. What is Land reform?

3. Land reforms: broad vs narrow sense

1. What are the objectives of Land reforms? 2. Increase production

3. social justice

4. Economic development 5. Improve standard of living 4. Post-Freedom: Towards land reforms 5. Why Abolish Zamindari?

6. First Amendment, 1951 1. #1: SEBC 2. #2: Freedom of Speech 3. #3 Freedom of Profession 4. #4: Land Reforms 5. #4 Minor modification

7. Timeline of Zamindari Abolition by States 8. Zamindari Abolition Acts: Salient Features

1. #1: Compensation

2. #2: Common Land/resources 3. #3: Ownership transfer 4. #4: Personal Cultivation

5. #5: Direct payment of land revenue

9. Zamindari Abolition: Limitations/Obstacles/Negative points 1. #1: Land reform Delayed= Land reform Denied 2. #2: Personal cultivation

3. #3: New form of Zamindari 4. #4: Not much for Ryotwari

10. Zamindari Abolition: Benefits/Positive points 1. #1: Agro Production increased

2. #2: Emancipation

3. #3: Changed rural power structure 4. #4: Towards an Egalitarian Society 5. #5: Rise of middleclass

11. Mock Questions

12. Appendix: the 9th Schedule

Prologue

1. Three land tenure system of the British: Their features, implications.

2. Peasant struggles for land reforms in British Raj: causes and consequences.

3. Land reforms, Before independence: by Congress governments in Provinces, their benefits and limitations.

Now we look into land reform measures after the independence. But first, Let‘s once again recap the meaning and importance of land reforms.

What is Land reform?

Agro productivity is affected by two type of factors:

INSTITUTIONAL

FACTORS TECHNICAL FACTORS 1. land tenure system

2. size of land holdings 3. land distribution

1. climate, soil, rainfall 2. farm mechanization

3. farming techniques: use of hybrid seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation methods

Reforms related to ^institutional factors are called land reforms. Let‘s check some more definitions

def1 Land Reforms is a planned and institutional reorganisation of the relation between man and land def2 Land Reforms mean deliberate change introduced into system of land tenure and the farming structure def3 Land reforms imply such institutional changes which turn over ownership of the farms to those who

actually till the soil, and which raise the size of the farm to make it operationally viable.‖

def4 Land reforms mean, such measures as, abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms, ceiling on land holdings, consolidation and cooperative farming etc.

def5 Improving land tenure and institutions related to agriculture.

def6

 redistribution of property rights

 For the benefit of the landless poor.

def7

 integrated program

 to remove the barriers for economic and social development

 Caused by deficiencies in the existing land tenure system.

Ya but why learn so many definition? Ans. UPSC may directly give you a definition and ask you to ‗comment‘ on it-just like they do in public administration paper I. Example

Mock Questions:

1. Land Reforms is a planned and institutional reorganisation of the relation between man and land. Comment.

2. Land reform is not confined to just redistribution of property rights among the landless poor. Comment.

3. Examine the change introduced into system of land tenure and the farming structure during first five year plan.

4. Define Land reforms. Examine its role in removing the barriers for economic and social development in India.

Land reforms: broad vs narrow sense

broad sense narrow sense

concerned with land rent, land ownership, land holding, land revenue+ credit, marketing, abolition of intermediaries, etc.

Concerned only with land ownership and land holdings.

What are the objectives of Land reforms?

Increase production

 Tenant farmer has no motivation to improve agricultural practices because

o He doesn‘t own land=can‘t get loans through banks / formal institutions. o He doesn‘t own land=why bother?

o He has to pay heavy rent to the landowner=hardly any surplus income left to invest in hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery etc.

 In other words, the agrarian structure that we inherited from the past (Zamindari, landlessness etc.) obstructs increase in agricultural production. Land reforms will remove these obstructions.

 Land ownership/ tenure security will motivate farmers to work harder, invest more and thus produce more =more income=standard of life improved + poverty

decreased.

 For Development of Indian agriculture the importance of land reforms is greater than that of technological reforms. (according to Nobel prize-winner Gunnar Myrdal and K.N. Raj, etc.)

social justice

1. Zamindari abolition= also eliminates Begari (forced labour)

2. Land ceiling = reduces the inequality of income and land ownership among villagers. Provides land to landless labourers.

3. Tenancy reforms= reduces rents. Landowner cannot evict a tenant farmer as per his whims and fancies.

1+2+3= Rural power structure changed. Upper caste domination decreased. Empowerment of SC/ST/OBC farmers, agri.labourers.

Thus land reform=> Social justice + Egalitarian society.

Economic development

1. on one hand: land reform increase production

2. on the other hand, land reforms will also provide social justice.

3. Abolishing intermediaries (Zamindar, Talukdar, Jagirdar etc)= the State directly comes in contact with farmers. This direct relation will help in rural Development and agri. Development as per five year plans.

1+2+3=long term economic development.

Improve standard of

When,

living 2. social justice given

3. Economic development achieved.

1+2+3= villagers‘ standard of living automatically increases.

Mock Questions

1. ―Land reforms have been treated as an integral part of eradicating poverty, and increasing of agricultural production.‖ Comment.

2. Explain the role of Land reforms in providing social justice and moving towards an egalitarian society.

Post-Freedom: Towards land reforms

1. Those refugee-farmers who migrated from Pakistan.

2. Those exploited by zamindars, landlords and moneylenders.

So first question: what was done for those refugee farmers?

 Government settled them in Eastern parts of current Punjab (because from this area, muslim farmers had migrated to Pakistan so land was available)

 First, each refugee farmer family given 4 ht. of land, irrespective of how much land they owned in Pakistan. Government also gave them loans to buy seeds/fertilizers, so they can start temporary cultivation.

 Later, each refugee family was asked file application regarding how much land they owned in Pakistan.

 These claims were verified by village assemblies and each family was allotted proportional land in Punjab. by 1950 this work was finished.

Now moving to the second type of victim-farmers: those exploited by zamindars, landlords and moneylenders. What was done for them?

 November 1947: the AICC appointed a special committee to draw up an economic programme for the Congress.

 name of this committee= Economic Program committee  Chairman= Nehru.

 Other members: Maulana Azad, N.G. Ranga, G.L. Nanda, Jayaprakash Narayan etc.

For land reforms, committee recommended that:

1. All intermediaries between the tiller

and the state should be eliminated aka Zamindari abolition. Covered in this article.

2. Maximum size of holding should be

maximum should be acquired and placed at the disposal of the village cooperatives.

3. Present land revenue system to be replaced by progressive agricultural income tax.

Not covered in any article. because income from agriculture is exempted from income tax. And therefore, many filmstars use fake papers to claim they are ‗farmers‘. (and then they dance in Dawood‘s Party @dubai, earn money, manipulate the account books to show that cash coming from their ‗agriculture‘ income and thus evade tax.)

4. All middlemen should be replaced by non-profit making agencies, such as cooperatives.

5. Pilot schemes for cooperative farming among small land holders

aka Cooperative farming. Will be covered in future article.

6. Consolidate small land holdings and

prevent further land fragmentation. Aka consolidation of land holdings. Will be covered in future article.

Let‘s start with Land Reform Method #1: Zamindari Abolition. But first question:

Why Abolish Zamindari?

 in the first article under [Land reform], we saw the three land tenure system of British- Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari.

 _{In Zamindari areas (BeBi: Bengal, Bihar), the British government outsourced the} land Revenue collection work to Zamindars. Similarly in the Princely states had Jagirdars.

 These ‗intermediaries‘ would:

1. Force the tenants to provide demand free labour (Begari)

2. evict tenants as per their whims and fancies = no tenure security

3. Enjoyed lavish lifestyle, did not add anything to agriculture productivity, yet charged high rent – they were like today‘s Middleman @APMC Mandi that we saw under [Food processing] article series.

Therefore, it was necessary to remove these intermediaries,

1. Because Art. 23 prohibited Begari. But at the grassroot level, Begari couldnot be stopped unless Zamindari itself was abolished.

2. Because Art. 38 wanted to minimize inequality of income, status and

opportunities. When Zamindars control ~40% of India‘s cultivated land, there was no opportunity / status for tenant farmers working under them.

3. Because Art. 39 wanted equitable distribution of the material resources of the community for common good. But in villages, these Zamindars control ponds, lakes, forests, grazing lands etc. and didn‘t allow others to freely access them.

4. Because Art.48 wanted to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern-scientific lines but Zamindars were orthodox rent-seeking mindset, and tenant farmer had neither the money nor the motivation to ‗scientific farming‘.

5. Because First Five year plan also asked for abolition of intermediaries/zamindars to increase agro. Production, farmer‘s income, to provide social justice and move towards an egalitarian society.

First Amendment, 1951

 You already know that First amendment =>9th schedule, whatever laws listed this schedule, courts cannot inquire into them. But first Amendment is not just about 9thSchedule /Zamindari abolition. It dealt with many other issues as well.

 _{Microsoft released Windows 8 Operating System. Later, they realized limitations,} problems with Win8, so recently they released an upgrade Windows 8.1 to fix it.  _{Similarly, Constitution came into force from January 1950. But from January 1950}

to May 1951 (=~15 months), government realized variety of deficiencies/problems with Constitution. So, cameup with First amendment to fix those issues in 1951.

#1: SEBC

Before Amendment

Art. 15: State cannot discriminate against any citizen…..

So according to this (original) provision, if government provided reservation or any welfare scheme for SC/ST/OBC/PH, then general category could approach court saying we‘re ‗discriminated‘ against and hence our fundamental right is violated.

Another Angle:

DPSP Art.46: State should promote with special care the educational and economic

interests of the weaker sections of the people and protect them from social injustice. But this Directive principle cannot be implement because of Art.15

so, government had to fix this inconsistency with Art.15.

After the 1st _Amendment

 Article 15 shall NOT prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

 In other words, if government makes law for SEBC/SC/ST, they cannot be challenged in courts on the grounds that Art.15 is violated.

before Amendment

Some courts held the 19/1/a (freedom of speech) so comprehensive and sacrosanct that

 Even if a person advocated murder, violence or hatred against any caste/religion/person/nation, he could not be convicted.

 What if an ACIO leaked national security related data to a journalist? Both could still claim immunity on the grounds of freedom of speech.

after

State can make law to put ―reasonable‖ restriction on freedom of speech, with respect to: 1. National security

2. friendly relations with foreign countries 3. public order, decency or morality 4. contempt of court

5. Defamation or incitement to an offence.

#3 Freedom of Profession

BEFORE 1ST _AMENDMENT

Art. 19(1)(g): The citizen has right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

Now suppose

1. A person without MBBS degree, starts a clinic.

2. A person without doing any pharmacy course, opens a medical store

But if the State authorities tried to stop him, he could approach courts saying my fundamental right is violated!

Another angle: According to Industrial licensing policy, atomic energy is reserved for

public sector. But an entrepreneur could challenge this in court and start his own private nuclear plant. (=risky and dangerous from national security point of view)

AFTER 1ST _AMENDMENT

1. The State CAN make laws to prescribe professional or technical qualifications necessary for practicing any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade or business. in other words, if you open a clinic without doing MBBS, you can be jailed and you cannot claim protection under Art.19

2. The State can make laws to carry out any trade/business/service by itself or thru its corporations. And can exclude any businessmen, citizen or private industries from carrying out those activities. In other words, if state reserves atomic energy or railways for public sector only then private entrepreneur cannot approach court saying his fundamental right under Art.19 is violated.

BEFORE 1ST _AMENDMENT

 _{by 1949: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Madras, Assam and Bombay} states introduced Zamindari abolition bills.

 _{They all used the report of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition Committee} (chaired by G.B. Pant) acting as the initial model.

 but Zamindars approached courts, raising issues like ‗our right to property‘ has been violated or we‘re not given fair compensation etc.

 Hence Union government came up with provisions to prevent courts from entertaining such pleas.

AFTER 1ST _AMENDMENT

Added three things to the constitution 1. two new articles (31 A and B) 2. one schedule (9th Schedule)

Art 31A:

 State can make laws to acquire any estates / rights related to estates.  Estate =also includes any jagir, inam or muafi or other similar grant;

 Rights= also includes rights of any proprietor, sub-proprietor, under-proprietor, tenure-holder or other intermediary- with respect to land revenue.

 And courts cannot declare such law void, on the ground that it violates fundamental rights.

 (But) if such law is made by a state legislation, then it cannot claim immunity under Art.31A, until it receives assent from the President of India.

 Sidenote: later Fifth Amendment added more laws that cannot be challenged in courts.

Art31B:

 The Acts and regulations listed in 9th Schedule of the constitution = cannot be challenged in courts on the ground that they are violating fundamental rights.

 _{Meaning, courts are prohibited from doing any judicial review of the items listed in} 9th Schedule.

9th Schedule:

 _{The first Amendment act listed 13 acts and regulations in 9}th _{schedule. all meant} for abolishing Zamindari. Meaning Zamindars could not approach courts against those laws. (boring list given @bottom of this current article)

 _{Later 14}th _{Amendment, 34}th _{Amendment etc. also added more laws related to land} reforms in this 9th Schedule. You can read more about them in Laxmikanth‘s appendix for constitutional amendments.

#4 Minor modification

A few minor amendments in respect of articles 341, 342, 372 and 376.

Anyways we digressed much from the Zamindari abolition topic so let‘s come back. So far we‘ve seen:

1. what is land reform

2. what are the objectives of land reform

3. post-independence, how we moved towards land reform 4. we saw how first amendment 1951

o modified freedom of speech o modified freedom of profession

o Protected Zamindari abolition/law reform laws via Art 31A, 31B and 9th Schedule.

Now let‘s talk about the actual Abolition of Zamindari:

Timeline of Zamindari Abolition by States

Era States that abolished Zamindari

1948 to 50s Madras, Bombay and Hyderabad states

1951 Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam 1952 Orissa, Punjab, Swarashtra and Rajasthan

1953 Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal

1954 West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi

Zamindari Abolition Acts: Salient Features

Since land = falls under State list, so state legislatures had to enact the zamindari abolition. Meaning no uniformity. Different states have different provisions. But let‘s check the common features of all such state acts.

#1: Compensation

 Ownership and land revenue related rights of the zamindars = abolished.  Lands transferred to the (superior) tenants.

 State governments gave compensation to Zamindars ~670 crore rupees.

 Some states created ―Zamindari Abolition fund‖ and gave ―Bonds‖ to Zamindars as compensation. These bonds could be redeemed after a period of 10 to 30 years. (why long term bonds? why not pay all cash upfront? think about the fiscal deficit angle!)

State Compensation to Zamindar Jammu

Kashmir

No compensation paid to them. And this also led to Hindu-Muslim bitterness because Almost all Zamindars were Hindu (in Jammu region).

Uttar Pradesh

Compensation according to Zamindar‘s income.

 Small Zamindar= Annual income times 20

 Big Zamindar= Annual income times (2 or 4)

In other words- compensation formula inversely related to Zamindar‘s income during British raj.

#2: Common Land/resources

 _{Example wasteland, grazing land, ponds, wells, forest area surrounding the village.}  _{earlier Zamindars controlled such common land/resources and}

o charged fees from villagers, if they wanted to use it.

o did not allow SC/ST to full access these common land/resources.

 These Zamindari Abolition acts, transferred the ownership of such common

land/resources to Village Panchayat. And Forest area= gone to Forest department.

#3: Ownership transfer

 Bhumidhar=tenant farmers, who cultivated Zamindar‘s land.

 In Uttar Pradesh, Bhumidhar can become owner of the land after paying 10 times the annual rent to his Zamindar.

#4: Personal Cultivation

 Land which was cultivated by the zamindar himself = exempted from purview of these acts. Zamindar was permitted to keep this land.

#5: Direct payment of land revenue

Now Farmer was made directly liable for paying land revenue to the state government. (Because Zamindar is no longer the ‗middleman‘ in land revenue hierarchy.)

Zamindari Abolition: Limitations/Obstacles/Negative points

#1: Land reform Delayed= Land reform Denied

After laws were passed, Zamindars went to SC/HC to stay the law implementation. This greatly reduced the effectiveness of these legislations.

^to understand this, let‘s check the #Epicfail of Bihar:

1946 Bihar government passed resolution to abolish Zamindari.

1949 Act was passed State assembly but landlords approached the courts and the government too felt it necessary to repeal the legislation.

1950 State legislature passed New Act, with some amendments. But Zamindars again approached courts. 1951 Union government brings 1

st

Amendment, gives immunity to all such Zamindari abolition acts/ regulations from judicial review.

But Even, after the law was finally implemented, the Zamindars refused to cooperate with the revenue authorities and tried all means to scuttle it implementation. The petty

revenue officials at Village and Tehsil level, either turned blind eye or actively sided with Zamindars for bribes. Thus many years had passed by for the intention of Zamindari abolition became a reality.

#2: Personal cultivation

 _{Most state laws permitted Zamindars to keep part of land for personal cultivation.} But the definition was vague. Zamindars misused this loophole to evict tenant farmers and keep most of the land with themselves.

 (Counter argument: Zamindar started capitalist farming in the area- led to increase in Agro-productivity)

#3: New form of Zamindari

 Main beneficiaries of zamindari abolition were the occupancy tenants or the upper tenants or superior tenants- They had direct leases from the zamindar, and now they became virtual landowners.

 But now these new landowners leased the same land to inferior tenants/sharecroppers- based on oral and unrecorded agreements.

 These inferior tenants/sharecroppers could be evicted as per the whims and fancies of the new landowner.

 Thus, even after the abolition of Zamindari, the system of ‗intermediaries‘ and exploitation continued.

#4: Not much for Ryotwari

 At the time of freedom, less than 50% of cultivated land was under zamindari tenure. The remaining areas (ryotwari/Mahalwari) did not have Zamindari system but they too had system of ‗intermediaries‘ i.e. big farmer/moneylender leasing land to small farmers- then charging excessive rent and exploiting them.

 The Zamindari abolition did not bring much relief to these people.

Overall

 the Main objective of Zamindari abolition = there should be no

‗intermediary/middleman‘ between the State and the land Revenue payer (farmer). But this objective was not achieved.

 Therefore, many economists do not attach much significance to Zamindari abolition.

 They opine Zamindari abolition merely changed the hierarchy of land revenue administration, but did not bring any change in the method of farming nor in the nature of agricultural units.

Anyways, enough of negative points, let‘s check some positive points:

Zamindari Abolition: Benefits/Positive points

1. ~1,700 lakh hectares of land was acquired from the intermediaries (zamindars) and as a consequence, about two crore tenants were brought into direct relationship with the government.

2. Many millions of cultivators who had previously been weak tenants or tenants-at-will were became superior tenants= virtual owners. =DPSP Art. 39 fullfilled (right

to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens)

3. Many absentee zamindars actually started direct ‗personal cultivation‘ (so the State cannot take away their land). They had money to buy high yielding seeds,

pesticides, fertilizers, machineries=agro productivity increased. 4. The entire process occurred in a democratic framework

5. virtually no coercion or violence was used (unlike the land reforms in China, Russia or Cuba.)

6. Finished in remarkably short period. Perhaps because Zamindars were isolated during and after freedom struggle due to their soft corner for the British.

#1: Agro Production increased

BEFORE AFTER

Zamindar collected Revenue. Government directly collects land Revenue from farmer.

neither the zamindars, nor the cultivators took interest in improvememt of agriculture land

1. Cultivators have got ownership rights and hence take keen interest in land improvement and increase in agriculture production.

2. Government created an enabling atmosphere- agri. cooperative society, regional rural banks etc. to provide cheap credit. Subsidy on fertilizers, cheap electricity, irrigation etc.

=DPSP Art. 48 fullfilled (modern and scientific agriculture and animal husbandry)

#2: Emancipation

 After abolition of Zamindari, the agricultural laborers no longer forced to give free labors=Begari, Bonded labour declined. Art. 23 fullfilled.

 Bargaining power of agri. laborers increased=>higher wages=>declined poverty.

#3: Changed rural power structure

 Public land such as village ponds, grazing grounds, village streets etc. which was used by the Zamindar‘s as personal property, have been declared as community property. =DPSP Art. 39 full filled (material resources of community).

 This disarmed the Zamindars of economic exploitation and dominance over others. Thus, Transferred power from Zamindars to peasants.

#4: Towards an Egalitarian Society

 Abolition of intermediaries=> asset distribution=> egalitarian society.

 The Planning Commission estimates that after Abolition of Zamindari, at least twenty million tenants were brought into direct relationship with the governments.  empowerment of those who have out of the development process.

 = DPSP Art.38 fullfilled. (securing a social order, minimize inequality of income,

#5: Rise of middleclass

 Since the intermediaries were removed=>farmers don‘t have to pay heavy rent=>these farmers could generate profit=>could sent their kids to school and colleges.

 So in a way, land reforms helped in expansion of Indian middleclass.

Mock Questions

1. Zamindari abolition merely changed the hierarchy of land revenue administration, but did not bring any change in the method of farming nor in the nature of

agricultural units. Comment

2. Critically evaluate the signification of Zamindari abolition as a measure of land reforms.

3. Analyse the impact of Zamindari abolition on rural power structure. Do you agree with the opinion that it didn‘t really benefit the marginalized sections of rural society?

4. Explain how Zamindari abolition helped fullfilling the directive principles of state policy.

5. Land reforms could not have been initiated without enactment of the First Amendment. Comment.

6. ―Land reforms have been treated as an integral part of eradicating poverty, and increasing of agricultural production.‖ Comment.

7. Explain the role of Land reforms in providing social justice and moving towards an egalitarian society.

8. Land Reforms is a planned and institutional reorganisation of the relation between man and land. Comment.

9. Land reform is not confined to just redistribution of property rights among the landless poor. Comment.

10. Examine the change introduced into system of land tenure and the farming structure during first five year plan.

11. Define Land reforms. Examine its role in removing the barriers for economic and social development in India.

In the next article, we‘ll the second measure of land reform: ―Land Ceilings‖.

Appendix: the 9

_Schedule

the first amendment had added 13 laws in the 9th schedule. And Art.31B prohibited courts from doing judicial review on them. Here goes the boring list only for information:

1. The Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 (Bihar Act XXX of 1950).

2. The Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (Bombay Act LXVII of 1948).

3. The Bombay Maleki Tenure Abolition Act, 1949 (Bombay Act LXI of 1949). 4. The Bombay Taluqdari Tenure Abolition Act, 1949 (Bombay Act LXII of 1949).

5. The Panch Mahals Mehwassi Tenure Abolition Act, 1949 (Bombay Act LXIII of 1949).

6. The Bombay Khoti Abolition Act, 1950 (Bombay Act VI of 1950).

7. The Bombay Paragana and Kulkarni Watan Abolition Act, 1950 (Bombay Act LX of 1950).

8. The Madhya Pradesh Abolition of Proprietary Rights (Estates, Mahals, Alienated Lands) Act, 1950 (Madhya Pradesh Act I of 1951).

9. The Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act XXVI of 1948).

10. The Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Amendment Act, 1950 (Madras Act I of 1950).

11. The Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (Uttar Pradesh Act I of 1951).

12. The Hyderabad (Abolition of Jagirs) Regulation, 1358F. (No. LXIX of 1358, Fasli).

13. The Hyderabad Jagirs (Commutation) Regulation, 1359F. (No. XXV of 1359, Fasli).

- Mrunal - http://mrunal.org -

[Land Reforms] Ceiling on Land holdings: Reasons, Impact, Obstacles,

Limitations, Achievements

1. Prologue

2. What is Land Ceiling?

3. Why Ceiling on Land holdings?

4. Land Ceiling in India

5. Ceiling Phase 1: Freedom to 1972

6. Salient Features

1. Limitations/Failures of Land Ceiling (‗47-‗72)

2. Negative#1: No redistribution

3. Negative#2: Family vs Individual

4. Negative#3: Land ceilings too high

5. Negative#4: Exempted land categories

6. Negative#5: Delay in Law Making

7. Negative#6: History repeats

7. Second stage: 1972 onwards

8. 34th Amendment

9. Land Ceiling: problems/ limitations/obstacles

1. #Epicfail in UttarPradesh

2. Land reform Delayed is land reform denied

3. Hardly any ‗redistribution‘

4. Lack of Auxiliary Support

5. Lack of Political Mobilization

6. Lack of Administrative will

7. FYP did not give direction

8. Land fragmentation=Low GDP

9. Post-LPG: Changed priorities

10. Land Ceilings: Benefits/Advantages/Positive Points

1. With political Will

2. Production increased

3. Employment increased

4. Naxal reduced

5. Social Justice

6. Growth of New political parties

11. Land Ceiling: Pro and Anti arguments

12. Mock Questions

Prologue

So far we‘ve seen

1. Three land tenure system of the British: Their

features, implications.

How the British had difficulty learning the land Revenue system of Desi Nawabs. So, they came up with Permanent settlement, Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems.

2. Peasant struggles for land reforms in British

Raj: causes and consequences.

But the British tenure systems caused much pain and anguish among Indian peasants and led to numerous revolts.

3. Land reforms, Before independence: by Congress governments in Provinces, their benefits and limitations.

After the Provincial elections of 1937, Congress ministries took measures to protect tenant farmers. But by and large shied away from zamindari abolition.

4. Land reforms, After independence: Abolition

of Zamindari, Reasons, Impact, Obstacles, Limitations.

After freedom, State Governments enacted Zamindari Abolition Acts. As a result erstwhile (superior) tenants became virtual owners of their land. =>This is First tool of Land reform.

Now comes the new problem:

1. After abolition of Zamindari, the (superior) tenant farmers became virtual owners of the land. They owned tens and hundreds of acres of land. While other (inferior

tenants/sharecroppers/landless laborers) owned nothing.

2. Many Zamindars themselves kept lot of land in pretext of ‗personal cultivation‘.

Therefore, State governments enacted land ceiling acts. E.g.an individual farmer cannot own land beyond say 10 acres. Thus, if a farmer owned 12 acres, government would take away 12-10=2 acres of surplus land from him, and ―distribute‖ it to some landless laborers. This is Second tool of Land reform.

before going further let‘s again recap the players in a tenancy system

What is Ceiling on Land Holdings?

 It means fixing maximum size of land holding that an individual/family can own.

 Land over and above the ceiling limit, called surplus land.

 if the individual/family owns more land than the ceiling limit, the surplus land is taken away (with or without paying compensation to original owner)

 This surplus land is

a. distributed among small farmers, tenants, landless labourers or b. handed over to village panchayat or

c. Given to cooperative farming societies.

Why Ceiling on Land holdings?

1. Because DPSP Art.38 seeks to minimize the inequalities of income, status, facilities and opportunities. Land ceiling minimize inequality in the land ownership and thus reduces inequality of income.

2. Because DPSP Art.39 wants to ensure that the operation of economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth. In a village, land=wealth, hence land ceiling is necessary to prevent concentration of wealth in the hands of few.

3. Because DPSP Art.39 wants to give right to adequate means of livelihood for all citizens. Land ceiling (and subsequent land redistribution) provides self-employment opportunities to landless agricultural laborers.

4. If there is no land ceiling, rich farmers will buy all the land of entire village and tehsil. But since they cannot cultivate all the land by themselves- they‘ll ‗lease‘ it to small farmers (tenants). Small farmer (tenant) doesn‘t have any ‗motivation‘ to work harder because he doesn‘t own the land and he has to give 30-50-70% of the produce to that rich farmer, as ―rent‖= exploitation.

5. So, After abolishing Zamindari, IF State Governments had not implemented Land ceiling, then rich farmers/superior tenants would have become the new de-facto/virtual Zamindars of Modern India.

Although, economists who believe in free market / capitalism, donot like land ceiling. We‘ll see their anti-land ceiling arguments at the end of this article. But for the moment, let‘s continue with the assumption that land ceiling is beneficial.

Land Ceiling in India

WE can study it in two phases: 1. From independence to 1972 2. After 1972

Ceiling Phase 1: Freedom to 1972

1946 (just before freedom) All India Kisan Sabha demanded a maximum limit of landownership of 25 acres per landholder

1947

Economic Program committee headed by Nehru, Recommended, ‗The maximum size of holdings

should be fixed. The surplus land over such a maximum should be acquired and placed at the disposal of the village‟

1949

 Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee, chaired by J.C. Kumarappa.

 Recommended a ceiling on landholding which was to be three times the size of an economic holding.

 An economic holding was defined as that which would give a reasonable standard of living to the cultivator and provide full employment to a family of normal size and at least to a pair of bullocks.

First FYP

 There should be an upper limit to the amount of land that an individual may hold.

 Exact upper limit was to be fixed by each State, having regard to its own agrarian history and present problems.

1953

 AICC Agra session: State Governments should take immediate for the fixation of ceilings on land holdings, with a view to redistribute the land,

1957

 National Development Council (NDC) adopted a decision to complete the imposition of ceilings by the end of 1960.

1959

 Nagpur session of Congress. Passed resolution that

 All states should complete land ceiling by 1959

 Surplus land should be given to Panchayats and Cooperatives of Landless laborers.

Salient Features

During this phase, Land ceiling reform ran on following principles/features:

1. States were given freedom to fix land ceiling based on soil conditions, irrigation facilities, agrarian history of the region etc.

Classification of land What to do here?

1. Land held by Tenants (i.e. after

Zamindari abolition, these Tenants who had become virtual owners of the land.)

1. States had to make law, that‘ll enable Tenant to take over this land with ―patta‖ (i.e. document showing possession).

2. Subject to maximum land ceiling in acres. i.e. surplus land from tenant will be taken away.

2. Land held by Landowner himself

3. Owner could keep part of this land for his personal cultivation (subject to maximum land ceiling in acres)

4. State will give remaining ‗surplus‘ land to those agricultural labourers, with or without paying compensation to the original land owner.

Sounds good on paper? Yes. But Land Ceiling during this phase=EPICFAIL. Why?

Limitations/Failures of Land Ceiling (‘47-‘72) Negative#1: No redistribution

by the end of

1961 most states passed land ceiling Acts

by the end of 1970

 Not a single acre was declared surplus in large states like Bihar, Mysore, Kerala, Orissa and Rajasthan!

 In Andhra Pradesh, a mere 1,400 acres was declared surplus but no land was distributed.

by the end of 1970

 Overall India: only 2.4 million acre declared surplus. Barely 50% of that surplus land was redistributed among landless.

 This amounted to ~0.3% of total cultivated land of India in that era.

So why did this happen? Why didn‘t land ceiling acts achieve desired result? Because of following reasons:

Negative#2: Family vs Individual

 Initially States imposed the land ceiling on individual and not on family.

 So big farmers transferred their land to sons, daughters, wives, relatives (sometimes even non-existent/dead family member) to avoid crossing the ceiling.

 Many states provided extra-ceiling if family exceeded five members. Example Andhra Pradesh had allowing 6 to 72 acres (depending on the nature of land) per ‗extra‘ member of the family.

 In these day, there was no family planning= large sized family=very few families ‗crossed‘ the land ceiling.

Thus, land ceiling definition itself defeated the noble purpose of land distribution.

Negative#3: Land ceilings too high

During this era, more than 70% of the landholdings were below 5 acres. Yet the ceilings were fixed too high, example:

State land ceiling

Andhra Pradesh 27-312 (depending on land quality) Assam 50 acres

Kerala 15 to 37.5 acres

Punjab 30 to 60 acres

West Bengal 25 acres

Maharashtra 18 to 126 acres

Result? Very few people crossed the land ceiling. Hardly any surplus land taken away.

Negative#4: Exempted land categories

2nd Five year plan recommended following categories of land be exempted from ―ceiling‖ laws: 1. tea, coffee and rubber plantations, orchards,

2. specialized farms engaged in cattle breeding, dairying, wool raising, etc., 3. sugarcane farms operated by sugar factories

4. Efficiently managed farms on which heavy investments had been made. 5. Land belonging to charitable trusts.

2nd Five year plan‘s intention was good- it wanted to promote capitalist/progressive farming and make foundation for the future green revolution.

But State government implemented this policy in letter and not in spirit. Result?

1. ‗Efficiently managed farm‘ was vaguely defined. So many farmers evaded the ceilings by simply getting themselves declared ‗efficient‘.

2. Tamilnadu exempted land held by cooperatives from land ceiling act. So, Landlords transferring their lands to bogus cooperatives.

3. Many rich farmers setup bogus charitable trusts in connivance with state officials, then transferred land to charitable trust and avoided ceiling.

Negative#5: Delay in Law Making

 State governments took lot of time to pass the land ceiling legislation.

 This gave big farmers enough time to sell their excess lands, or to transfer it to their relatives and even make benami transfers.