Describe the Major Land reforms in India and evaluate their impact on Indian agriculture.
( UPPSC, UP PCS, 2019, 15 Marks)
भारत में प्रमुख भूमि सुधारों का वर्णन कीजिये और भारतीय कृषि पर उनके प्रभाव का आकलन कीजिये।
Answer:
The agrarian structure has changed from pre-colonial to colonial after independence.
During colonial India, many areas were ruled by local Zamindar, and land rights were granted to zamindar.
Due to the heavy tax on agriculture, agriculture productivity was stagnant or even declined due to the absence of investment in agricultural land.
The objective of Land reforms was to achieve all-round development of agriculture
During colonial India, many areas were ruled by local Zamindar, and land rights were granted to zamindar.
Due to the heavy tax on agriculture, agriculture productivity was stagnant or even declined due to the absence of investment in agricultural land.
The objective of Land reforms was to achieve all-round development of agriculture
Land reforms in Independent India:
Due to low productivity and India was dependent on imported food grains production.From 1950 to 1962, many land reforms law were passed on both national and state levels. Since, the land is subjected to state lists as per the Indian Constitution, hence the implementation of the policies also varied from state to state.
The following are three major land reforms:
- Abolition of Zamindari System
- Tenancy abolition and regulations acts
- Land ceiling act
Abolition of Zamindari System:
After independence, the government abolished the 150 years law of the Zamindari, Mahalwari, and Ryotwary systems from the Country. As per the Zamindari system, there were Zamindar in-between state and cultivators. By this act, intermediaries between state and cultivators were removed.
Tenancy abolition and regulations acts:
Law imposed on the upper limit of the amount of land that owns by a particular family. The ceiling of land varies from region to region. Productive land has a low ceiling and unproductive lands have a high ceiling
Impact of the abolition of the Zamindari system:
Impact of Tenancy regulations acts:
Impact of land Ceiling Act:
- Tenants:
- Cultivators who lease land from landowners.
- Through the Tenancy Act, the landlord can not arbitrarily impost rent from tenants farmers. There will be upper limits that were fixed by state governments.
- Either tenancy was removed or regulated rent to give security to tenants.
- Only Kerala and West Bengal effectively implemented Tenancy laws.
Law imposed on the upper limit of the amount of land that owns by a particular family. The ceiling of land varies from region to region. Productive land has a low ceiling and unproductive lands have a high ceiling
Impact on Indian agriculture from land reforms:
Impact of the abolition of the Zamindari system:
- Millions of small farmers get land right. They invested in the agriculture field to increase productivity, later it helped in the green revolution.
- Zamindar also started to cultivate the land on their own by using high-yielding seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer, hence productivity increased.
Impact of Tenancy regulations acts:
- Rule of law established it increases the clarity of rent between landlord and tenants.
- Instead of being agricultural labor, many small farmers took leased land.
Impact of land Ceiling Act:
- In rural India, the land is wealth and wealth gives the power that means having more land means more power. The land ceiling act reduces inequality by capping the upper limit of holding land. By this act, the land was distributed to the small and marginal farmers by the landlord.
- Million of farmers benefited and the effective utilization of land get increased.
- As per the 2011 census, 67% of the Indian population is living in rural areas and they are dependent on agriculture and related occupations, and thus agricultural land is very important for 67% of the Indian population.
- In some parts of India, 40 to 50% of families do not have land at all. They are agricultural laborers and dependent on the other lands to work.
- Despite land reforms, 2% of farmers hold 20 % of agricultural land and it was also found that these big farmers are not practicing sustainable management practices on the land.
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