Land Reforms

As ‘land’ is a State subject under the Constitution, different States have evolved differently in the field of land management. In fact there may be different systems in different regions of the same State also. The Central Government has only a limited role to play in this regard.At the time of independence, the land tenure system was characterized by intermediaries variously called zamindars, jagirdars, etc. who merely collected rent from the actual tillers of the soil without contributing towards improvements on the farm.

Recent Developments

Fragmentation of Land Holding

India witnessed a jump in the number of operational farmlands between 2010-11 and 2015-16, but the same period also saw the average size of these land holdings and the area they cover take a dip, shows the provisional Agriculture Census released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

  • A closer look at the government report shows that the decrease in average size of farmlands has been the most in Goa (28.9 per cent), followed by Sikkim (20.4%). In Goa, it’s the small and marginal farmers who have been most involved in this land fragmentation as the average size of land they possess has registered a decrease of 55.44 per cent.
  • Goa is home to the largest urban population among all the small states in India. More than 62 per cent of its population resides in urban areas and about 38 per cent in rural areas, says the 2011 census.

Slow Land Reforms Posing Downside Risk for Infra Projects

The recent research done by Fitch Solutions, an affiliate of Fitch Ratings reveals that-

  • The slow pace of land reforms will continue to result in project delays and rising costs, posing a downside risk for the road and rail sectors.
  • A majority of the delayed projects are running above the budgeted costs -- without land reforms at the federal level that would standardize land acquisition procedures across the country and expedite the acquisition process.
  • In particular, large-scale, inter-state projects will face heightened challenges in land acquisition due to the diversity of land acquisition laws across states as well as the large amount of land required for project implementation.

Land Issue and Agriculture

The recent agricultural sector dialogue focuses on supply chain efficiency or improving the quality of inputs like seeds and fertilisers. Land is one key issue that is often ignored. While land is an input that cannot be created, its value can be destroyed through poor policy. When it comes to land, there are two specific areas, where the government has faltered over the last 70 years. These include:

  1. Land Market
  2. Land Records

Land Market: The present status of land market in India inhibits agricultural productivity. According to the 2010-11 Report on Agriculture Census, 85 per cent of India’s total operational land holdings are less than 2 hectares in area. The yield from such small plots is barely enough to feed the farmer’s family, leaving very little produce to sell in the market.

A 2013 NSSO report estimates 13 per cent of household lease land, but other reports by NGOs suggest this could well be 50 per cent due to informal tenancy arrangements.

Land Records: Without accurate land records, it’s difficult for farmers to access critical welfare schemes. The government spends close to one per cent of GDP on fertiliser subsidies every year, while other huge subsidies exist for seeds, pesticides, crop insurance, and farm loans. But, if underlying land records don’t reflect the true names of owners, lessors, and cultivators or the correct size of the plots, the benefits won’t reach the targeted beneficiaries.

  • Improved land administration requires an understanding of social, political, legal, and economic issues. There is a dire need to build such capacity in India.
  • The establishment of the Center for Land Governance within the Indian Institute for Human Settlements is an important step to nurturing talent within the public and private space and driving policy research, but we need more such pioneering institutions.

Meaning of Land Reforms

It refers to an institutional measure directed towards altering the existing pattern of ownership, tenancy and management of land. It entails “a redistribution of the rights of ownership and/or use of land away from large landowners and in favour of cultivators with very limited or no landholdings.” Thus, in a broad sense, land reform refers to an improvement in agro-economic institutions. It includes measures and policies relating to redistribution of land, regulation of rent, improving the conditions of tenancy, cooperative organisation, agricultural education, and so on.

Objectives of Land Reforms

  • Restructuring of agrarian relations to achieve an egalitarian structure
  • Elimination of exploitation in land relations
  • Actualization of the goal of “land to the tiller”
  • Improvement of socio-economic conditions of the rural poor by widening their land base
  • Increasing agricultural production and productivity

Reasons for the Failure of Land Reform

  • Unfortunately, progress on land reforms has been slow, reflecting the resilience of structures of power that gave rise to the problem in the first place.
  • The main instrument for realising more equitable distribution of land is the land ceiling laws. These laws are enacted by several states during the late 1950s and 1960s and the early 1970s see more stringent amendments in the laws to plug loopholes in the earlier laws. But, the record of implementation has not been satisfactory.
  • Besides, a number of Benami and Clandestine transactions have resulted in illegal possession of significant amounts of land above ceiling limits.
  • In many instances, lands allotted to the rural poor under the ceiling laws are not in their possession. In some cases, pattas are issued to the beneficiaries, but possession of land shown in the pattas was not given, or corresponding changes were not made in the records of rights.
  • The balance of power in rural India is so heavily weighed against the landless and the poor that implementing land ceiling laws is difficult.
  • Although half of India’s population continues to depend on agriculture as its primary source of livelihood, 83% of farmers operate holdings of less than 2 hectares in size and the average holding size is only 1.33 hectares.
  • There are also those people who are entirely landless, although agriculture is their main source of livelihood.
  • Environmental factors further disadvantage poor farmers. Water tables have been falling and soils depleting. All this is happening against the backdrop of climate change.

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