Security of tenure
Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Security of tenure means protecting tenants from being evicted at the landlord's will. It is one of the three planks of tenancy reform, along with regulating rent and giving tenants ownership. A tenant who fears eviction will not invest in the land, because the gain may go to someone else. Secure tenure gives the tenant a reason to invest. Weak enforcement undid much of it: landlords forced "voluntary surrenders" and evicted tenants.
Example
Under Operation Barga in West Bengal (1978), sharecroppers (bargadars) were registered at village camps. They got heritable tenure, meaning the right passes to their heirs, and a fixed crop share. They did not get ownership, but they could no longer be thrown out at will.
Don't confuse with
- Ownership rights for tenants: these transfer the title to the tiller, as Kerala did from 1970. Security of tenure only protects the tenant's right to keep farming. The landowner still owns the land.