Land reforms
Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Agriculture"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Land reforms were steps taken after independence to make land ownership fairer and to free farmers from exploitation. They were the main focus of the First Five Year Plan. They included:
- Abolishing intermediaries such as zamindars
- Tenancy reform to protect tenants and sharecroppers
- Ceilings on the size of holdings, with surplus land given to landless people
- Consolidation of scattered plots
- Cooperation or collective farming
Landlord lobbies were powerful and political will was weak, so most states implemented the reforms in a "lukewarm" way. As a result, land is still unequally distributed.
Example
Under Operation Barga (West Bengal, 1978), sharecroppers (bargadars) were recorded in official land records. This protected them from eviction. Kerala is the other well-known success.
Don't confuse with
- Land revenue systems: Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari were British-era ways of collecting tax from land. Land reforms came after 1947, partly to undo the harm those systems caused.
Related concepts
- Land revenue systems
- Fragmentation of landholdings
- Consolidation of landholdings
- Average size of operational holding
- Unique Land Parcel Identification Number