Table of Contents

Discuss the main features of Land Reforms in post independence India.

Section: A.
Sociology Paper 2023 Analysis.
Paper 2: Unit-12 Social Structure; Agrarian social structure- evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

Question 1 (d): Discuss the main features of Land Reforms in post independence India.

(10 Marks).

Introduction: Introduce in Brief the Idea and Background of Land Reforms.

Main Body: Features of Land Reforms and Impact on Society in Brief.

Conclusion: On the Lines of Bridging of Gap in Policy Implementation.

Introduction:

Before independence, India’s agrarian structure suffered from extensive land concentration and tenant exploitation, prompting the need for reforms. Post-independence, land reforms aimed to economically uplift landless individuals and regulate agriculture. Key features included abolishing intermediaries, tenancy reforms, and landholding consolidation.

Main body:

Features of land reforms.

Abolition of Intermediaries: One of the key features of land reforms in post-independence India was the abolition of intermediaries, such as Zamindars and Jagirdars, who held the land ownership of the land. This measure aimed to provide security for the tiller of the soil and ensure equality of opportunity in the agrarian system.
Tenancy Reforms: The tenancy contracts at the time were often expropriated in nature, leading to tenant exploitation. The reforms sought to address this issue and provide more favourable conditions for tenants, ensuring a more equitable distribution of benefits from agricultural activities.
Fixing Ceilings on Landholdings: To address the concentration of land in the hands of a few, land reforms in post-independence India included the fixing of ceilings on landholdings. This measure aimed to redistribute agricultural land in favour of the less privileged and cultivating classes, promoting a more equitable distribution of resources.

Impact of land reforms on the society:

Functional consequences of land reforms.

This reform was a ‘revolutionary step’ in changing the agrarian structure in India. For example more than 200 lakh farmers were brought into direct contact with state.
Land reforms lead to weakening the hold of absentee landlordism over rural household. It assisted in emergence of a class of substantial peasants and petty landlords as the dominant political and economic group.
Land reforms aimed to tackle landlordism, while credit was to be provided through institutions like credit societies and nationalized banks. Initially, about 91% of agricultural credit came from informal sources, mainly moneylenders. India planned to boost cooperative credit societies and later, through social control and nationalization, commercial banks were also directed to prioritize lending to agriculture. This reduced rural households’ reliance on informal sources over time.
Rudolph and Rudolph in their book ‘In Pursuit of Laxami’ termed the emergence of strong middle peasants caste as bullock capitalists.

Dysfunctional aspects of land reforms.

In qualitative terms most of the land begins to be self-cultivated and the incidence of tenancy declined considerably. The fear of losing land induced many potential losers to sell or rearrange their lands in a manner that escaped legislations.
Andre Beteille argues that the tenancy reforms were less successful because of the lack of political will and the resistance from the dominant landowning classes.
Ashok Rudra has highlighted that limited impact of land reforms in reducing the area under absentee landlordism.
R. Desai stated that ineffectiveness of land reforms is a testimony to shift from external colonies to internal colonies in India.
Daniel Thorner highlighted that the concentration of prosperity in upper strata and expansion of poverty in lower strata. This stands testimony to capitalist agrarian development in socialists India.
The rights of women were completely ignored during land reforms, as agrarian reforms focused on household’s land rights not on women’s land rights .

Conclusion:

S. Swaminathan has called the process of land reforms as unfinished agenda, new and innovative land reform measures like conclusive land titling , unique land parcel IDs should be adopted with new vigour to eradicate rural poverty.

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META TAGS:

Land Reforms, Land Reforms Sociology, Land Reforms UPSC, Land Reforms 2023, Land Reforms in India, Land Reforms in Indian society, Post-Independence India, Agrarian Structure, Tenant Exploitation, Abolition of Intermediaries, Tenancy Reforms, Landholdings Ceiling, Rural Poverty, Agrarian Issues, M. S. Swaminathan, Social Impact, Rural Household, Agricultural Land, Land Ownership, Societal Consequences, Women’s Land Rights, Capitalist Agrarian Development, Credit Societies, Absentee Landlordism

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