land reform after independence

8/12/2019 Land Reform After Independence

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What is Land reform?

Agro productivity is affected by two type of factors:

INSTITUTIONAL

FACTORSTECHNICAL FACTORS

land tenure system

size of land

holdings

land distribution

climate, soil, rainfall

farm mechanization

farming techniques: use of hybrid seeds, fertilizer, pesticides,

irrigation methods

Reforms related to ^institutionalfactors are called land reforms.

Lets check some more definitions

def1Land Reforms is a planned and institutional reorganisation of the relation between

man and land

def2Land Reforms mean deliberate change introduced into system of land tenure and the

farming structure

def3

Land reforms imply such institutional changes which turn over ownership of the

farms to those who actually till the soil, and which raise the size of the farm to make it

operationally viable.

def4Land reforms mean, such measures as, abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms,

ceiling on land holdings, consolidation and cooperative farming etc.

def5 Improving land tenureand institutions related to agriculture.

def6redistribution of property rights

For the benefit of the landless poor.

def7

integrated program

to remove the barriers for economic and social development

Caused by deficiencies in the existing land tenuresystem.

Ya but why learn so many definition? Ans. UPSC may directly give you a definition and ask

you to comment on it-just like they do in public administration paper I. Example

Mock Questions:


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1. Land Reforms is a planned and institutional reorganisation of the relation between man and

land. Comment.

2.

Land reform is not confined to just redistribution of property rights among the landless

poor. Comment.

3.

Examine the change introduced into system of land tenure and the farming structure during

first five year plan.

4. Define Land reforms. Examine its role in removing the barriers for economic and social

development in India.

Land reforms: broad vs narrow sense

broad sense narrow sense

concerned with land rent, land ownership, land holding, land

revenue+ credit, marketing, abolition of intermediaries, etc.

Concerned only with land

ownership and land

holdings.

What are the objectives of Land reforms?

Increase production

Tenant farmer has no motivation to improve agricultural practices because

He doesnt own land=cant getloans through banks / formal institutions. He doesnt own land=why bother?

He has to pay heavy rent to the landowner=hardly any surplus income left to invest in

hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery etc.

In other words, the agrarian structure that we inherited from the past (Zamindari,

landlessness etc.) obstructs increase in agricultural production. Land reforms will remove

these obstructions.

Land ownership/ tenure security will motivate farmers to work harder, invest more and

thus produce more =more income=standard of life improved + poverty decreased.

For Development of Indian agriculture the importance of land reforms is greater than that of

technological reforms. (according to Nobel prize-winner Gunnar Myrdal and K.N. Raj, etc.)

social justice

Zamindari abolition= also eliminates Begari (forced labour)

Land ceiling= reduces the inequality of income and land ownership

among villagers. Provides land to landless labourers.

Tenancy reforms= reduces rents. Landowner cannot evict a tenant

farmer as per his whims and fancies.


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1+2+3= Rural power structure changed. Upper caste domination

decreased. Empowerment of SC/ST/OBC farmers, agri.labourers.

Thus land reform=> Social justice + Egalitarian society.

Economic

development

on one hand: land reform increase production

on the other hand, land reforms will also provide social justice.

Abolishing intermediaries (Zamindar, Talukdar, Jagirdar etc)= the State

directly comes in contact with farmers. This direct relation will help in

rural Development and agri. Development as per five year plans.

1+2+3=long term economic development.

Improve

standard of

living

When,

agro production increased

social justice given

Economic development achieved.

1+2+3= villagers standard of living automatically increases.

Mock Questions

1. Land reforms have been treated as an integral part of eradicating poverty, and increasing of

agricultural production. Comment.

2.

Explain the role of Land reforms in providing social justice and moving towards an

egalitarian society.

Post-Freedom: Towards land reforms

At this time, we had two set of victim-farmers

1.

Those refugee-farmers who migrated from Pakistan.

2. Those exploited by zamindars, landlords and moneylenders.

So first question: what was done for those refugee farmers?

Government settled them in Eastern parts of current Punjab (because from this area, muslim

farmers had migrated to Pakistan so land was available)

First, each refugee farmer family given 4 ht. of land, irrespective of how much land they

owned in Pakistan. Government also gave them loans to buy seeds/fertilizers, so they can

start temporary cultivation.


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Later, each refugee family was asked file application regarding how much land they owned

in Pakistan.

These claims were verified by village assemblies and each family was allotted proportional

land in Punjab. by 1950 this work was finished.

Now moving to the second type of victim-farmers: those exploited by zamindars, landlords

and moneylenders. What was done for them?

November 1947: the AICC appointed a special committee to draw up an economic

programme for the Congress.

name of this committee= Economic Program committee

Chairman= Nehru.

Other members: Maulana Azad, N.G. Ranga, G.L. Nanda, Jayaprakash Narayan etc.For land reforms, committee recommended that:

All intermediaries between the

tiller and the state should be

eliminated

aka Zamindari abolition. Covered in this article.

Maximum size of holding should

be fixed. The surplus land over

such a maximum should be

acquired and placed at the

disposal of the village

cooperatives.

aka Land ceiling. Covered in next article.

Present land revenue system to be

replaced by progressive

agricultural income tax.

Not covered in any article. because income from

agriculture is exempted from income tax. And

therefore, many filmstars use fake papers to claim they

are farmers. (and then they dance in Dawoods Party

@dubai, earn money, manipulate the account books to

show that cash coming from their agriculture income

and thus evade tax.)

All middlemen should be replaced

by non-profit making agencies,

such as cooperatives.

aka Cooperative farming. Will be covered in future

article.


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Pilot schemes for cooperative

farming among small land holders

Consolidate small land holdings

and prevent further landfragmentation.

Aka consolidation of land holdings. Will be covered in

future article.

Lets start with Land Reform Method #1: Zamindari Abolition. But first question:

Why Abolish Zamindari?

in thefirst article under [Land reform], we saw the three land tenure system of British-

Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari.

In Zamindari areas (BeBi: Bengal, Bihar), the British government outsourced the land

Revenue collection work to Zamindars. Similarly in the Princely states had Jagirdars.

These intermediaries would:

1. Force the tenants to provide demand free labour (Begari)

2.

evict tenants as per their whims and fancies = no tenure security

3. Enjoyed lavish lifestyle, did not add anything to agriculture productivity, yet charged high

rent they were like todays Middleman@APMC Mandi that we saw under [Food

processing] article series.

Therefore, it was necessary to remove these intermediaries,

1. Because Art. 23 prohibited Begari. But at the grassroot level, Begari couldnot be stopped

unless Zamindari itself was abolished.

2. Because Art. 38wanted to minimize inequality of income, status and opportunities. When

Zamindars control ~40% of Indias cultivated land, there was no opportunity / status for

tenant farmers working under them.

3.

Because Art. 39wanted equitable distribution of the material resources of the community

for common good. But in villages, these Zamindars control ponds, lakes, forests, grazing

lands etc. and didnt allow others to freely access them.

4. Because Art.48wanted to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern-scientific

lines but Zamindars were orthodox rent-seeking mindset, and tenant farmer had neither the

money nor the motivation to scientific farming.

5. Because First Five year plan also asked for abolition of intermediaries/zamindars to increase

agro. Production, farmers income, to provide social justice and move towards an egalitarian

society.
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First Amendment, 1951

You already know that First amendment =>9thschedule, whatever laws listed this schedule,

courts cannot inquire into them. But first Amendment is not just about 9 thSchedule

/Zamindari abolition. It dealt with many other issues as well.

Microsoft released Windows 8 Operating System. Later, they realized limitations, problemswith Win8, so recently they released an upgrade Windows 8.1 to fix it.

Similarly, Constitution came into force from January 1950. But from January 1950 to May

1951 (=~15 months), government realized variety of deficiencies/problems with

Constitution. So, cameup with First amendment to fix those issues in 1951.

#1: SEBC

Before Amendment

Art. 15: State cannot discriminate against any citizen..

So according to this (original) provision, if government provided reservation or any welfare

scheme for SC/ST/OBC/PH, then general category could approach court saying were

discriminated against and hence our fundamental right is violated.

Another Angle:

DPSP Art.46: State should promote with special care the educational and economic interests

of the weaker sections of the people and protect them from social injustice.

But this Directive principle cannot be implement because of Art.15

so, government had to fix this inconsistency with Art.15.

After the 1stAmendment

Article 15 shall NOT prevent the State from making any special provision for the

advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) of citizens or for

the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

In other words, if government makes law for SEBC/SC/ST, they cannot be challenged in

courts on the grounds that Art.15 is violated.

#2: Freedom of Speech

before

Amendment

Some courts held the 19/1/a (freedom of speech) so comprehensive and

sacrosanct that

Even if a person advocated murder, violence or hatred against any

caste/religion/person/nation, he could not be convicted.

What if anACIOleaked national security related data to a journalist? Both
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could still claim immunity on the grounds of freedom of speech.

after

State can make law to put reasonable restriction on freedom of speech, with

respect to:

National securityfriendly relations with foreign countries

public order, decency or morality

contempt of court

Defamation or incitement to an offence.

#3 Freedom of Profession

BEFORE 1STAMENDMENT

Art. 19(1)(g): The citizen has right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation,

trade or business.

Now suppose

1. A person without MBBS degree, starts a clinic.

2.

A person without doing any pharmacy course, opens a medical store

But if the State authorities tried to stop him, he could approach courts saying my

fundamental right is violated!

Another angle:According to Industrial licensing policy, atomic energy is reserved for public

sector. But an entrepreneur could challenge this in court and start his own private nuclear

plant. (=risky and dangerous from national security point of view)

AFTER 1STAMENDMENT

1.

The State CAN make laws to prescribe professional or technical qualifications necessary for

practicing any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade or business. in other words, if

you open a clinic without doing MBBS, you can be jailed and you cannot claim protection

under Art.19

2. The State can make laws to carry out any trade/business/service by itself or thru its

corporations. And can exclude any businessmen, citizen or private industries from carrying

out those activities. In other words, if state reserves atomic energy or railways for public

sector only then private entrepreneur cannot approach court saying his fundamental right

under Art.19 is violated.


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#4: Land Reforms

BEFORE 1STAMENDMENT

by 1949: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Madras, Assam and Bombay states

introduced Zamindari abolition bills.

They all used the report of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition Committee (chaired by

G.B. Pant) acting as the initial model.

but Zamindars approached courts, raising issues like our right to property has been

violated or were not given fair compensation etc.

Hence Union government came up with provisions to prevent courts from entertaining such

pleas.

AFTER 1STAMENDMENT

Added three things to the constitution

1.

two new articles (31 A and B)

2.

one schedule (9thSchedule)

Art 31A:

State can make laws to acquire any estates / rights related to estates.

Estate =also includes any jagir, inam or muafi or other similar grant;

Rights= also includes rights of any proprietor, sub-proprietor, under-proprietor, tenure-

holder or other intermediary- with respect to land revenue.

And courts cannot declare such law void, on the ground that it violates fundamental rights.

(But) if such law is made by a state legislation, then it cannot claim immunity under Art.31A,

until it receives assent from the President of India.

Sidenote: later Fifth Amendment added more laws that cannot be challenged in courts.

Art31B:

The Acts and regulations listed in 9thSchedule of the constitution = cannot be challenged in

courts on the ground that they are violating fundamental rights.

Meaning, courts are prohibited from doing any judicial review of the items listed in

9thSchedule.

9thSchedule:

The first Amendment act listed 13 acts and regulations in 9thschedule. all meant for

abolishing Zamindari. Meaning Zamindars could not approach courts against those laws.

(boring list given @bottom of this current article)


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Later 14thAmendment, 34thAmendment etc. also added more laws related to land reforms

in this 9thSchedule. You can read more about them in Laxmikanths appendix for

constitutional amendments.

#4 Minor modification

A few minor amendments in respect of articles 341, 342, 372 and 376.

Anyways we digressed much from the Zamindari abolition topic so lets come back.

So far weve seen:

1. what is land reform

2.

what are the objectives of land reform

3.

post-independence, how we moved towards land reform

4. we saw how first amendment 1951

modified freedom of speech

modified freedom of profession

Protected Zamindari abolition/law reform laws via Art 31A, 31B and 9thSchedule.

Now lets talk about the actual Abolition of Zamindari:

Timeline of Zamindari Abolition by States

Era States that abolished Zamindari

1948 to 50s Madras, Bombay and Hyderabad states

1951 Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam

1952 Orissa, Punjab, Swarashtra and Rajasthan

1953 Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal

1954 West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi

Zamindari Abolition Acts: Salient Features

Since land = falls under State list, so state legislatures had to enact the zamindari abolition.

Meaning no uniformity. Different states have different provisions. But lets check the

common features of all such state acts.

#1: Compensation

Ownership and land revenue related rights of the zamindars = abolished.

Lands transferred to the (superior) tenants.


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State governments gave compensation to Zamindars ~670 crore rupees.

Some states created Zamindari Abolition fund and gave Bonds to Zamindars as

compensation. These bonds could be redeemed after a period of 10 to 30 years. (why long

term bonds? why not pay all cash upfront? think about the fiscal deficit angle!)

State Compensation to Zamindar

Jammu

Kashmir

No compensation paid to them. And this also led to Hindu-Muslim bitterness

because Almost all Zamindars were Hindu (in Jammu region).

Uttar

Pradesh

Compensation according to Zamindars income.

Small Zamindar= Annual income times 20

Big Zamindar= Annual income times (2 or 4)

In other words- compensation formula inversely related to Zamindars

income during British raj.

#2: Common Land/resources

Example wasteland, grazing land, ponds, wells, forest area surrounding the village.

earlier Zamindars controlled such common land/resources and

charged fees from villagers, if they wanted to use it.

did not allow SC/ST to full access these common land/resources.

These Zamindari Abolition acts, transferred the ownership of such common land/resources

to Village Panchayat. And Forest area= gone to Forest department.

#3: Ownership

transfer

Bhumidhar=tenant farmers, who cultivated Zamindars land.

In Uttar Pradesh, Bhumidhar can become owner of the land after

paying 10 times the annual rent to his Zamindar.

#4: PersonalCultivation Land which was cultivated by the zamindar himself = exempted frompurview of these acts. Zamindar was permitted to keep this land.

#5: Direct

payment of land

revenue

Now Farmer was made directly liable for paying land revenue to the

state government. (Because Zamindar is no longer the middleman in

land revenue hierarchy.)

Zamindari Abolition: Limitations/Obstacles/Negative points

#1: Land reform Delayed= Land reform Denied

After laws were passed, Zamindars went to SC/HC to stay the law implementation. This

greatly reduced the effectiveness of these legislations.


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^to understand this, lets check the#Epicfail of Bihar:

1946 Bihar government passed resolution to abolish Zamindari.

1949Act was passed State assembly but landlords approached the courts and the

government too felt it necessary to repeal the legislation.

1950State legislature passed New Act, with some amendments. But Zamindars again

approached courts.

1951Union government brings 1stAmendment, gives immunity to all such Zamindari

abolition acts/ regulations from judicial review.

But Even, after the law was finally implemented, the Zamindars refused to cooperate with

the revenue authorities and tried all means to scuttle it implementation. The petty revenue

officials at Village and Tehsil level, either turned blind eye or actively sided with Zamindars

for bribes. Thus many years had passed by for the intention of Zamindari abolition became a

reality.

#2: Personal cultivation

Most state laws permitted Zamindars to keep part of land for personal cultivation. But the

definition was vague. Zamindars misused this loophole to evict tenant farmers and keep

most of the land with themselves.

(Counter argument: Zamindar started capitalist farming in the area- led to increase in Agro-

productivity)

#3: New form of Zamindari

Main beneficiaries of zamindari abolition were the occupancy tenants or the upper tenants

or superior tenants- They had direct leases from the zamindar, and now they became virtual

landowners.

But now these new landowners leased the same land to inferior tenants/sharecroppers-

based on oral and unrecorded agreements.

These inferior tenants/sharecroppers could be evicted as per the whims and fancies of the

new landowner.

Thus, even after the abolition of Zamindari, the system of intermediaries and exploitation

continued.

#4: Not much for Ryotwari

At the time of freedom, less than 50% of cultivated land was under zamindari tenure. The

remaining areas (ryotwari/Mahalwari) did not have Zamindari system but they too had


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system of intermediaries i.e. big farmer/moneylender leasing land to small farmers- then

charging excessive rent and exploiting them.

The Zamindari abolition did not bring much relief to these people.

Overall

the Main objective of Zamindari abolition = there should be no intermediary/middleman

between the State and the land Revenue payer (farmer). But this objective was not achieved.

Therefore, many economists do not attach much significance to Zamindari abolition.

They opine Zamindari abolition merely changed the hierarchy of land revenue

administration, but did not bring any change in the method of farming nor in the nature of

agricultural units.

Anyways, enough of negative points, lets check some positive points:

Zamindari Abolition: Benefits/Positive points

1. ~1,700 lakh hectares of land was acquired from the intermediaries (zamindars) and as a

consequence, about two crore tenants were brought into direct relationship with the

government.

2. Many millions of cultivators who had previously been weak tenants or tenants-at-will were

became superior tenants= virtual owners. =DPSP Art. 39 fullfilled (right to adequate

means of livelihood for all citizens)3. Many absentee zamindars actually started direct personal cultivation (so the State cannot

take away their land). They had money to buy high yielding seeds, pesticides, fertilizers,

machineries=agro productivity increased.

4. The entire process occurred in a democratic framework

5.

virtually no coercion or violence was used (unlike the land reforms in China, Russia or

Cuba.)

6.

Finished in remarkably short period. Perhaps because Zamindars were isolated during and

after freedom struggle due to their soft corner for the British.

#1: Agro Production increased

BEFORE AFTER

Zamindar collected Revenue. Government directly collects land Revenue from farmer.

neither the zamindars, nor the

cultivators took interest in

improvememt of agriculture

Cultivators have got ownership rights and hence take keen

interest in land improvement and increase in agriculture

production.


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land reform after independence

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