Land Reforms in India - Class VIII

Land reforms aimed to improve agricultural efficiency by consolidating holdings and to promote social justice by redistributing land to the actual tillers and the landless.

The Ryotwari system, which established a direct relationship between the government and the cultivator, was introduced in the Madras Presidency by Thomas Munro.

SCOPE OF LAND REFORM

• Land reforms can encompass laws & regulations concerned with the following areas:
• Tenancy reforms (like security of tenure, rent regulation)
• Intermediaries removal
• Agrarian reorganization (like consolidation of existing land & prevent fragmentation
• Land ceiling
• Cooperative farms

Land reforms were introduced in India to prevent exploitation of the tenants and to hand over the land to the tillers.

The Permanent Settlement was one of the most famous measures of Lord Cornwallis. It was agreed that the landlords would have perpetual and hereditary rights over the land, so long as they pay the fixed revenue to the British Government.

All options A, B, and C were actual measures under tenancy reforms: rent regulation, security of tenure, and ownership rights to tenants. Since "none of the above" would imply these weren't measures, and they all were, this is a problematic question. However, if interpreted as "which is NOT excluded from reforms", then D is the answer.

OBJECTIVE OF LAND REFORMS

• To remove rural poverty
• Propagating socialist development to reduce social inequality
• Empowerment of women in the traditionally male driven society
• To increase productivity of agriculture
• To see that everyone can have a right on a piece of land
• Protection of tribals by not allowing outsiders to take their land.

Ceiling laws were passed in most of the states. North-eastern states did not pass the Ceiling laws.

The primary model of discussion was the United Provinces Zamindari Abolition Committee report was submitted in 1948.

The first Act meant for abolishing zamindari system was passed in 1950 in Bihar.

1. Except in Jammu & Kashmir state, land has been taken from the zamindars and they have been paid compensation.
   

As a result of abolition of zamindars more than 20 million farmers have come into direct contact with the government.

The Kisan Sabha movement perticulary in UP and Bihar popularized the demand for zamindari abolition.

First the Act for abolishing zamindari system was passed in Bihar and it was followed by Uttar Pradesh in 1952 and subsequently all states, where this system existed, passes legislative measures to abolish it.

In the states of UP, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Bombay the respective state government enacted legislative measures to abolish landed intermediaries.

Those cultivators who wanted to acquire ownership rights on the land were called upon to pay to the government a given multiple of the rent that they used to pay to the zamindar. In Uttar Pradesh, it was fixed at ten times the annual rent. In this way, landless labourers have become Bhumidhars.

The Krishak Praja Party in Bengal directed its programme against the zamindars in Bengal.

The Hyderabad Tenancy and Agriculture Land Act enacted in 1950 with its subsequent amendments resulted in the Conferment of Protection to nearly 6 lakh tenants with over 75 lakh acres in their possession.

A.P. Abolition of Inams Act was introduced in 1955. This Act was mainly for Telangana Area.

A.P. ( Andhra Area) Estate ( Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act was introduced in 1948. The main purpose of the Act is to abolition of intermediaries and bringing the tenant into direct contact with the State under the ryotwari tenure.

The Andhra Pradesh Tenency Act, 1956 sought to give protection to certain categories of tenants in the Andhra Region from unjust evictions.

The share agriculture in employment in the state declined from about per cent in 1961 to about 59 percent by 2001.

Estate Land Act of 1908, provide the right of occupancy in land to the ryot and for settlement of fair and equitable rent.

The land ceiling which came into effect i June 1961 allowed a family to retain 180 to 360 acres wet land and 1080 to 2160 acres of dry land.

The most important step in the field of Land Reforms taken in the state was to impose a ceiling on agricultural land holdings. The A.P. Land Reforms Act 1973, enacted for this purpose can be said to be culmination of land reforms in the state.

The cultivatable land in 1990-91 was 1 crore 44 lakh and 60 thousand hectors.

A.P. Inams Act was introduced in 1956. This Act was mainly for Andhra area. The Purpose of this Act was to abolition and conversion into ryotwari.

Andhra Pradesh had 448 Zamindars.

The Bhoodan Movement of Land Gift Movement was a voluntary land reforms movement in India. Which was started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951.

Objectives of Land Reforms:

• Satisfy rural proletarian for ownership of land.
• Abolish lease system.
• Self-employment on land.
• Mental and political empowerment leads to social development.

The provision for transfer of ownership to tenants was called suo motu action.

The state of implementation of land reforms has been examined in the report submitted by Shri Ameer Raza, Joint Secretary Planning Commisiion in February 1965.

Unified tenancy laws were part of the post-independence land reform efforts in India, with significant legislative activity occurring around 1960 in various states.

In Andhra Pradesh there were two types of leases:

• With Jirayati rights (inheritance)
• With no rights

The state of implementation of land reforms has been examined in the report submitted by Shri Ameer Raza, Joint Secretary Planning Commisiion in February 1965.

In 1856 the Rent Recovery Act was passed against zamindars and other dues by British government. This Act is still in use by Government of India.

The Implementation Committee reviewed matters relating to land reforms in Andhra Pradesh on July 21, 1966.

Vinoba Bhave wanted peasants to give up using bullocks or tractore or other machines for agriculture purpose. This was called 'Rishi-Kheti'.

Vinoba Bhave was directely influenced by the Sarvodaya Movement of Gandhi of whose he was the spiritual heir.

The Government of various provinces, passed Bhoodan Act which generally stipulated that the beneficiary had no right to sell the land or use it for a non-agricultural purpose- including forestry.

Under Bhoodan movement Vinoba Bhave walked across India on foot. He wanted everybody to give up using money, this was called 'Kanchan-dan'.

Bhoodan Movement was started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village in telangana. Which is now known as Bhoodan Pochampally.

Under Section 25 of Maharashtra State Bhoodan Act, the beneficiary should use the land for agriculture cultivation to secure his own and family's daily bread. If he/she fails to cultivate the land for over a year or tries to use it for some other non-agriculture activities, the government has the right to confiscate it.

By 1960s the movement had lost its flame despite its considerable initial promise.

Bhoodan Act was started in India by Vinoba Bhave in 1951. Vinoba Bhave walked across India on foot, to persuade landlords to give up a piece of their land.

The movement though independent of government had the support of Congress. JP Narayan withdrew from active politics to join Bhoodan movement in 1953.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave started the Bhoodan Movement as a voluntary land reform movement in India in 1951.

Raja Bahadur Giriwar narayan Singh, Raja of Ranka donated highest acre of land to the village in Palamau area on 19 November 1969.

The Bhoodan-Gramdan movement started by Vinoba Bhave are known as Blood-Less revolution.

In 1967, after the withdrawal of Vinoba Bhave from the movement, it lost its mass base. In the later period, landlords had mostly donated land under dispute or unfit for cultivation.

Raja Bahadur Giriwar Narayan Singh, Raja of Ranka donated 111,101 aces of land to the Vinoba Bhave Bhoodan initiative which became the highest acreage of land given by an landlord or estate-owner in India.

After the successful start of Bhoodan movement, it gave way to the Gramdan movement which began in 1952. the objective of the Gramdan movement was to persuade landlords and leaseholders in each village to renounce their land rights and all the land would become the property of a village association for egalitarian redistribution and joint cultivation.

Burrakatha is an oral storytelling technique in the Katha tradition.

The Bhoodan movement made a significant contribution by creating moral ambience, putting pressure on landlords, created conditions favourable to landless.

Vedire ramachandra Reddy got his title " Bhoodan" as he was the first donor and initiator of the great land donation movement in early 1950s in Telangana at a village called Pochampally in the Nalgonda district of Telangana.

The first village to come under gramdan was Mangroth in Hamirpur District of U.P. It took more than three years to get another village in gift. the second and third gramdans took place in Orssa and the movement started spreading with emphasis on securing village in gift. 

Under the Permanent Settlement, 1793, the Zamindars were required to issue Pattas to farmers which were not issued by many of the Zamindars because there was no official check upon the Zamindars.

The Bhoodan (Land Gift) Movement was a voluntary land reform movement started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 to encourage wealthy landowners to donate land to the landless.

One of the biggest challenges of independent India has been to bring millions of its people out of abject poverty. Mahatama Gandhi always insisted that India would be truly independent only when the poorest of its people become free of human suffering.

The Bhoodan Movement or Land Gift Movement, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village in Telangana which is now known as Bhoodan Pochampally.

Left Front used the Slogan of "Land the Tiller" in the West Bengal Assembly Elections in 1977.

G. B. Pant (Govind Ballabh Pant) served as the chairman of the United Provinces Zamindari Abolition Committee, which laid the groundwork for land reform legislation.

Bhoodan or Land Gift movement began with Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 in present-day Telangana. The movement attempted to bring about a “non-violent revolution” in India’s land reforms programme. Over a period of twenty years, Vinoba walked through the length & breadth of India persuading land-owners & land-lords to give their poor & downtrodden neighbours a total of four million acres of land.

The mission of the Bhoodan movement was to persuade wealthy landlords to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to the landless people.

In 1950, the government set up a Planning Commission to help design and execute suitable policies for economic development.

The  colonial policies  of British Government moved unemployed artisans into farming, and transformed India into a region increasingly abundant in land, unskilled labour, and low productivity, this consequently made India scarce in skilled labour, capital and knowledge . Additionally, these policies weakened the ability of poorer peasants to command land and credit. The resulting rising landlessness and stagnant real wages intensified poverty. When India gained independence, 55% of the population was very poor.