question_answer 6)

Explain the need and type of land reforms implemented in the agriculture sector.

Answer:

There was a need for land reforms to bring about equity in agriculture through change in the ownership of landholdings. The following- points explain the need for land reforms (i) Land Tenure System At the time of independence, the land tenure system was characterised by intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars etc who just collected rent from the actual tillers of the soil and did not contribute towards improvements in productivity of the agricultural sector. This resulted in low agricultural productivity and exploitation of tillers of land. (ii) Size of Land Holdings The size of land holdings owned by the farmers was very small. These small holdings were also fragmented i.e., spread in different areas. This restricted the use of modern techniques which are suitable for large scale operations and resulted in higher average costs. (iii) Lack of Initiative The land was mostly owned by the landlords and hence, the farmers lacked initiative to invest in modern technology of cultivation. Land reforms were needed to abolish intermediaries and to make the tillers the owners of land so that ownership of land would give incentives to the tillers to invest in making improvements in farm productivity provided sufficient capital was made available to them. (iv) Traditional Methods Due to small size of holdings and land tenure system, Indian farmers used to rely on the conventional and traditional methods which resulted in low level of productivity of agricultural sector. Due to the above problems, various land reforms were undertaken. Types of land reforms comprise of the following (i) Abolishion of Intermediaries The main objective of land reforms was lo abolish intermediaries like zamindars etc. With the abolition of intermediaries around 200 lakh tenants came into direct contact with the government and were thus freed from exploitation by the zamindars the ownership of land gave tenants the incentive to increase output In agriculture. However, the goal of equally was not fully served by abolition of intermediaries as zamindars continued to own large areas of land due to loopholes in the legislation. They evicted the tenants and claimed to be the actual tillers, thereby claiming ownership of the land. (ii) Land Ceilings This means fixing the maximum size of land which could be owned by an individual. The purpose of land ceiling was to promote equity in agriculture and reduce the concentration of land ownership in a few hands. Through the land ceiling, legislation government was empowered to confiscate the excels land from landlords over and above the ceiling and distribute it to the landless farmers. The land ceiling legislation also faced hurdles The big landlords challenged the legislation in the courts, delaying its implementation and during this delay, they registered then lands in the name of close relatives, thereby escaping form the legislation. Land reforms were successful in Kerala and West Bengal because of the commitment of the governments of these states, but other states did not have the same level of commitment and hence, land reforms were not generally successful in them.