UPSC Preparation: Land Reforms in India

The topic of Land Reforms forms a part of the syllabus of the General Studies - III Paper of Civil Services Examination Preparation and it is necessary to understand the basic outline of land reforms in India before one delves deeper into the details. 

During the period of Indian Independence, the ownership of land was held by a group of few powerful individuals (Zamindari system). This gave rise to the exploitation of farmers and resulted in the massive exploitation of the rural population hindering their socio-economic progress. Therefore, it was imperative for the Government of Independent India to focus on equal land distribution and the land reforms were looked upon as the sole solution to the problem of unequal distribution of land. This move was essential as it would lead the way for a prosperous and healthy nation-state of India.

The most succesful implementation of land reforms happened in the states of Kerala and West Bengal. Another initiative which was aimed at transforming the ownership of land was the Bhoodan Movement (Land Gift Movement) started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951. The goal of the Bhoodan Movement was to convince wealthy land owners to give a percentage of their land to the landless people which they could utilise to support their livelihood but not sell it. 

Land reforms could be broadly classified into four major categories which are as follows:

1) Intermediaries were abolished 2) Regulation of tenancy 3) Disparate landholdings had to be consolidated 4) Implementation of ceiling on landholdings 

The Department of Land Resources which is under the Ministry of Rural Development acts as the nodal agency for issues concerning land reforms. The themes of land reforms include updation of land records, distributing ceiling surplus land and computerising land records.

Every state has its own system of managing its land records and it could also vary within a state in accordance with its evolution throughout history and its regional practices. A number of departments play an important role in the management of land records in most states and an individual has to approach 3 to 4 agencies in order to obtain the completion of land records. The major agencies constitute the Revenue Department, the Registration Department, the Survey & Settlement Department, the Panchayats and the municipal authorities. The Revenue Department deals with textual records and mutations, the Registration Department looks into issues concerning the verification of encumbrances and registration of mortgage and transfer, the Survey & Settlement Department works on the maps, the Panchayats and the municipal authoritiesdeal with the matters concerning waste of time, harassment and exposure to rent seeking.

The Centrally-sponsored schemes of Computerization of Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration & Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) were merged in 2008 and the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) was formulated to replace them. 

Though land reforms have been successful in few cases, it met limited success in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar owing to the presence of Naxalites who chose the path of violence as they failed to attain power and other similar issues which lead to massacres.The loopholes in the law of the country concerning landholdings had also contributed to certain problems in the implementation process of land reforms across India. 

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