Context: The economic survey has highlighted various challenges in India’s land reform process, in this context let us understand the various issues around land reforms and ways to address those issues.
Land reforms in India:
- Land reform refers to an institutional measure directed towards altering the existing pattern of ownership, tenancy, leasing, and management of land.
- The 4 Components of land reforms are (1) the abolition of intermediaries; (2) tenancy reforms; (3) fixing ceilings on land holdings; and (4) consolidation of landholdings.
- Abolition of Intermediaries involved abolition of zamindari and other intermediaries and bringing the cultivators in direct contact with the Government.
- The abolition of intermediaries also involved compensation to the owners of land. Benefits: This aspect of land reforms was relatively successful in comparison to tenancy reforms and land ceiling laws.
- About 2 crore tenants came into direct contact with the State.
- More lands came under the Government's control for distribution to landless farmers.
Tenancy reforms: focused on 3 main aspects:
- Security of tenure for the tenants
- Regulation of Rent
- grant of ownership rights to certain types of tenants.
Reorganization of agriculture: This involved (a) imposition of ceiling on land holdings that an individual or family can possess (b) acquisition of surplus land and its distribution among the small farmers and landless workers (c) Consolidation of land holdings.
Imposition of ceiling on land holdings:
- Economic Rationale: According to some economists, small farms are more efficient than large farms since they require less capital. Further, small farms provide more employment opportunities.
- Social Rationale: Promote justice, equality, and prosperity of poor and vulnerable sections. Unit of application: In the first phase, that is, prior to 1972, the basis of ceiling fixation was an individual as a unit instead of a family. Since 1972, a family has been accepted as the unit of application of ceilings. The family is defined as a unit consisting of husband, wife, and children. Upper limit for land holding: wide variations in the ceilings on land holdings. Exemptions: Certain types of land were exempted from ceiling laws such as land under personal cultivation, plantations etc.
Consolidation of land holdings: Consolidation of Holdings means bringing together the various small plots of land of a farmer scattered all over the village as one compact block, either through purchase or exchange of land with others.
| Advantages | Problems and Challenges |
|---|---|
| Prevents fragmentation of land holdings | Farmers are attached to their ancestral land and do not want to part with it or exchange for other land. |
| Reduces disguised unemployment. | Fear among the farmers that they may not want equally better quality of land in exchange. |
| Promotes higher economies of scale with respect to access to inputs, higher productivity, and access to markets. | Opposition by rich landlords due to the fear of losing control over the fertile large lands. |
| Improves the efficiency of farms through better adoption of technology and mechanization. | - |
Impact of land reforms on small & marginal farmers:
- Indian agriculture is dominated by small and marginal farmers (86%) accounting for 48% of agricultural land. These farmers are caught in vicious trap due to fragmented landholdings.
- Successful Land Reforms in states such as Kerala and West Bengal (Operation Barga) have improved socioeconomic condition of marginal and small farmers.
- Abolition of intermediaries has addressed historical injustices and move towards egalitarian society. Land Ceiling Acts and movements such as Bhoodan and Gramdan have promoted equity in land ownership.
- Tenancy reforms in states such as TN, AP, WB etc. have enabled marginal farmers to lease in/out land leading to consolidation of land holdings, higher occupational mobility, and enhanced agricultural productivity.
- Promotion of Cooperative farming through Kudumbashree (Kerala) and Andhra Pradesh Mahila Samatha Society have enabled farmers to reap benefits of higher economies of scale.
- Land Records Modernization Programme has reduced litigations and facilitated access to institutional credit.
- Land Reforms in other parts of India have not been very successful on account of Benami Transactions, loopholes in Land ceiling acts, slow progress in Digitisation of land records etc. Hence, going forward, India should focus on Land Reforms 2.0 through transfer of surplus government land, legalising land Leasing, organising farmers into FPOs etc.
Reasons for lack of success of land reforms (committee on state agrarian relations and the unfinished task in land reforms):
- Delay in enacting land laws gave enough time to the landowners to escape the provision on land ceilings through benami transactions and illegal transfer of land to others.
- Loopholes in Legal framework: Zamindars were allowed to keep the land under personal cultivation without any limit. However, the term "Personal cultivation" was loosely defined. It enabled even those people who supervised the land personally or through a relative to call themselves as cultivator.
- The land ceiling acts of the state governments provided number of exemptions on the ceiling such as Plantations and thus enabled the landowners to hold on to the land. Absence of modernised land records made it difficult for the Government to implement reforms related to land ceiling acts and distribution of surplus land among the landless people.
- Optional nature of laws: Most of the laws granting ownership rights to tenants are not mandatory. They are rather optional. The tenants have to move the government for grant of ownership rights.
- Lack of social consciousness among the tenants: The small cultivators and the landless were not only unorganized but also ignorant of legal and constitutional process.
- Unclear titles, insecurity of tenure, and limited access to economically viable land as barriers to multiple development goals.
- Increased Litigations: Faults and defects in laws related to land reforms has resulted in growing number of litigations which has dampen the spirit of reforms Lack of Political will: Land reforms have been successful in only some of the states such as Kerala and West Bengal (Operation Barga) due to strong political will and enthusiasm. Corruption & Bureaucratic apathy due to close nexus between lower-level officials and Zamindars.
Poor land record management in india:
- Land titles are presumptive: Registration of land refers to the registration of the transaction, and not the land title. Such registration does not guarantee the title by the government. Registration of property is not mandatory for all transactions: Under the Registration Act, 1908, registration of property is not mandatory for all transactions. This often leads to litigation related to rightful owner among heirs.
- Poor maintenance of land records: Historically, land registration, and the maintenance of records has been done manually. Documents are usually kept with the Revenue Department and are not easily accessible to the public. This makes it difficult and cumbersome to access land related data when trying to engage in a property sale.
- Multiple entities deal with land registration and records: In the presence of multiple agencies responsible for registration and maintenance of records, it is difficult to ensure that survey maps, textual data, and registration records match with each other and are updated. In addition, citizens have to approach several agencies to get complete information on land records.
Reforms undertaken to improve land records:
- Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme: Seeks to achieve complete computerization of the property registration process and digitization of all land records.
- Proposal of Conclusive Titling: In a conclusive titling system, the government provides guaranteed titles, and compensation in case of any ownership disputes. Achieving this will require shifting to a system of registered property titles (as opposed to sale deeds) as the primary evidence of ownership and having clear and updated land records. However, adopting a conclusive system of titling will require undertaking several measures.
- All existing land records will have to be updated to ensure that they are free of any encumbrances. Information on land records, which is currently spread across multiple departments, will have to be consolidated. Further, several changes in existing laws that govern registration and transfer of land, and institutional changes in maintenance of land records will also have to be.
Land pooling system (LPS)-benefits and challenges:
- Land Pooling is a form of land procurement where all land parcels in an area are pooled, converted into a layout, infrastructure developed, and a share of the land, in proportion to original ownership, returned as reconstituted parcels. The LPS is currently employed in India for the implementation of master plans of various cities, such as Amaravati city in Andhra Pradesh (AP), Delhi, Dholera smart city in Gujarat, and Magarpatta township in Pune city.
Benefits of Land Pooling
- Better alternative to Land Acquisition
- More democratic
- Owners need not part with the land
- Lower time and Cost for land Acquisition
- No additional burden on the Government
- Benefits to the landowners:
- More Voluntary, Inclusive, and humane in comparison to land acquisition wherein people become equal partners in development. (Participatory development).
- Increase In Value of land: change in the land use plan and improvement in the public infrastructure benefits the landowners in terms of higher land prices.
- Non-Displacing Strategy as landowners do not get displaced.
- Access to better infrastructure upon completion of project
- Benefits to the Government: No upfront costs as the Government need not pay compensation.
- Relatively less Conflict-Ridden Process
- Higher tax base with increase in property prices
Challenges in land Pooling
- Limited adoption by the state:
- Only few states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab etc. have adopted the land pooling model. Problems with the current legal framework as it does not provide for discrepancies between plans for an area and its eventual development.
- Limited applicability: Most appropriate in urban/urban fringes with rising property prices.
- Difficult to implement in areas/projects where land prices are not expected to appreciate much especially in distant rural contexts.
- Transparency and accountability:
- Lack of adequate information in public domain about the project, current and future status/values of their property, period for return of reconstituted plots, risks involved, net benefits for a landowner etc.
- Absence of Grievance Redressal mechanism ● Absence of institutional framework to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the pooling/development schemes.
- Equity and Justice: Even though the Land Pooling model is projected to be voluntary, land is often acquired forcibly. For example, in case of Amravati, land was acquired through coercion under the threat of land acquisition. No compensation for the disruption of the livelihood during the project Implementation Issues: Lack of contiguous land parcels for development (Ex: Delhi Land Pooling Policy).