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Land Reforms:
ü Before
the independence ownership and control of land was concentrated in few
landlords and intermediaries.(Semi feudal)
ü They
used to extract maximum rentals from tenants
ü Why
smaller holdings of land?
ü This
is because of tenants subletting to working cultivators
ü Rents
were very high and no surplus to invest further for improvement
ü No
resources and knowledge to improve further
ü The
economic motivation was exploitation rather than the improvement
ü Pressure
on land increased. How?
ü Land
occupancy rights became in-secured
ü It
was subsistence
ü Over
a period of time cultivators started working as hired labourers competing with
the poor landless workers
ü Hence
there was an imbalance at the time of independence
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What was the objective immediately after independence?
Land reforms and abolition of intermediaries was an
essential pre requisite for
1. increasing
agriculture production
2. establishing
egalitarian society
Problems:
ü Scarcity
and unequal distribution of land
ü Larger
number of people BPL
Hence top priority is given to land reforms
Adoption and implementation of Land and tenancy reforms
is a state subject. Hence there is a variation in the implementation.
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Objectives of land reforms:
1. To
remove impediments (hurdles)
2. To
eliminate all forms of exploitation
3. To
eliminate social injustice
4. To
provide security to the tiller
5. Equal
status and opportunity to all sections of rural population
6. Abolition
of intermediaries (rent collectors)
7. Regulation
of rent
8. Security
of tenure
9. Conferment
of ownership rights on tenants
10. Ceiling
on land and redistribution of land and consolidation of holdings
Note: Among all these abolition of
intermediaries was a success
ü Land
owners resisted reforms. Why?
ü To
evade ceiling they transferred land in different names
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Think: The land reforms in India have failed
to make any considerable impact on the socio-economic conditions of the working
cultivators
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What to be done?
1. There
should be a uniform legislation in the country
2. Impose
agriculture income tax and agriculture land holding tax
3. Agriculture
land holding tax acts as deterrent against large land holdings in future
4. Mobilise
the resources for creating jobs for the unemployed in the creation of social
and physical infrastructure of agriculture development
5. Encourage
the efficiency of farmers who insist on retaining their large holdings
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Miscellaneous:
1. The
reforms were successful in West Bengal (operation Barga) and Kerala
2. Note:
Bargadars ---Sharecroppers
3. From
1977-2011 the CPI (M) was in power
4. Operation
Barga led to enumeration of landless farmers and equitable distribution of land
among them. It was a lifelong loyalty to them
5. Land
ceiling varied from state to state. West Bengal 24.7 acres, Kerala 5 standard
acres
6. Standard
acre means 43, 560 square feet
7. Kerala
got first popularly elected communist party government in the country
8. The
popular slogan for radical socialist was
‘The land for tillers’
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Zamindari System:
ü
In
1765, the revenue administration was taken up by English East India Company.
ü
From
1772 to 1793, the entire administration of Bengal was under the control of East
India Company and at this point of time a new kind of economic system was
introduced called `Annual Bidding System`.
ü
The
agreement was, the whole revenue has to be paid after winning the bid. This
system led to administrative confusion as the collector of taxes changes
regularly.
ü
The
person involved in collecting taxes involved in grabbing huge amounts from the
lands. A huge corruption was involved.
ü
To
overcome the problems involved in `Annual Bidding System`, a new system called
`Zamindari System` was introduced.
ü
It
was also called as `Permanent Settlement System`. It was introduced by
Cornwallis.
ü Zamindars
were given the rights to collect the rent from the peasants.
ü The
realized amount would be divided into 11 parts.
ü 1/11
of the share belongs to Zamindars and 10/11 of the share belongs to East India
Company.
ü The
amount to be paid to the company was called as `Peshwash`.
ü
Amount
of money to be collected can be decided by the Zamindars
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Ryotwari system:
ü Ryotwari
system was introduced by Thomas Munro in 1820
ü
In Ryotwari System the ownership rights were
handed over to the peasants.
ü
British Government would collect taxes directly
from the peasants.
ü
It was introduced in Bombay, Madras and parts of
Assam
ü The
revenue rates: 50 percent where the lands were dry and 60 percent in irrigated
land. Apart from this never any remissions were given to the peasants even
during the famines.
ü
Even today also rural indebtedness was very high
where there this system was introduced
Mahalwari
System:
ü
It was introduced 1833during the period of
Warren Hastings
ü
NWFP, Agra, Punjab, Gangetic valley
ü
It got the provisions of both ZS and RS
ü In this system, the land was
divided into estates.
ü The estates were called as Mahal.
Each Mahal comprises a village or villages.
ü The assessment was done for the
entire Mahal and fixed revenue was collected.
ü The villages committee was held
responsible for collection of the taxes.
ü Ownership rights were vested with
the peasants.
ü Moneylender’s involvement was a
demerit.
ü They were ruthless towards the
peasants. The British use to collect high revenues.
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