Page 211 - SST Class 07

4 4 4

State Government —

Its Functioning

Land problems in India continue to attract equal (a) Role of government in solving the problems.
attention from policy-makers and academics. The (b) Factors involved in distribution of services.
renewed interest in land issues stems from the (c) Access of certain localities or communities
perceived impact of liberalisation and opening to the resources.
up the economy. Tenancy, land ceiling and land
administration are being revisited with a new
perspective. Among the issues under renewed
focus, legalising tenancy, revising the ceiling
limits, quality of land, meeting the challenge of
miniscule holdings that are a consequence of
marginalisation and land administration are
dominating the debate. This paper looks at these
issues. It sets a background to the emergence of
land policy in India from pre-Independence and
after tracing it through various phases, maps out
the impacts and emerging challenges. After an
analysis of the development of land policy over
various planning periods, the issues at stake Zamindari abolition was the first attempt at
during the 1990s, are reviewed. Finally, a case is agrarian transformation by the States in India.
made for a new land-policy framework that The State governments of UP, Madhya Pradesh,
includes reforms to the maintenance of land Bihar, Chennai and Assam were some of the first
records, deals with concealed tenancy and non- States to implement land tenure legislations for
viable land holdings and the problem of land abolition of Zamindari.
quality. These issues have assumed greater Land Reforms may be divided into two phases :
importance in the current economic transition in (a) Institutional Reforms
rural areas.
(b) Green Revolution
In this section, we shall take the case study on
The first phase of land reform after independ-
land reform in India. India has witnessed an
ence aimed at abolition of intermediaries like
enormous agrarian change after independence.
Zamindars and Jaghirdars. It gave ownership of
The agrarian reform has affected politics. Old
land to tenants, reduction in rents and confer-
classes have disappeared and new classes have
ment of ownership rights on tenants. The govern-
emerged.
ment also introduced ceiling on land-holdings as
Over here, we may take the case of Zamindari part of the reforms. The factors involved in this
Abolition to assess the following attributes : phase were community development programs

Social Science-7 211