Agrarian reforms In India after independence

1. AGRARIAN REFORMS IN INDIA AFTER
INDEPENDENCE
- The struggle

2. Agriculture at the time of Independence
◦ Indian agriculture during British rule went towards stagnation. Lack of supervision led to
negligence in reforms, which were introduced to ensure development in productivity.
Meanwhile, the British government continued in their trade deals, extracting more profit that
inevitably led to the fall of India's agricultural sector.
◦ At the time of Independence, India inherited a semi-feudal agrarian structure with onerous
tenure arrangements .
◦ The ownership and control of land was highly concentrated in a few landlords and
intermediaries.
◦ The agricultural land resource of India was gradually impoverished because economic
motivation tended towards exploitation rather than investment.

4. Causes for stagnation in the Indian agricultural
◦ Zamindari System - One of the primary reasons for the cause of stagnation in India's
agricultural sector was the zamindari system. This agricultural system was mainly practiced in
Bengal, which was the then capital of British India . As per this system, the majority of the profits
went to landowners, i.e. zamindars instead of cultivators. As a result, the colonial bosses
ultimately made the most income, while such farmers were not remunerated adequately . These
zamindars, who were vassals of their colonial masters, did not help to improve the agriculture
sector but only wanted to reap its benefits. Even though economic conditions were degrading
gradually, zamindars did not issue any rebates on tariffs..Moreover, such tariffs had unethical
rules and guidelines that did not favor cultivators. For example, if cultivators did not pay their
rent on time, the colonial leaders would repeal all of their rights.

5. ◦ Forced Commercialization - Even though there was a shortage of resources, the
British rule insisted on widespread commercialization to bring in more profits. Their objective
was to make this industry evolve and undergo 'cultivation for sale' from the orthodox
of "cultivation for self. That led to the production of crops only for sale. In India, where the
majority of cultivated crops were used for self consumption were then sent to markets for sale.
British also introduced the cultivation of commercial crops such as Indigo to enhance their
profits. Even though Indigo is a favorable crop for a commercialized agriculture sector, it
brought more harm to India as it damaged the fertility of soils in vast proportion.

6. ◦ Partition – India’s partition into Pakistan and Bangladesh brought in food crisis all over
India as several crop cultivating lands were now divided . Various rice producing agricultural
lands in Punjab , India then became a part of Pakistan .
◦ As a result of the partition, 84% of the net sown area came to India’s share while the remaining
16% went to Pakistan. Although Pakistan got slightly less than what her share of population
would demand, but she more than made up by way of better irrigation facilities.
• Even before Independence, India was deficit in
food-grains. This deficiency was now aggravated.
With 82% of the population, she produced only
68% and 65% of the total preparation yield of rice
and wheat crops respectively. On the other hand,
the areas, which went to form Pakistan were
normally surplus in food production to the extent of
about one million tons.
The partition was thus instrumental in causing a net
loss of 7-8 lakh tons in the annual supply of the
Indian union.

7. ABOLITION OF INTERMEDIARIES
◦ Intermediaries like Zamindars, Talukdars, Jagirs and Imams had dominated the agricultural
sector in India by the time the country attained independence. Soon after independence,
measures for the abolition of the Zamindari system were adopted in different states. The first
Act to abolish intermediaries was passed in Madras in 1948.As a result of the abolition of
intermediaries, about 2 crore tenants are estimated to have come into direct contact with the
State making them owners of land. The abolition of intermediaries has led to the end of a
parasite class. More lands have been brought to government possession for distribution to
landless farmers.
MIDDLEMEN
Major Reforms
ABOLITION OF INTERMEDIARIES

8. Security of Tenure
◦ To protect tenants from eviction and to grant them permanent rights on lands, laws have
been enacted in most of the states. They have three essential features.
◦ (a) Tenants cannot be evicted without any reason. They can be evicted only in accordance
with the laws.
◦ (b) Land can be resumed by the landlord only on the ground of personal cultivation. But
the landlord can resume the land only up to a maximum limit.
◦ (c) The landlord should leave some area to the tenant for his own cultivation. The tenant in
no case should be made landless.

9. Regulation of Rent
◦ In Pre-Independent India rents were high for obvious reasons. Fifty per cent of the
total produce was paid as rent. In addition to such high rent, the tenant had to
provide certain free services to landlords.
◦ So at the beginning of the First Plan, the Central Government insisted on the
regulation of high rent by State Governments.
◦ It was laid down that the rent to be paid to the landlord should not be more than 20
to 25 per cent. The main objective of such Acts was to make the rent fair and
reasonable.

10. Right of Ownership
◦ Under the 1949 Indian constitution, states were granted the powers to enact (and
implement) land reforms. This autonomy ensures that there has been significant
variation across states and time in terms of the number and types of land reforms that
have been enacted .
◦ So far as right of ownership is concerned, tenants have been declared as the owners
of the land they cultivate. They have to pay compensation to the owners. The amount
of compensation should not exceed the level of fair rent.
◦ As a result of these measures about 40 lakh tenants have already acquired ownership
rights over 37 lakh hectares of land. They have become better-off economically and
socially .

11. Ceiling on Land Holding
◦ Ceiling on land holdings implies the fixing of the maximum amount of land that an
individual or family can possess.
◦ Economic Rationality of Land Ceiling: According to some economists small farms are
more efficient than large farms. They require less capital compared to the large farms.
◦ Social Rationality of Land Ceiling: In a poor country like India the supply of land is
limited and number of claimants is large. Hence it is socially unjust to allow small
number of people to hold large part of land.
◦ The land ceiling acts define the size of land that an individual/family can own. In India,
by 1961-62, all the state governments have passed the land ceiling acts. But the
ceiling limits varied from state to state. To bring uniformity across states, a new land
ceiling policy was evolved in 1971. In 1972, national guidelines were issued with
ceiling limits as 10-18 acres for best land, 18-27 acres for second class land and for
the rest with 27-54 acres with a slightly higher limit in the hill and desert areas

12. Impact of Land Reforms
◦ The general assessment on land reforms in the Indian context s rather negative. For example,
the report of the Task Force on Agrarian Relations of the Planning Commission of India (1973)
had the following overall assessment of land reforms in India: “The programs of land reforms
adopted since Independence have failed to bring about the required changes in the agrarian
structure.
◦ Abolition of intermediaries is generally agreed to be one component of land reforms that has
been relatively successful. The record in terms of the other components is mixed and varies
across states and over time. Landowners resisted the implementation of these reforms by
directly using their political clout and also by using various methods of evasion and coercion,
which included registering their own land under names of different relatives to bypass the
ceiling, shuffling tenants around different plots of land so that they would not acquire
incumbency rights as stipulated in the tenancy law.

13. National Land Reform policy 2003
• In July 2003 , the ministry of rural development put forth the new National Land
Reform policy , which had major 5 goals
• Distribute land to all rural landless poor
• Restore land unjustly taken from vulnerable communities such as the Dalits
(untouchables) and Tribal
• Protect the land of the Dalits and Tribal including the Commons that they depend on
going forward
• Liberalize leasing laws
• Improve land rights of women

14. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE SCHEME
◦ Keeping in view the demands of States for improving scope and contents of CCIS, a broad-
based National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) was introduced in the country with the
following objectives
◦ A) To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of
any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests and diseases.
◦ B) To encourage the farmers to adopt progressive farming practices, high value inputs and
higher technology in Agriculture.
◦ C) To help stabilize farm incomes, particularly in disaster years.

15. • The scheme is currently implemented in 24 states across the country operating on “Area
approach “ basis .
Scope of the scheme
• All farmers including share croppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in notified
areas are eligible for coverage under the scheme. However, it is compulsory for farmers
availing crop loans from financial institutions .
Farmers covered
• The scheme provides comprehensive risk insurance against yield losses due to natural fire
and lightning, storm, hail storm, cyclone, phoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado flood,
inundation and landslide, drought, dry spells, and pests diseases etc. However babu rao said
“bilkul riks nai lene ka “ , Losses arising out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and
other preventable risks shall be excluded.
Risks covered

16. CASE STUDY 1 (Green Revolution)
◦ In 1965, the government with the help of Indian geneticists M.S. Swaminathan, known
as the father of Green Revolution, launched the Green Revolution
◦ This new 'agricultural strategy' was put into practice for the first time in India in the
kharif season of 1966 and was termed High-Yielding Varieties Programme
(HYVP). This programme was introduced in the form of a package since it depended
crucially on regular and adequate irrigation, fertilizers, High-Yielding Varieties of
seeds, pesticides and insecticides.
◦ Green Revolution helped the country to become self sufficient in terms of food grains

17. Positive Impact of Green Revolution
• Increase in Agricultural Production: Food grains in India saw a great rise in output. It was a
remarkable increase. The biggest beneficiary of the plan was the Wheat Grain. The production of wheat
increased to 55 million tones in 1990 from just 11 million tones in 1960.
• Increase in per Acre Yield: Not only did the Green Revolution increase the total agricultural output, it
also increased the per hectare yield. In case of wheat, the per hectare yield increased from 850
kg/hectare to an incredible 2281 kg/hectare by 1990.
• Less Dependence on Imports: After the green revolution, India was finally on its way to self-
sufficiency. There was now enough production for the population and to build a stock in case of
emergencies. We did not need to import grains or depend on other countries for our food supply. In
fact, India was able to start exporting its agricultural produce.
• Employment: It was feared that commercial farming would leave a lot of the labor force jobless. But
on the other hand, we saw a rise in rural employment. This is because the supporting industries created
employment opportunities. Irrigation, transportation, food processing, marketing all created new jobs
for the workforce.
• A Benefit to the Farmers: The Green Revolution majorly benefited the farmers. Their income saw a
significant raise. Not only were they surviving, they were prospering. It enabled them to shift to
commercial farming from only sustenance farming.

18. ◦ Environmental damage
◦ Excessive and inappropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides polluted waterways and killed beneficial
and wild life. It has caused over use of soil and rapidly depleted its nutrients. The rampant irrigation
practices led to eventual soil degradation . Groundwater practices have fallen dramatically. Further, heavy
dependence on few major crops has led to loss of biodiversity of farmers. These problems were
due to absence of training to use modern technology and vast illiteracy leading to excessive use of
chemicals.
◦ Increased regional disparities
◦ The green revolution spread only in irrigated and high-potential rainfed areas. The villages or regions
without the access of sufficient water were left out that widened the regional disparities between
and non-adopters. Since, the HYV seeds technically can be applied only in a land with assured water
and availability of other inputs like chemicals, fertilizers etc. The application of the new technology in the
dry-land areas is simply ruled out.
◦ The states like Punjab, Haryana, Western UP etc. having good irrigation and other infrastructure facilities
were able to derive the benefits of the green revolution and achieve faster economic development while
other states have recorded slow growth in agriculture production
Negative impact of Green Revolution

19. Case Study 2 (Food corporation of India )
◦ The Food Corporation of India was setup under the Food Corporation Act 1964, in order
to fulfill following objectives of the Food Policy :
• Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers.
• Distribution of food grains throughout the country for public distribution system
• Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure
National Food Security
◦ In its 50 years of service to the nation, FCI has played a significant role in India's success
in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security
system. FCI's Objectives are:
• To provide farmers remunerative prices
• To make food grains available at reasonable prices, particularly to vulnerable section of the
society .
• To maintain buffer stocks as measure of Food Security
• To intervene in market for price stabilization

20. ◦ The FCI is one of the largest corporations in India and probably the largest supply chain
management in Asia (Second in world ). It operates through five Zonal offices and 24 Regional
offices. Each year, the Food Corporation of India purchases roughly 15 to 20 per cent of India's
wheat output and 12 to 15 per cent of its rice output. The purchases are made from the farmers at
the rates declared by the Govt. of India. This rate is called as MSP (Minimum Support Price). There
is no limit for procurement in terms of volume, any quantity can be procured by the FCI provided
the stock satisfies FAQ (Fair Average Quality) specifications with respect to the FCI.
◦ The FCI procures rice and wheat from farmers through many routes like paddy purchase
centres/mill levy/custom milling and stores them in depots. FCI maintains many types of depots
like food storage depots and buffer storage complexes and private equity godowns and also
implemented latest storage methods of silo storage facilities which are located at Hapur in Uttar
Pradesh and Elavur in Tamil Nadu.
The Economic Times : The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has moved a record 3.74
million tonnes (MT) food grains stocks using 1,335 train loads from the surplus states
during the lockdown period at an average of 1.7 lakh tonnes per day. This is more than
double its normal average movement of about 0.8 lakh tonnes per day.