Land Reforms

Objectives of Land Reforms

• Abolition of the zamindari system: The most effective and vital reform was abolishing the zamindari system
• Land Consolidation: The goal was to bring together every little piece of land in one location so that the farm size could become large for agriculture. These reforms were also considered relatively successful
• Land Ceiling: Laws were enacted to set an upper limit, or ‘ceiling,’ on the amount of agricultural land that one person could own. However, people with excess land would evade the law, making this component much less successful
• Security to: Tenants employed by someone used to work on someone else’s land, and those people were given legal protection against eviction. However, this provision was rarely used

Concern Associated with Land Reforms:

• Since landowners were very powerful and wielded significant political power, many proposals for land reform were either not translated into laws or, if made into laws, remained only on paper
• It proves that economic policy is a crucial component of the actual political situation in society. It also shows that, despite the best intentions of some top leaders, the dominant social groups would always effectively control policy planning and execution
• Encountered with the food supply crisis, the country was vulnerable to external pressures and dependent on food aid, mainly from the United States
• In turn, the United States pushed India to change its economic policies. To improve food sufficiency, the government implemented a new agricultural strategy. It resulted in the start of the Green Revolution in India

Later Developments

• From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, India’s development took a significant turn
• Indira Gandhi decided to strengthen the state’s role in controlling and directing the economy
• Many new restrictions on private industry were imposed beginning in 1967. Fourteen private banks were nationalized. The government announced a chain of pro-poor initiatives. These changes were accompanied by a shift in ideology toward socialist policies
• Planning continued, but its importance was significantly reduced. The Indian economy grew at a sluggish annual rate of 3 to 3.5 percent between 1950 and 1980
• Because of widespread inefficiency and corruption in some public-sector enterprises and the bureaucracy’s negative role in economic development, the country’s public opinion had lost faith in many of these institutions. Because of this lack of public trust, policymakers reduced the importance of the state in India’s economy beginning in the 1980s

The Green Revolution:

The Green Revolution refers to an increase in food grain production due to various interventions such as high-yielding seeds, irrigation facilities, pesticide use, etc.

The New Strategy for Agriculture 

• Instead of providing more assistance to underserved areas and farmers, it was decided to focus more resources on areas that already had irrigation and farmers who were already well-off
• The government-subsidised high-yielding variety seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and improved irrigation
• The government also promised to buy the farmers’ produce at a set price
• The process primarily benefited wealthy peasants and large landholders

Impacts

• It resulted in only moderate agricultural growth (primarily an increase in wheat production) and increased food availability in the country
• It exacerbated class and regional polarisation
• Some agriculturally prosperous regions, such as Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, emerged, while others remained backward

• There was a visible difference between the poor peasantry and the landlords that created good conditions for the leftwing organisations to help settle the poor peasants
• The Green Revolution also increased the number of middle peasant sections
• These farmers with medium-sized holdings benefited from the changes and quickly rose to political prominence in many parts of the country

White Revolution:

• In 1970, Operation Flood, a rural development program, was launched
• It organised milk producer cooperatives into a nationwide milk grid to increase milk production, bringing producers and consumers closer together by eliminating intermediaries and ensuring consistent income throughout the year

• It was also more than just a dairy program. It saw dairying as a means of generating employment and income for rural households and eliminating poverty

• This model was inspired by Amul, a cooperative dairy movement in Gujarat comprising approximately 2.5 million milk producers in Gujarat. The Amul pattern was the best suitable model for rural development and eliminating poverty, and its success is known as the White Revolution

Conclusion

Land reform is a kind of agricultural reform that involves modifying land ownership laws, rules, or norms. Land reform may take the form of a government-initiated or government-supported property redistribution, most often of agricultural land.