Land Reforms in India (Volume 5)

Ever since India attained independence in 1947, land reforms have been advocated and implemented as a major instrument of state-mediated and progressive socio-economic change. There has, however, been no unanimity on either the form or the contents of these reforms. The debate on the issue has become more diverse and complex in recent years as a result of the twin processes of ‘liberalization’ and ‘globalization’. Whereas the focus earlier was on finding the best strategy to provide land to the tiller while maximizing agrarian production, in the current decade the very utility of land reforms has come to be questioned. Voices have been heard arguing that land reforms, instead of being a force for progress, have become institutional impediments to growth. To the contrary, there are also the apprehensions of de-peasantization’ and mass rural-urban migration, bereft of the protective safety net of the state. The debate continues with new dimensions being added every day. This volume brings the expertise of academics, bureaucrats and social activists, with long experience in land reforms, to bear upon this on-going debate. The papers in Part I examine. The achievements and failures of the Past; New governmental initiatives for agrarian reforms in the context of liberalization, The importance of the environmental perspective; and The need for improving the management of land records for effective implementation at the field level. In Part II, specific experiences from Bihar, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir are presented to ground the foregoing debate in grassroots reality. The contributors outline the successes and constraints in the implementation of land reforms experienced in the three states. Overall, and without taking any extreme position, this volume provides an agenda for land reforms in the next century a task which the contributors conclude is far from over. With its lively and lucid style and up-to-date statistics, this timely contribution to a debate of crucial importance will be of great value to development administrators, social activists and economists, and to students and scholars of development and agrarian studies.