Emergence of Land Policy in India

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 21 April 2010

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The Land Policy in India emerged because of the improper distribution of agricultural resources and weak land administration. Many countries had set a land policy during the last decade to make a proper redistribution of land.

History:

Since India had been under several rulers for many years , the land administration kept changing. The main objective of the rural economy at that time was to gain the maximum by exploiting the peasants and small land owners. Therefore several taxes were imposed on the farmers.

In the British period the policies remained the same. However, they had made some changes in the tax collection system, but it was meant for their personal gain. Not only that, they had also developed an intermediate class between the big landowners and the Government who were not directly related with cultivation who were used to collect taxes.

After independence, the Indian government started their land reform program. It was then a big challenge to set a correct agrarian structure. Land reforms became a major agenda in all the five year plans of India.

Main Issues:
  • First of all the Indian Government promoted land as a subject matter of state. So the government started to diminish the position of the intermediate class formed by the British
  • The policy said that the agricultural resources should be distributed in such a way to serve all the people irrespective of money and political position.
  • The Community Development Network started to look after the interests of the common people. Therefore the economic security of the poor peasants improved slowly.
  • More land was taken under cultivation to increase the production. Food security was also a big concern of the Government.
  • The onus of land management had been taken by the state government. More attention had been given on the dry and sterile lands by providing some extra facilities.
  • New plans had been set for land reform because land degradation and soil erosion were the major issues that time.
  • Special actions were taken to conserve soil and water and that's why watershed programs had been started by the Government.

  • The Drought Prone Area Program was implemented to identify the drought prone areas and suitable measures were adopted to improve the quality of land in such areas.
Conclusion:

The land policy in India had emerged through several phases after independence. Since India's rural economic and political structures were very complex , it was very difficult that time to set a proper land policy. But despite that, through this policy India has achieved a significant improvement in rural economic and land structure and equity has been established to a large extent.


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