Tenancy Reform in India

Tenancy Reform in India had been adopted after the independence as a part of the land reform program. It was planned to distribute the agricultural resources, mainly land, properly among all people related to cultivation irrespective of money and political power.

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Reasons Behind the Tenancy Reform in India:

• Before independence the British Government had developed an intermediate class to collect tax from the landholders. But the people of this class did not directly relate with land or cultivation. The British people did that for their vested interests i.e to ease the tax collection process.
• This class was then gradually acquiring most of the lands from the farmers and literally exploiting them.
• So the rural economic structure started to break down with more unemployment and less productivity because the farmers had lost their interest to work or invest.
• Like the intercessors, the big landowners were also least interested about the farmers income and health. So beside land reform or agrarian reform the tenancy of lands had to be removed as well to serve the common goal.
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• The big landowners, popularized as “Zamindar” in the British period”, could take the ownership of land from the Government almost without paying any charge. These Zamindars helped the British Government to develop the intercessors.

Measures Adopted for Tenancy Reform:

• Big landowners and people of that intermediate class have to surrender the tenancy right through mutual agreement with the Government.
• Tenancy security will be granted on the actual peasant.
• Such people who have not the ability to work will be allowed to give their land on rent.
• Subleasing to tenants will be encouraged somewhat to advance the farming population to go for non agricultural services.
• Tenancy record will be rectified and a fair rent will be set. Because without any proper written statement or record the confusions and as well as corruption will arise again.
• Landowners will be allowed to extend the area of their land with some specific conditions and a certain upper limit will be there for this extension.
• The Government will also fix the rent and that is .20% of the gross production.

Tenancy Reform in Different State:

According to Agrarian Reform it had been told that land is a subject of state. So tenancy reform varied from one state to another. States like Hinayana , Punjab and Maharashtra went on with the tenancy but Katakana tabooed it.

In Gujarat and Utter Pradesh the landowners were not legally allowed to give their land in lease whereas in West Bengal sharecropping was legal but not fixed rate leasing. In Assam leasing was fully allowed.

Conclusion:

Through tenancy reform those intermediate classes ware evacuated and therefore, social equity and high productivity had been achieved which were the main goal of the Indian Government after the independence.