← UPSC syllabus
UPSC Civil ServicesStage 2: Main Examination
Land Reforms in India
What the official syllabus says
Main Examination, Paper IV: General Studies III.
- Land reforms in India.
Topics in detail
Background
- Land tenure systems in British India: zamindari (Permanent Settlement, 1793), ryotwari and mahalwari
- Problems at independence: absentee landlordism, high rents, insecurity of tenants, concentration of land
- Objectives of land reforms: social justice, removal of exploitation, higher productivity
Components of land reforms
- Abolition of intermediaries (zamindari abolition) and its outcome
- Tenancy reforms: regulation of rent, security of tenure, ownership rights for tenants
- Land ceiling laws: fixing ceilings, acquiring surplus land, distributing it to the landless; reasons for limited success (benami transfers, exemptions)
- Consolidation of holdings and its success in some states
- Updating of land records
Constitutional and legal aspects
- The First Amendment (1951), the Ninth Schedule and Articles 31A and 31B
- Removal of the right to property from Fundamental Rights by the 44th Amendment (1978); Article 300A
- Land as a state subject and variation of laws across states
- Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013: consent, social impact assessment, compensation
Movements and state experiences
- Bhoodan and Gramdan movements of Vinoba Bhave (from 1951)
- Operation Barga in West Bengal (1978) for registering sharecroppers
- Land reforms in Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir as relatively successful cases
- Tribal land alienation and laws protecting tribal land; the Forest Rights Act, 2006
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1951 | First Amendment: Articles 31A and 31B and the Ninth Schedule |
| 1951 | Bhoodan movement begins in Telangana |
| 1972 | National guidelines on land ceilings |
| 1978 | 44th Amendment removes the right to property from Fundamental Rights; Operation Barga in West Bengal |
| 2013 | Land acquisition law replaces the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 |
Contemporary issues
- Fragmentation and shrinking average size of holdings
- Land leasing: concealed tenancy, NITI Aayog's model land leasing law (2016)
- Digitisation of land records and maps; conclusive land titling
- Rural property cards through drone surveys of inhabited village land
- Land for industry and infrastructure: acquisition disputes, land pooling, land banks
- Women's land rights and their link with agricultural productivity
- Land records and access to credit: why clear titles matter for farm loans and investment
- Land disputes in courts and the cost of unclear titles
- Common lands and village commons: encroachment and their role for the landless
- Assessment: what land reforms achieved and where they fell short
Overlaps
Post-independence consolidation, including land reforms, is part of General Studies I; constitutional amendments are part of General Studies II.