The document discusses reforms in Indian agriculture since independence. It notes that at independence, India had a semi-feudal agrarian structure dominated by landlords and intermediaries. Key reforms included abolishing intermediaries, implementing tenancy reforms for security of tenure and fair rents, fixing ceilings on land holdings, and consolidating small holdings. Implementation of reforms varied across states and faced resistance from landowners. Overall, land reforms have had mixed success, with West Bengal and Kerala seen as the most successful cases.

1. REFORMS IN INDIAN
AGRICULTURE
SRISHTI SACHAN
595

2. At the time of
Independence,
India inherited a
semi-feudal
agrarian
structure with
onerous tenure
arrangements.
The ownership
and control of
land was highly
concentrated in
a few landlords
and
intermediaries.
Thus, the
agricultural land
resource of India
was gradually
impoverished
because
economic
motivation
tended towards
exploitation
rather than
investment.

4. • Intermediaries like Zamindars, Talukdars, Jagirs and Inams had dominated
the agricultural sector in India by the time the country attained
independence.
• Soon after independence, measures for the abolition of the Zamindari
system were adopted in different states. The first Act to abolish
intermediaries was passed in Madras in 1948.
• As a result of the abolition of intermediaries, about 2 crore tenants are
estimated to have come into direct contact with the State making them
owners of land.
• The abolition of intermediaries has led to the end of a parasite class.
More lands have been brought to government possession for distribution to
landless farmers.

5. Tenancy
Reforms
Security of
Tenure
Fair Rent
Ownership
Rights

6. To protect tenants from eviction and to grant them permanent rights on
lands, laws have been enacted in most of the states. They have three
essential features.
(a) Tenants cannot be evicted without any reason. They can be evicted
only in accordance with the laws.
(b) Land can be resumed by the landlord only on the ground of personal
cultivation. But the land-lord can resume the land only up to a
maximum limit.
(c) The landlord should leave some area to the tenant for his own
cultivation. The tenant in no case should be made landless.

7. • In Pre-Independent India rents were high for obvious reasons. Fifty per
cent of the total produce was paid as rent.
• In addition to such high rent, the tenant had to provide certain free services
to landlords.
• So at the beginning of the First Plan, the Central Government insisted on
the regulation of high rent by State Governments.
• It was laid down that the rent to be paid to the landlord should not be more
than 20 to 25 per cent. The main objective of such Acts was to make the rent
fair and reasonable.

8. So far as right of ownership is concerned, tenants have
been declared as the owners of the land they cultivate.
They have to pay compensation to the owners. The amount
of compensation should not exceed the level of fair rent.
As a result of these measures about 40 lakh tenants have
already acquired ownership rights over 37 lakh hectares of
land. They have become better-off economically and
socially.

9. Ceiling on land holdings implies the fixing of the maximum
amount of land that an individual or family can possess.
Economic Rationality of Land Ceiling:
According to some economists small farms are more efficient
than large farms. They require less capital compared to the
large farms.
Social Rationality of Land Ceiling:
In a poor country like India the supply of land is limited and
number of claimants is large. Hence it is socially unjust to
allow small number of people to hold large part of land.

10. Consolidation of Holdings means bringing together the various small plots of
land of a farmer scattered all over the village as one compact block, either through
purchase or exchange of land with others.
In Orissa, the Consolidation Act was passed in 1972. The work of consolidation
has been completed fully in Punjab and Haryana. So far, about one- third of the
total cultivated land has been consolidated.
There are various obstacles to the speedy implementation of the consolidation
programme. These are poor response from cultivators, wide variation in the
quality of land, complicated process of land consolidation, lack of enforcing
machinery, lack of political will etc.

11. The general assessment on land reforms in the Indian context is rather
negative. For example, the report of the Task Force on Agrarian
Relations of the Planning Commission of India (1973) had the following
overall assessment of land reforms in India: ‘The programmes of
land reform adopted since Independence have failed to bring
about the required changes in the agrarian structure.’
Abolition of intermediaries is generally agreed to be one component of
land reforms that has been relatively successful. The record in terms of
the other components is mixed and varies across states and over time.
Landowners resisted the implementation of these reforms by directly
using their political clout and also by using various methods of evasion
and coercion, which included registering their own land under names of
different relatives to bypass the ceiling, shuffling tenants around
different plots of land so that they would not acquire incumbency rights
as stipulated in the tenancy law.

12. • The two states in which land reform is widely considered to
have been successful are West Bengal and Kerala.
• The two states accounted for 11.75 and 22.88 per cent,
respectively, of the total number of tenants conferred
ownership rights up to 2000, despite being home to only 7.05
and 2.31 per cent of India’s population, respectively.
• West Bengal’s share of total surplus land distributed was
almost 20 per cent of the all-India figure (Government of
India, 2000),although the state accounts for only about 3 per
cent of India’s land resources.

13. National Land Reform Policy
In July 2013 the ministry of rural development put forth a draft of a
new National Land Reform Policy. The draft national land reform policy,
released last month, has five goals:
•Distribute land to all rural landless poor
•Restore land unjustly taken from vulnerable communities such as the
Dalits (untouchables) and Tribals
•Protect the land of the Dalits and Tribals
•Liberalize leasing laws
•Improve land rights of women

14. Overall Observations:
Pro-Women Policy - All new homestead land distribution/regularisation to
landless families should be only in women’s name rather than joint titles with
husbands. Distribution of land under all land distribution programmes should
exclusively be to rural landless women workers. Awareness programs to educate
women about land laws and land rights may be conducted.
Administrative reforms and improvements in institutional processes: The
Policy encompasses a very large set of pro-active administrative, legal and
quasi-legal actions to ensure the rights to land of all socially and economically
marginalized communities including SCs, STs, Women, Nomads and the like.
Additionally, the policy proposes a number of administrative reforms, and
improvements in institutional processes to make it more efficient, transparent,
and accountable.
Tenancy - Restrictions on land leasing within ceiling limits should be removed
to help improving poor people’s access to land through lease market and also for
improved utilization of available land, labour and capital. Encouragement to the
women for group leasing, as far as possible. The rent should operate as per the
lease market. The State should not fix the lease rent.

15. Shortcomings in the policy:
More focused towards rural land reforms: The ‘Draft National Land Reforms
Policy’ seems to be skewed more on rural land reforms. Urban land issues are
equally complex though the size might be smaller. Hence the draft would do well
to have urban related issues addressed as well.
Exemption of North Eastern region: The Policy has exempted the states of
North-Eastern India and does not seem to be adequately clarifying the reasons for
the same.
Coverage of Backward Classes in the policy: There has been little mention of
the other backward classes (OBCs), Salt farmers (in Gujarat’s context).
Interconnections between demand for agriculture and non-agriculture
purposes: The proposed policy needs to address the interconnections of surging
demand of land for agricultural purpose and demand of more land for non-
agricultural purpose and to strike a balance through land reforms policy.

16. CCIS was introduced with effect from 1st April 1985 by the Government of India with the
active participation of State Governments. The Scheme was linked to short term crop credit
and implemented on homogeneous area basis.
The main features of the scheme were:
1) It covered farmers availing crop loans from financial institutions for growing food
crops and oilseeds on compulsory basis. The coverage was restricted to 100 per cent
of crop loan subject to a maximum of Rs.10 thousand per farmer.
2) Small and marginal farmers were given a subsidy of 50 per cent of the premium payable
shared equally by the central and state governments.
3) The central and state governments shared the premium and claims in the ratio of 2:1.
4) The scheme was a multi-agency effort, involving Government of India, State
Governments, Banking Institutions and General Insurance Corporation of India.
The scheme was, however, scrapped in 1997 because of huge losses to the Government.

17. Keeping in view the demands of States for improving scope and contents of
CCIS, a broad-based National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) has
been introduced in the country with the following objectives:
a. To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers
in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural
calamities, pests and diseases.
b. To encourage the farmers to adopt progressive farming practices,
high value inputs and higher technology in Agriculture.
c. To help stabilize farm incomes, particularly in disaster years.

18. Scope of the
scheme
The scheme was
available to all
states and union
territories on
optional basis.
Currently the
scheme has been
implemented in
23 states and two
union territories.
Farmers
covered
All farmers including
sharecroppers and
tenant farmers
growing notified crops
in notified areas are
eligible for coverage
under the scheme.
However, it is
compulsory for
farmers availing
crop loans from
financial institutions.
Risks covered
The scheme provides
comprehensive risk
insurance against yield
losses due to natural fire
and lightening, storm,
hailstorm, cyclone,
typhoon, tempest,
hurricane, tornado
flood, inundation and
landslide, drought,
dry spells, and pests /
diseases etc. However
losses arising out of war
and nuclear risks,
malicious damage and
other preventable risks
shall be excluded.

19. Crops covered
The scheme besides food and oilseed crops also covered annual commercial and
horticultural crops. The crops covered in various states fall under the
following groups:
Food crops (cereals, millets and pulses): Wheat, Paddy, Jowar, Bajra, Maize, Ragi, etc.
Oilseeds: Groundnut, Sunflower, Soya bean, Safflower, Sesame, Niger, Caster.
Annual commercial/horticultural crops: Sugarcane, Cotton, Potato, Onion,Chilly,
Turmeric, Ginger, Coriander, Cumin, Fennel, Fenugreek, Isabgol, Jute, Tapioca, Banana,
Pineapple, etc. However mangoes, apples, grapes and oranges are not yet covered.
Benefits Expected from the Scheme
The scheme is expected to:
1)be a critical instrument of development in the field of crop production, providing
financial support to the farmers in the event of crop failure,
2) encourage farmers to adopt progressive farming practices and better technology in
agriculture,
3) help in maintaining flow of credit.

20. Though India has the largest irrigated area in the world, the coverage of
irrigation is only about 40 percent of the gross cropped area as of today. One of
the main reasons for the low coverage of irrigation is the predominant use of
flood (conventional) method of irrigation, where water use efficiency is very
low
Micro-irrigation, which includes drip and sprinkler irrigation method, has been
introduced to save water and increase the water use efficiency in agriculture.
While drip method supplies water directly to the root zone of the crop through
a network of pipes with the help of emitters, sprinkler irrigation method (SIM)
sprinkles water similar to rainfall into the air through nozzles which
subsequently break into small water drops and fall on the field surface.
DIM supplies water directly to the root zone of the crop, instead of land, and
therefore, the water losses occurring through evaporation and distribution are
completely absent. Apart from reducing water consumption, drip method of
irrigation also helps reducing cost of cultivation and improving productivity of
crops as compared to the same crops cultivated under flood method of
irrigation.

21. Drip method of irrigation was initially introduced in the early seventies by the
agricultural universities and other research institutions in India with the aim to
increase the water use efficiency in crop cultivation. The development of drip
irrigation was very slow in the initial years and significant development has been
achieved especially since 1990s.
Due to various promotional schemes introduced by the Government of India and
states like Maharashtra, area under drip method of irrigation increased from 1500
hectares in 1985 to about 4.50 lakh hectares in 2000. Maharashtra accounts for
nearly 50 percent of the India’s total drip irrigated area followed by Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Sprinkler irrigation method is relatively old for Indian farmers as compared to
drip irrigation method. Sprinkler system was introduced in India during the mid-
fifties for plantation crops like coffee and tea. State-wise area under sprinkler
irrigation shows that it is mainly concentrated in Central and northern part of the
country. During the year 2004-05, states like Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal
and Maharashtra together accounted for about 70 percent of India’s total drip
irrigated area.

22. Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme introduced in 1998-99 was a step towards
facilitating the access to Short Term (ST) credit for the borrowers from the
financial institutions. The scheme was conceived as a unique credit delivery
mechanism, which aimed at provision of adequate and timely supply of ST
credit to the farmers to meet their crop production requirements.
Under the earlier system, disbursal of short-term credit to agriculture was
mostly through demand loans and cash credit, the facilities were, however, given
for the period of one year or less, which necessitated execution of fresh
documents each season.

23. Some of the advantages are as under:
i. the card can be used like an ordinary credit card, thus giving a feeling to
the farmers that there is an underlying guarantee of getting loan from the
bank as long as the earlier loan is repaid
ii. the facility is given for three to five years instead of one year, thus
reducing the procedural delays
iii. there is flexibility in operation of the facility in terms of number of
withdrawals and in repayment of loan
iv. the system on its own allows the borrowers to get their loans rescheduled
in case of natural calamities, etc. and
v. certain new features, such as, personal insurance for all the card hoders
ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 against permanent disability or
accidental death, an effective measure for risk mitigation, were also
incorporated in the scheme.