Introduction:
Goes
back to Independence Land reforms regulation and measures considered to be of
vital importance for establishing economic equality in agrarian structures. One
of the most imperative ways to overcome inequality is by putting a ceiling on
Land Holdings. Land celling generally means excess away large land holdings and
redistribute them to Landless labour and small cultivators.
However, it is not very
easy to put a land ceiling simply based on the will of the authority regulating
the same. There is no standard criteria which measure or put a benchmark on the
amount of land to be restricted to a particular individual or family. Moreover,
there is a huge amount of exceptions available which many a time make land
ceiling legislation redundant in their implementation.
This blog will critically
evaluate the need to enact land ceiling laws in India and also illuminate the
major limitation in the fair implementation of Land ceiling statutes. The blog
will conclude by suggesting the need for some reforms to make this regulation
more fair and just to overcome the century-old inequality in the distribution
of Agricultural land.
Need for Land Ceiling
Laws in India:
India presently accounts
for 2.4% of the global surface area but feeds 16.7% of the world's population. Even
though the world has become so much mechanised and modernised, 47.1% of India’s
population is still dependent on agricultural activities for their livelihood.
When the world enters into the arena of dynamic Artificial Intelligence Agriculture remains the lifeline of the
Indian economy and demography.
There is a history of
great disparity in land holdings in India, and this segment continues to exist
even at the contemporary social and economic setup. As per an authentic 2018 report, approximately 85% of agrarian
households in India own less than 2 hectares of land and collectively 9% of the
total income. However, on the other hand, 9% of the farmer's households own
large parcels of land and collectively earn 91% of the total income. This data
is itself testimony to the huge amount of inequality rooted in India’s land
distribution system.
But the right
implementation of land ceiling statutes can make a huge difference and also can
overcome this deeply rooted predicament of huge disparity in the distribution
of land holdings. However, the implementation of the Land ceiling statutes is
totally dependent on political will because since independence, these reforms
were tried by almost all the state government of the time, but that didn’t make
a huge difference in the condition of land holding as existed at that time.
Gaps in Implementing Land
Ceiling Laws in India:
No one hides the fact
that different stakeholders use many unfair means to protect the dilution of
their land. S.K. Ray, demonstrating his perception of the failure of land
ceiling laws, advocates that agrarian reorganization in India fails to
positively impact the socioeconomic status of small cultivators.
After the British left
India and a new government was established from the initial few, they also
undertook the task of land reforms to redistribute land, considering the equity
principle a priority. Almost all State governments enacted their land ceiling
laws to completely abolish Landlordism and take action to distribute the land
equally to form an egalitarian country.
But these land reforms
were implemented without any sort of enthusiasm by executive agencies. Due to
this lack of political audacity, these reforms could not produce fruits, and
inequity based on the distribution of land continues to be prevalent in the modern
economic realm. Comparatively, a big number of tenets were evicted in the name
of self-cultivation, which consequently resulted in the emergence of absentee
landlordism. Which have no interest in
the community,
The main issue in implementing the land
ceiling laws was that the policies adopted to redistribute the land through
land holding ceiling lacks the intention of the overall public interest. This
resulted in a huge disparity between the policies and legislations and also
between statute and their peaceful implementation. This also resulted
negatively to overall productivity of agricultural output.
Although there are many complexities
in implementing the Land ceiling policies, like lack of uniformity and difference
in units between cash and food crops, the most controversial factor of these
policies was an exemption clause in land ceiling statutes. such as Agricultural
land, Religious denominations, and Industrial and semi-industrial lands were
exempted from the purview of these laws.
As in Andhra Pradesh, eight
types of land are exempted from the implementation of this Act. In Bihar, Land
utilized by religious institutions, Industries and land held by the Banks are
exempted from the land ceiling. Likewise, in Haryana exemption is provided for
religious and charitable institutions. However, these exemption clauses can be
very detrimental for the right implementation of land ceiling legislatures because
they act as a barrier to fairly distributing land among the most historically deprived section
of the country.
The State of Himachal
Pradesh created a model in the realm of Land ceiling laws by enacting a Land
ceiling statute that provides minimal exception clauses and is thus successful in
fairly and equally implementing the law. Moreover, the other problem these
statutes encountered was misuse by many landlords through forged registration in
the name of their relatives or family members. All these unfair means restrain the
inclusive development of the society.
Economic Implication of Ceiling Reforms:
The Economic impacts of
land ceiling statutes are not as worthwhile as expected by government agencies.
The tenancy reforms failed to achieve their desired objective to establish an egalitarian
society by redistributing land equally to attain economic sustainability in the
country.
Consequently, according
to relevant sources, large farmers in India have 45 times more land area than marginal
and small farmers. In simple terms, approximately 4.9% of farmers own 32% of the total farmland
of the country. These figures demonstrate how land is unequally distributed in India,
even after the enactment of many land ceiling statutes.
Possible Reforms:
There is a serious need for
reforms in Land ceiling laws in India. The
following are important measures that Authorities should incorporate to establish
equal distribution of land.
i.
The land ceiling statute must address the
problem of unfair means used by landowners to exclude their land from the
ceiling through fraudulent partition. This issue can be redressed by enhancing
the surveillance of landowners suspected of using unfair methods to exempt
their land from the ceiling.
ii.
The
Authorities now must have to ensure that a minimal exemption is provided in the
ceiling of landholdings. These exemptions act as a hurdle when it comes to redistributing
the land fairly to achieve equality in the society.
iii.
Due to the complete autonomy state in
enacting the policies of land reforms, which sometimes lead to intricacies and loopholes.
The subject of land reforms should be transferred from the state to the concurrent
list to enhance transparency and accountability in implementing the statute.
Conclusion:
The
importance of Land ceiling laws cannot be doubted, but their lack of implementation
compelled us to ponder the reason for their failure to achieve the desired
objective. The Economic implication is itself the testimony of the lack of
political and social audacity in redistributing the land to the deprived
section of the society. Removing the exception clauses with some other reforms can
act as a game changer in providing the justness in realm of distribution of the
land.
References:
1.
https://thelawbrigade.com/property-law/agriculture-land-and-ceiling-laws-in-india-an-overview/?amp
2.
Pal, S., Roy Chowdhury, P., & Saher,
Z. (2021). Land Ceiling Legislations, Land Acquisition and
De-industrialisation: Theory and Evidence from the Indian States (IZA DP
No. 14624). IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
3.
https://mrunal.org/2013/10/land-reforms-land-ceiling-meaning-pro-anti-arguments.html
4. https://unacademy.com/content/wbpsc/study-material/geography/ceiling-on-landholdings/#:~:text=Ceiling%20on%20land%20holdings%20is,that%20an%20individual%20can%20own
BY: AZIZ UMAR
1st year B A. LLB Student 8 Faculty of law Jamia Millia Islamia University New Delhi