Land Reforms

©Copyright Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) Publisher Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) BSIDC Colony, Off Boring-Patliputra Road Patna – 800 013 (BIHAR) Phone : 0612-2265649 Fax : 0612-2267102 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.adriindia.org Printer The Offsetters (India) Private Limited Chhajjubagh, Patna-800001 Disclaimer This monograph may not reflect the views held by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) or any of its sister concerns. Usual disclaimers apply. Preface Land and Labour have been at the core of a ‘civilised’ human existence since the very beginning. While they have provided body to various other kinds of labour (other than working on land), they have been both an instrument as well as foundation of power systems outside the body of labour itself, be it in the form of a primitive tribal community or a feudal society or a modern state. In fact, an economic formation/system and its laws of motion are explained not only by the conditions of labour, but also by an interaction of these with the other elements of the property system, amongst which the essentials of the property system in land are found to be of paramount importance. Since the inception of political economy/economic thought, there has been a near consensus on the centrality of land in facilitating the well-being through economic transformation. In particular, at the current juncture, the importance of access to land for the rural masses in ensuring a decent livelihood in most developing countries/societies is generally acknowledged throughout the academia. The first chapter of this report titled ‘Current Agrarian Situation in Bihar’ tries to bring forth this relationship between the ‘access to land’ and ‘well-being of masses’ in Bihar. It also makes an effort to roughly sketch the relationship amongst the economic plight of the state, its distorted production structure and land ownership pattern in the state, indicating relations of production in agriculture. Second chapter titled ‘Land Reforms – Addressing Structural Bottlenecks?’ reviews the literature on land reforms, trying to highlight its instrumentality in economic transformation and well- being of the masses. While noting the importance of land, it tries to read the importance of land, made explicit in poverty alleviation programmes at the current juncture. It goes on to discuss the history and typology of land reforms, and paradigm of land reforms in India. The chapter ends with a brief note on the evolution and character of land-tenure arrangements in colonial Bihar which, in turn, generated forces for land reforms within the state. Third chapter titled ‘Peasant Mobilisation in Bihar’ gives a brief sketch of peasant mobilization as a driving force behind land reforms in Bihar, which was responsible in Bihar, being the first state in India to have introduced the Zamindari Abolition Bill. However, it goes on to underline the issues of peasant mobilization and character of farmers’ organizations, which were, in turn, instrumental in shaping the agenda of land reforms in Bihar. Fourth chapter titled ‘History of Land Reforms in Bihar’ sketches the history of land reforms in Bihar. It tries to highlight the essentials of Zamindari Abolitions, Ceiling and Tenancy Reforms, and also their problems. The problem and extent of implementation of land reforms in Bihar is also briefly discussed in the chapter. Emergence and outburst of agrarian unrest as a result of an almost failed land reforms effort in Bihar is dealt with in the fifth chapter titled ‘Building-up of Agrarian Unrest in Bihar’. Failed expectations of the rural masses and the continuing distorted agrarian production relations are seen to be correlated with the rise of Naxalism in the state, as issues of naxalite movement in Bihar have largely been the issues of production relations in agriculture which the state failed to correct through land reforms. Sixth chapter titled ‘The Problem of Tenancy’ takes a look particularly at the tenurial arrangements in Bihar. It takes a look at how these relations have evolved over the period as mechanisms of surplus expropriation and exploitation in rural Bihar, and also its present state reflected in the survey conducted by ADRI in 2007. A report of this survey of twelve villages done by ADRI is given in Appendix 1. Seventh, and the last, chapter titled ‘The Comeback of Land Reforms’ takes a look at the re- emergence of land reforms on both national and international agenda in the era of globalization and liberalization. It brings forth the distinct change in the character and content of land reforms over the period, and limitations of an unquestioned acceptance of the theory of Market-led Agrarian Reforms (MLAR). Contents Chapter 1 : Current Agrarian Situation in Bihar 6-21 Sectoral Composition of Income and Employment 7 Growth Performance 8 Land Ownership Pattern in Bihar 9 Land Ownership and Poverty 11 Land Ownership by Social Groups 12 Land Ownership and Employment Scenario 16 Employment Profile of the Social Groups 17 The Consumption Quintiles and Employment Profile 18 Migration 20 Chapter 2 : Land Reforms – Addressing Structural Bottlenecks? 22-33 Importance of Land 22 Land and Poverty Reduction 23 Rethinking Land : An Ownership Title Vs A Productivity Unit 24 History and Typology of Land Reforms 25 The Paradigm of Land Reforms in India 27 History of Revenue Administration and Expropriation of Agricultural Surplus in Bihar 30 Expropriation of the Agricultural Surplus in Colonial Bihar 31 Chapter 3 : Peasant Mobilisation in Bihar 34-37 Chapter 4 : History of Land Reforms in Bihar 38-51 Zamindari Abolition 38 The Ceiling Act 39 Amending Acts and their Salient Provisions 39 Implementation of Land Reforms in Bihar : Problems 41 Tenancy Reforms 45 Chapter 5 : Building-up of Agrarian Unrest in Bihar 52-63 Naxalite Movement 52 Three Strands of Naxalism 55 The First Knock 57 Mushahari 58 Ekwari 58 Issues of Naxalite Movement 61 Struggle for Wages 62 Chapter 6 : The Problem of Tenancy 64-74 The Struggle of Adivasi Bataidars in Kosi Belt : An Example 67 The Current Pattern of Tenurial Arrangements 68 Social groups in tenancy arrangements 70 Terms of Tenancy 72 Chapter 7 : The Comeback of Land Reforms 75-82 The World Bank and the PRRs 78 Land Markets 79 Appendix I : Findings of the Village Survey 83-95 Introduction 83 Social Composition 85 Land Endowment 85 Average Size of landholdings 88 Homestead Land 88 Main Source of Income/Occupation 89 Land Market for Leasing 91 Average size of Leased-in Land 91 Terms of Leasing-in 92 Mortgage of Land 92 Land Market for Sale of Land 93 Indebtedness 95 Appendix II : Bathani Tola Massacre 96-97 The Socio-Economic and Political Backdrop of the Massacre 96 Appendix III : Land needed for distribution among Rural Landless Labourer households/ Rural Landless households 98 Appendix IV : Table 1A to 11B (Tables from Cross-sectional Village Study) 99-123 Appendix V : An Illustrative Catalogue of Massacres in Purnea District of Bihar 124-137 Bibliography : 138-142 List of Tables Table 1 : Per Capita Income of Bihar Table 2 : Sectoral Composition of GSDP (1993-94 to 2003-04) Table 3 : Employment Structure (Percentage of UPSS Workforce) Table 4 : Growth Performance (1981-82 to 2003-04) Table 5 : Percentage Distribution of Households & Area Owned over 5 Major Classes in Bihar Table 6 : Rural Poverty Incidence and Share by Land Ownership Table 7 : Land Possessed (Households) by Social Groups Table 8 : Rural Land Ownership by Classes Table 9 : Average Size of Owned Land & Percentage Fall in Average Land Holding across Caste and Class Table 10 : Percentage of Households & Average Size of Selling and Buying of Land, 1999-00 Table 11 : Landownership and Occupation Table 12 : Distribution by Social Group and Principal Economic Activity Table 13 : Distribution by Per Capita Consumption Quintile and Principal Economic Activity Table 14 : Changes in Magnitude and Nature of Migration by Caste, Class, and Land Size Table 15 : Surplus Land Acquired and Distributed Against Estimated Surplus Table 16 : Surplus Land Acquired and Distributed Table 17 : Percentage of Tenant Holdings and Operated Area Leased-in Table 18 : Percentage of Households Leasing-in & Percentage of Leased-in Area by Land Size and Caste Table 19 : Percentage Distribution of Area Leased-in by Terms of Lease for Bihar and All-India Table 20 : Caste Violence in Bihar CURRENT AGRARIAN SITUATION IN BIHAR With the lowest per capita income in the country and the second highest incidence of rural poverty in India (only less than Orissa) among the highest incidences of poverty in the country, under- development of Bihar and the miseries of its masses need no detailed introduction. What is worse is that the production structure and distributional outcomes of the economy show a worsening trend of distortion and inequity over time. And, the pace of distortion of the production structure and widening gulf of inequity is found to have increased significantly in the decade of nineties. On the eve of independence, while the per capita income of Bihar was around 81 per cent of the all-India average, it declined to 70 per cent of the Indian average in 1960-61, further to 63 per cent of the Indian average in 1970-71, thereafter stabilizing at 60 per cent of the national average for the next 15 years up to mid-1980s. However, by 1993-94 it had declined to 40 per cent of the national average and further to 30 per cent of the per capita national income by 2003-04. Thus, while the widening of the gulf between the national income and state’s income growth is seen to have stabilized all through the seventies, right up to the mid-eighties, it is seen to be increasing by serious proportions since the nineties, which has been an era of globalization and also of landmark changes in the political power balance in the state.

Load more