CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the Problem Land Is the Crucial Issue in the Lives of People of an Agrarian Economy, Like India
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the Problem Land is the crucial issue in the lives of people of an agrarian economy, like India. It has inherent value, and it creates the same as well. A plot of land can provide a household with physical, financial, and nutritional security, and may also provide to poor peasants, landless labour and other disadvantaged sections of the society for his livelihood and wages. Land is a basis for identity and status within a family and community. It also creates the foundation for political power (World Bank, 2003). Land therefore, occupies a central place in the lives of the people who toil hard to derive their livelihood from soil. The plot of land on which they work, without right to ownership, therefore acts as a limiting factor in their quest for improving their earning from the same plot of land. For the millions of peasants, small and marginal farmers the size of land determines their socio-economic conditions. Land reforms programme is a tool to enhance the capacity of the peasants, small and marginal farmers in improving their socio-economic conditions by giving them the ownership of the land and or increasing their size of the land by distributing vested land. Accordingly when the Communist Party of India (Marxists) dominated left alliance came into power in the late seventies in the state of West Bengal, it distributed patta of small chunk of land to landless, small and peasant farmers including agricultural labourers under the Land Reforms Act of 1971 which was further amended in 1972 to plug its loopholes. Patta is a legal document certifying the ownership right over a piece of land given to poor people under the land reform programme of the Government of West Bengal. This was implemented through the village Panchayats œ the elected local body of the village people. The patta land which lies with the Government is the surplus land (vested land) divested from the land owners and distributed to the poor people to improve their socio-economic conditions under the programme. The extent to which the exercise of land reforms has benefited the peasants, small and marginal farmers, needs to be assessed. Mankind‘s association with land goes back to the dawn of civilization when man learnt the art of using land to grow its own food requirements. Over the time, this association grew and strengthened as land met man‘s other requirements as well, from survival to economic, social and ultimately, political. This also created man‘s dependence on land and, and over the centuries shaped the ownership pattern of land and thus, the concept of management of land came into being. Land is the first asset that mankind held dear to its heart as not only it provided food and shelter and generated livelihood for to people but also as it determined their social and political status. Land has been the object, over which most battles have been fought and maximum blood has been shed over the ages across continents on this earth. The most significant fact of a nation is how its members produce and distribute their food and generate their source of livelihood. Economic production is the basic activity of a society and it plays a determining role in creating its socio-economic and political structures. As individuals, how living is earned, is the most important fact of life. In a country like ours, which is dominated by villages and majority of the population is dependent upon agriculture and its related activities for their survival, agriculture continues to be the primary economic activity and basic means for livelihood generation of people. Agrarian structure, therefore, forms a critical aspect of any discussion on social, political and economic development of India. Issues of economic backwardness and rural conflicts are inherent in the basic nature of land possession, if it is skewed and not in the hands of tillers. Land continues to be the main concern of the people and the single most determinant of social status and economic power in an agricultural society (Chakroborty, Mukhopadhyay and Roy, 2002). Economic development depends upon agricultural development, which in turn depends primarily on land condition and its distribution, in other words, the agrarian structure. Changes in land relations or agrarian structure therefore, act as a significant indicator and are very crucial step in the process of social and economic development of a nation, more so when it has agrarian character. Many factors, viz., the agro-climatic, cultural, political, social, economic and lately the demographic play determining roles in the development of land management system. The ownership pattern of land, by and large, follows the pattern of growth of the region and nation. However, the basic feature underlying ownership of land across all the societies has been to have control over agricultural production, the most essential return from the land ultimately determining wealth, prosperity and wellbeing of the people. 7istorically, the world over, it is observed that land has been under the ownership of the ruling family, class, aristocrats and other influential of the society as mark of wealth or economic power, who almost never tilled the land. Tilling was done by the people who were poor and came from the lower caste and class, the one who were ruled, i.e., the serfs and the slaves. The produce was shared in the ratio reflecting the relationship between the landlord and the tiller or the extent, to which the owner of the land (ruler) was alien to the tillers (ruled). The system of land management in Indian sub-continent goes back to the Vedic period (roughly from C . 1500 to C . 500 BCE). In Rig Veda, which recognised private ownership of land (Compendium of Lecture Notes, Analysis, Research &Training Institute, Shalbani, Medinipur), mention of kshetra (fields), khilya (demarcating lines), daya (inheritance), dayada (heir), etc., are indicative of the presence of individual ownership of land and the concept of heir, the chief or rajan (king) and raja-bhaga (royal share) of the crop raised. The Vedic references contain that land belonged to him, who first cleared it for cultivation, thus, lending recognition to peasant proprietorship on land and his right to transfer. In a way, land management system then was what the present land policy envisages to achieve, which owes its origin to the ancient Vedic hymn on land œ —Land to Tillers“. The great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata also depict man‘s relation with land, but in a different context-land for political power. Arthashastra , a treatise on the polity of Kautilya and I ndica of Megasthenes also reflect on relation of land with man. References are found of grama (village), S thanivya (a fortress of that name) - set up in the center of eight hundred villages, a dro‘namukha in the center of four hundred villages, a kharvatika in the center of two hundred villages, and S angrahana in the midst of group of ten villages. The villages were of various categories from the taxation point of view and in a way indicated the relationship of land of the village with its people. Pariharaka villages that were exempted from taxation, ayudhiya villages that supplied soldiers, hiranya villages that paid taxes in form of grains, cattle, gold and raw material, vishti villages that supplied free labour and karapratikara villages that paid dairy produces in lieu of taxes. Land management system then recognised the right of ownership to the tillers of land and its produces and the state always encouraged higher production. Land was settled with the agriculturists who first brought it under cultivation and usually for life-time on payment of revenue. Alienation was strictly prohibited. Failure to put land to its proper use might end in resumption of land by the state. The cultivators paying revenue regularly were favoured with grains, cattle and money for better return. Remission of taxes was admissible on any emergent occasions. Land was also allotted to the state officials for their maintenance without right to sale or mortgage. During the Pathan rule, the land management system did not undergo much change except that collection of revenue being extreme during the rule of Alla-ud-din Khilji (1296-1316 AD), who believed that heavy taxation is a matter of statecraft as subjects will be so busy in securing their livelihood after paying heavy tax that they won‘t have time to raise their head against the king. The other extreme was during the rule of Muhammad Ghias-ud-din Tuglaq (1320-1325 AD), who perceived promotion of agriculture for higher production as a wise way to earn more revenue. It was Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545 AD) who left a strong mark in land management system of the country. He believed in a direct relationship between the state and the peasants and emphasised on the relationship between the state and the peasants on land management as supreme. For efficient land administration and revenue collection Sher Shah Suri reign lasted for a very short time to allow his system of land management to take firm root throughout his empire. However, suffice to conclude that peasant proprietorship was recognised as a state principal. The siqdars, munsifs (revenue officials) of the state were enjoined to abide by this principle and issue pattas and kabuliyats (state documents) to peasants in recognition of their right over land. The system introduced by Sher Shah Suri was carried forward further by Akbar (1558-1605 AD). The Mughal‘s elaborate system of land administration was spear headed by Raja Todarmal . Through various trials and error methods, a system came into place, under which revenue was collected by a set of intermediaries œ chiefs, headmen, revenue farmers, assignees of the state and all of them had their own system of land management and revenue collection.