UNIT 4 LAND REFORMS IN INDIA - NONGOVERNMENTAL INITIATIVES.

Contents
4.0 Objectives Introduction Non-Violent Non-Governmental lnitiatives
4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.3.1 Bhoodan and Gramdan Movcmcnt People's Movement
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A Case Study of Land Satygraha in Chhatisgarh

The Pardi Ghasia Satyagraha in Gujarat The Great Land Struggle by Bhartiya Khet Mazadoor Union (BKMU), All India Kisan Sabha and Communist Party of India. Land for Tillers Freedom (LAPTI), Tamil Nadu Bhu-Adhikar Abhiyan - A Case Study of Ekta Parishad

Militant Mass Movements

Initiative by Non-Governmental Organizations

4.4.1 4.4.2

Evaluation of Non-Governmental Initiatives in Land Reforms Let Us Sum Up Key Words Suggested Readings

4.0

OBJECTIVES

This unit highlights the efforts made through non-governmental initiatives in the country. All the non-governmental initiatives are grouped under three categories. These are non-violent non-governmental initiatives, militant mass movement and initiatives taken by registered Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). In the end an evaluation is giveh about the non-governmental initiatives in the land reforms. Aftar reading this unit, the learner will be able to: describe various non-governmental efforts made in the area of land reforms; highlight significant contributions made by various movements; analyse initiatives made by different farmerslpeasants organizations; and evaluate the non-governmental initiatives in the area of land reforms.

4.3,

INTRODUCTION

It is well recognized that the land problem in India is a complex one and suffers'from acute maldistribution of land. The seriousness of the problem can be judged from the example of village Ballapalle in Telengana area, where, the Bhoodan movement started. Before starting of the movement in 1951 the village had 3000 population and had as many acres of land. There were 690 families. Out of 690 families, only 90 fanlilies owned the entire land and the remaining 600 families were working as landless labour. Today the situation has not improved much. Though over the last five decades after Independence, population has increased about 4 times (between the 1951 and 2001 censuses) and amount of cultivated land declining significantly. Though land reforms have been the major instruments of social transformation in a backward economy based on feudal and semi-feudal productive relationships. The main objective of the programme has been to increase agricultural productivity and build in egalitarian

social order as envisioned in the Constitution: Land reforms occupied a central place in the political agenda of the country during the 1950's and 1960's. But this has no longer been the case in 1990's since India has entered an era of globalization and liberalization. Land reforms have now been pushed to the back stage of the government policy. Not only on the government policy, but also from the NGO's, though thousands of NGOs have mushroomed over the years. In this backdrop, this unit has' made an attempt to highlight the non-governmental initiatives, though there are not many in the area of laIfd reforms. In the beginning of the unit an in-depth analysis is made of the Bhoodan and Gramdan movements, initiated by Vinoba Bhave. Later, an attempt is made to discuss the few NGO's and people's movement in different parts of the country, selected as case studies. Let us start with Bhoodan and Gramdan movements and other non-violent non-governmental initiatives. The first one had an all India character, whereas the impact of the other two have been localized.

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

4.2
4.2.1

NON-VIOLENT NON-GOVERNMENTAL INITIATIVES

Bhoodan and Gramdan Movement

Why a Bhoodan Movement? In the initial two decades of Independence, agrarian problem was a major problem in India. On the one hand, there were rich landlords, who did not work on land but grew rich by exploiting the labour, while on the other hand, there were the landless labourers. Being a democratic country, India chose to solve the problem within Constitutional method. But the process was slow and not always smooth. The challenges were: i) ii) Zamindari system was abolished in most of the states but at the cost of huge sums of money paid to the Zamindars by way of compensation. India was faced with the problem of food production in the economic sphere during the first four Five Year Plans and land reform was considered to be a solution. There was need for rehabilitation of the landless agricultural workers.

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The land problem was being tackled on all fronts. Various steps taken were; abolition of the landlords, providing security of tenure, preserving ceiling on landholding, land reforms etc. But the non-violent mass movement was considered to be an effective method because the long tradition of spirit of renunciation in the country. Acharya .Vinoba Bhave started Bhoodan for providing land to the landless. This was an unique method based on love and sacrifice. The historic Bhoodan movement was started in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, the hot bed of Telengana movement, on 15" April, 1951, with the first donation of 10 acres of land by the local Zarnindar, V. ~amchandra Reddi, to Acharya Vinoba Bhave. The movement had two components (i) the collection of land gifts, and (ii) redistributing that land among the landless.

Objectives of Bhoodan Movement

There were two major objectives of the movement: i) To keep away from power and to create Jan Shakri, a self-reliant strength of the people, which while being difficult from legal point of view and opposed to armed force, would be superior to them both. Vinoba called for a change in land ownership from the hands of individual to that of village or society, declaring that "All land belong to Him". Land redistribution being a minor part of it, the real purpose being to raise land to the pedestral of five natural elements, along with air, water, fire and sky, and to abolish it's trade and to provide every tiller with land but only it to the required extent. In other

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Land Reforms in Independent India

words, it implied that he who eats; must perform bodily labour, and that manual work is as important and elevating, if not more, as any other work. Society is the Girtual dwner of what is with us and we can only act as trustees on its behalf. The movement aimed to bring about a peaceful agrarian revolution in the country.

Working of the Moveme'nt

Pradesh Bhoodan Committees looked after the Movement in their respective regions. When land gift deeds were prepared (in duplicate), duly signed and attested by witnesses, they were collected by the Pradesh Committee and forwarded to the Sewa Sangh, Sevagram, for the signature of Vinoba Bhave, before redistribution of land. The Pradesh Committees and Local Committees could appoint some individuals for the purpose of collecting land gifts. The general method of redistribution was explicitly prescribed, which is given below. 1) The date for the distribution of land was fixed several days in advance and announced seven days before the actual date of distribution by the beat of the drum. The announcement was repeated a day before the date of distribution and efforts were made to inform the people personally as well. During the intervening period the distribution workers inspected the donated land, study its fertility and decide the acreage necessary for the maintenance of a peasant family with the help of the Gram Panchayat and the Patwari. The information regarding the place and the date of distribution is sent to the District Magistrate and other officials concerned to get their help. On the appointed date, at the fixed place and time, in the entire village gathering the landless are asked to show up after a short speech explaining the ideology of the movement. The first preference in the distribution of land is given to the landless agricultural labourers, followed by those with insufficient land and with no other occupation. When the land for distribution are insufficient, the task of picking out the most deserving persons is placed before the landless themselves. Failing this, lots are drawn for the allocation of land. Those who receive the donation are asked to sign a printed application requesting for land, after which they are presented with certificates of having received land. The certificate is signed by the representatives of the Bhoodan Committee, the District Magistrate and the Chairman of the Gram Panchayat. No fees are charged from the recipients of land.
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The land received is expected to be cultivated by the recipient himself for at least 40 years and cultivation should start within three years of the receipt of land.

10) Specific difficulties and special cases are dealt with by taking into consideration the local conditions. 11) Sometimes when the land is a little short of the requirement, efforts are made to make up at the spot by an appeal for more donations. Apart from the above principles, every possible care is taken to see that production from land does not suffer due to its distribution. Legislations were adopted for facilitating donation and distribution of Bhoodan land in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, U.P., Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

-Subsequently,the movement was widened into Gramdan, the ideal being that all land should belong to the village community as a whole. Special legislation for management of Gramdan villages was passed in various states. Gramdan (Donation of the Entire Village) The first grarndan was made in May 1952 by the village of Mongroth in U.P. However, after Vinoba's Pad-yatra through Orissa in 1955, gramdan assumed the dimension of a mass movement. It was probably best organized in the Koraput district of Orissa. At a later phase, this progamme was extended to other states in Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Philosophy behind Gramdan Gramdan may be defined as an experiment in collective village living. Though the concept of gramdan was popularized largely by Vinoba Bhave, the idea can be found in Gandhian thought. It can be traced to an article in the Harijan in February 1942, in reply to a query made by Jamanlal Bajaj. Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "it is far better for a hundred families in a village to cultivate their land collectively and divide the income therefrom than to divide the land any how into a hundred portions". In an ideal grarndan, all the land was to be collectively owned and managed by the Gram Sabha. For example, in a village of hundred families, each family was to be represented by one person. The hundred persons will form the general Village Council, which will meet once in a month. This Council will unanimously nominate ten to fifteen persons who will form a Committee. This Committee will meet more often and will be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the village. The decisions of the Committee will be ratified by the Council. In an ideal gramdan village, there will be no landowners, and no absentee landlords. The labourers will give all their earnings to the village community, which will then distribute it according to needs. Thus, gramdan acts as the ideal unit for putting the principles in the practice, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Gramdan, claims Vinoba Bhave, is based on the Samkhya Yoga philosophy of the Gita, which dictates three principles. i)
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Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

No power should be dominant in society. There should only be the discipline of good thought. All the faculties of the individuals should be dedicated to society which, in return must provide the individual with the necessary opportunities for growth and development. The moral, social and economic values of all callings, performed honestly, should be the same.

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Working of Gramdan Movement A simple workable formula for Sulabh Gramdan (easier land gift) was made to soften the old policy and defink new tasks in such a way so as to make the terms of grarndan easier. The formula was as follows: i) Retaining the right of possession over 80 percent of their properties for (a) cultivation of land, (b) drawing income from it, and (c) bequeathing it to their undeterred judgement and without any restriction on their freedom to exercise the right. The right of property on land even under the revised terms of gramdan was vested on the village community and it could be sold or mortgaged only in exceptional cases with it's consent.

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Land Reforms in Independent India

c) d)

Right on 20% of the land had, however, to be given up and it had to be distributed among the landless labourers by the donors themselves. Five per cent of income from the retained land was to be contributed to the village treasury and spent for community purposes. Similarly, one thirtieth of income from non-agricultural sources was to be contributed to the community funds. Labourers were asked to contribute two days' labour, and a salary earner a day's salary, for the uplift of the village.

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Thus when at least 75% of land owning people of a village have signed the declaration and at least 51% of the total land has come under it's previews,-the village is eligible to be dwlared as a gramdan village. The villagers have to sign a declaration which contains only for following basic conditions: i) ii) We are giving a minimum of five percent of our cultivable land for the landless of the village. We are vesting the ownership of all our land to the "Gram Sabha" of the village. Our (and our descendants') right to this land (after deducting 5 percent for the landless), will however, continue. We will create a Gram Kosh (village fund) by contributing to it one-fourth product of our land. All adults of the village will unite to form the Gram Sabha, which will function either with unanimity or consensus, for the benefit of all people of the village.

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Grarndan movement was considered superior to the Bhoodan movement in the following ways: i) Gramdan, as an economic pleasure, was preferable to Bhoodan, since it was free of several of the economic evils associated with the land gift movement, like increase in sub-division and fragmentation, inefficient cultivation, distribution of poverty, decline in marketable surplus etc. It made possible to apply Sarvodaya principles not only to land, but to the entire life of village community. The difficulties of Bhoodan, such as the donation of uncultivable land, legal and other difficulties of redistribution, are done away with on the basis of need. It made easier to achieve Vinoba's ideal of Sarvodaya Samaj. With gramdan village, it was possible to correlate the Bhoodan movement with economic planning in the country. The Second Plan recognized the fact that the practical success which is achieved in the development in gramdan villages will have great significance for co-operative village development.

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Critical Evaluation of Bhoodan and Gramdan Movement

Critically analyse the Bhoodan and the Gramdan movements, experienced some lacunae are given below: major . , lacunae that led to their decline. ~ h e s e i)

Slow Progress: If we look at the entire period of movement,. we find that the movement slowed down after 1956. It was static in some cases but mostly it went down. In some cases the donors took back their land from the Bhoodan workers for certain reasons. This created doubts in the minds of some people about the continuity of the movement. So, the provision of a small piece of land to landless continues to be a distant goal. Land to Landowners: According to Bhoodan legislation land would be accepted
with a view to distributing it to the landless. According to Bhoodan legislation, a landless person was defined as (a) those having no land; (b) has no other deans of livelihoods except working on land as a labourer; (c) has ability to work on land; and (d) is ready to work himself on land. But in practice, land was

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distributed also to persons engaged in trade and commerce, having no land, and to those who had a piece of land, but not in their own names in the records, but in the names of persons closely related to them. It was also observed that village leaders, or allotting authorities, demanded money from the needy and the poor for recommending their names for allotment. It also created land hunger among landless.

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

iii)

Donations of Disputed and Uncultivated Land: It was noticed that some of

the big landlords donated those land which were unfit for cultivation, either due to poor quality of land or due to uneconomic holdings. It was also observed that majority of these areas were either uncultivated or disputed. It was because land was received by the Bhoodan workers without proper verification. Moreover,. once they secured original donation deeds they did not show much interest in completing the formalities of land transfer.

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Land Donation as 'Bribe': Some of the donors donated their land only to please the Bhoodan workers who were supposed to be the members of the ruling party. If they did not receive any favourable response, they tried togget back their donated land by raising objections at the time of confirmation of the proposals. Also, Bhoodan workers were directly or indirectly, secretly or otherwise, associated with one political party or another. Some of them tried to 'use' the Bhoodan organization as a means to gain dividends at the time of election. Therefore, they were regarded as agents of some party by the people. Lack of Wherewithal: Mere allotment of land to the landless was not sufficient,
unless it was accompanied by the required means to cultivate, which was not always the case. The cultivators could not always arrange loans either from cooperative societies or from indigenous moneylenders on the security of their land.

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Delay in Land Distribution: The pace at which distribution of land was undertaken was very slow due to slow moving administrative and legislative machinery through which a new economic set up was to be put in place, by the Bhoodan movement. With the result, donated land remained idle for a number of years and the revenue for it had to be paid by the donor.

vii) I Creates Uneconomic Holding: The term 'economic holding' is very relative term. It varies in terms of terrain, level of fertility etc. Some of the authorities linked it with family income, standard of living, employment etc. The average size of land given to the landless varied from half an acre to one acre in thickly populated area and, two to three acres in sparsely populated areas. Thus, Bhoodan created more uneconomic holding by giving land to the landless, which was detrimental to any rise in agricultural production. It also checked the diversification of rural elnployment, which was a pre-requisite to the rationalization of agriculture.
These loopholes, slowly and steadily, made the movement dysfunctional and the idea remained more as a philosophy and was never realized fully.

Check Your Progress 1. Note: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.
ii) Check your answer(s) with the text
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In what way Gramdan was superior to Bhoodan movement? Describe any three points.

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Land Reforms in Independent Indka

4.2.2

People's Movement - A Case Study of Land Satygraha in Chhattisgarh

The largest number of absentee landlordism was prevalent in the State of Chhattisgarh. About half of the population of the State are tribals and Harijans. One of the government surveys reveals that the average landholding in Chhattisgarh is 137.47 acres per family, which is six times more than the permissible limit under the land ceiling laws. The reasons for this situation are administrative indifference, nexus of government official with the land mafia and the landlords, lack of political will of the ruling party, capacity of the big landlords and the land mafia to resort to delays by short circuiting the legal procedures etc. These factors forced a large number of the landless (mostly tribals and Harijans) to work as bonded labour in the field of the rich landlords. The Land Satyagraha was launched in 1988 in about 700 villages of Raipur district of Chhatisgarh. This Satyagraha was spearheaded by about 4000 freed bonded labours, who were unionized after their release in 1988. The movement opened up new possibilities of livelihood for a large number of families. Having experienced the repression themselves, they identified the issues to be addressed and also the mode of action. In the process they identified five issues and the mode of action was Satyagraha. The five areas of land problems identified were as follows: i) First, the landless who were provided with ~;rn.r (land ownership document) but did not have physical occupation of land which the government gave to them under the land distribution scheme. Second, those who were occupying a piece of government land, but, did not have Pallas. Third. the Land Reform Act provided for the restoration of land to the tribals. The State of Madhya Pradesh made it mandatory for all the landlords, who occupied the tribal land, to file an affidavit in the court describing the details of and the manner in which they came to possess the tribal land. In case such an affidavit was not field by the landlords by May, 1985 or the official was satisfied that the declaration was false or fraudulent, the government officiaymagistrate was empowered to restore the land of the tribals. However, the process was short circuited by legal delays caused by landlords who went in appeal to the higher courts. But, strangely enough, the government claiming to represent the tribal interest never challenged or intervened in such cases on behalf of the tribals, who did not have the means to know about the case, leave aside fighting legal battles. Four, certain portions of revenue land were shown as forest land in land records. There were thousands of hectares of land under this category. Most of these land "were cultivated by the poor and landless with facing harassment by the politicians and the middlemen. At times. ruling political parties made concessions and provided Pattas to the settlers on such forest land, but only to suit their political interests. Also, this process was not free from corruption. The real beneficiaries were the rich, the powerful, the manipulators like the forest contractors, big landlords and the government officials (often from the high caste) etc. Another dimension added to the misery was that the Pattas allocated by one government was cancelled by another government when it came to power.

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V) Finally, there was the issue of the landless. Most of the landless were tribals and Harijans who were forcibly pushed out of their ancestral land, working as bonded labour because of indebtedness to the rich landlords or village traders. After the New Economic Policy, the land mafia become very active in the regioh. In 1980's 4000 bonded labourers were identified in the district of Raipur.

Apart from the above mentioned five issues, the land Satyagraha was strengthened by the support of a scientific survey of land in the region. Thus, parallel land records were created challenging the fraudulent and false land records maintained by the revenue officials and made available to the people. The first course of action taken by the land Satyagraha was to solve "legal delays", in land reforms. The prominent slogan was "Zumin Ka Faisla, Zumin Par Hoga (All land issues will be settled on the land itself). That is where all the concerned officials, including government officials - from police'to Patwari, Tehsildar to magistrate should come. They adopted novel method of staging dharnas (sit-ins), hunger strikes etc. on the disputed land. The second course of action was court arrest and going to the jail in a peaceful manner. The slogan for this was "Zamin Do Ya Jail Do" (give us land or imprisonment). Thus, for the first time in the history of this region, thousands of landless and small farmers - men and women, courted arrest and went to jail on May Day in 1993, and continued to do so for a fortnight. It was only when government officials refused to arrest people (as there was no room left in Jails) that the people resorted to 'Chakka-Jam'. i.e. blocking the traffic on main roads. Having no other option, the government conceded some of the demands. The third course of action was directly ploughing the fields with or without government intervention. Most of the land which were cultivated included vast areas of disputed land. The slogan for this was "Jaun Khet man nagar Chalahi, wohi khet ke malik how (land to the tiller). People choose 1" July, 1995 to start this act of defiance. On the same day 16 workers of Chhatisgarh Mukti Morcha were killed in an indiscriminate firing while sitting in an agitation in the protest against assassination of labour leader Shankar Guha Niyogi. At almost all the places, the poor, landless, and small farmers went in large numbers with their ploughs and bullocks, to register their claim over the ancestral land. Such programmes of collective cultivation were declared 'well in advance and the people decided to inform the concerned officials about their intent. Such a direct action by the people had mixed outcome. At some places people were able to register their control over the land, whereas in other places the official, in connivance with the landlords and the powerful politician, forcibly dispossessed the people from the land. The land Satyagraha initiated a new dimension, a new movement, among the people to take control over their resources. These Satayagrahas gave them a fresh lease of life over land, which belonged to them. The message was "we are ready to sacrifice our lives for a better tomorrow".

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

Check Your Progress 2 Note: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.
ii) Check your answer(s) with the text
1) What are the five land related problems 'identified by land Satyagrahi in Chhatisgarh. Describe briefly.

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Land Reforms in Independent India

4.2.3

The Pardi Ghasia Satyagraha in Gujarat

Pardi is a taluka in Valsad district of Southern Gujarat where the Satyagraha took place. Ghasia stands for grassland in Gujarati and Satyagraha stands for Gandhian methdd of non-violence struggle for rights, which continued for 15 years from 1952 to 1967. The major problem of Pardi taluka was that three fourth of the total cultivable land was owned by 100 big landlords. These non-cultivating landlords were not interested in agriculture, their primary interest being commercial. A large amount of land had been left as waste, so that grass could be harvested annually for the profitable Bomblay fodder trade. With relatively no investment and with nearly no human efforts, the landlords were able to make attractive income from their grassland. As a result of it, either poor Adivasis were tenant on their own farms and jobless for about 10 months in a year, and they were almost starved for 9 to 10 months in a year. Though, this issue was raised sporadically during the pre-independence period, the real issue was taken up seriously when Iswarbhai Desai, a socialist leader, became aware of grass land problem while in jail. Iswarbhai taught Pardi advasis the basics of Satyagraha during their Jail meeting. Soon after his release, he started traveling extensively in the rural areas to gain a first hand acquaintance with the problem. While visiting different areas of Pardi, he realized that apart from the question of grassland, the adivasis of Pardi were also facing serious problems with regard to their tenancy. Before the Satyagraha was actually launched, the leadership exhausted all other means like giving representation, meeting the concerned Minister and Government Officers, but to no avail. At the beginning of Satyagraha the leadership made it clear that the prime objective was to grow food crops on grasslands and it was categorically simultaneously declared that the question of unequal landownership and redistribution of land was not on their agenda. The Satyagraha began on 1" September, 1953, from the land of a landlord who owned 3000 acres of land in Dumlav village under the leadership of another eminent socialist leader, Ashok Mehta. A group of people, which included an 80 year old adivasi women, entered the private land of a landlord and started tilling the land. Around 1,050 adivasi Satyagrahis, of which almost 95 were women, started the movement. As usual, all those who took part in the Durnlav Satyagraha were arrested. But Satyagraha was so planned that each of the initial participants led the Satyagraha at difierent places on different dates. A month later, Satyagraha took altogether a new turn at a call of boycott of grass cutting work. It was also decided that even outside labour would not be allowed do the work. The strategy worked well as it was difficult for the remaining labourers to cut grass over the whole area. As a result, the grass dried up at many places. With the passing time, slowly but steadily, the movement began to find support among the peopla in general, as also within the political circles. The success of the movement convinced the people started believing that the issues raised by the poor Adivasis were valid, their demands were just and should be met. As public opinion and moral pressure began to mount, the administration initiated action against those landlords who had seized the land of tribals through non-fair means. Government appointed Prof. Driver of the Poona Agriculture College to make detailed investigation into the grassland problem. T h s was followed by the visit of Morarji Desai, the then Chief Minister of Bombay State. After his visit, Morarji Desai expressed his deep concern about 'the problem. Despite all these developments, the actual progress in resolving the issue was very slow. In the next phase of the struggle, two main programmes were taken up. First, total boycott of grass cutting work on the grasslands of big landlords and second, the

demand for a daily-wage-rate of one and a half rupees for grass cutting work on other land owners farm. Kisan Panchayat, which had been leading the movement declared itself to be a non-political body with no affiliation to any political party. When the attempts by the Congress Government and the Congress Party to sabotage the movement did not succeed, there was a change of tactics. The Congress as well as the governments started making overtures to the adivasis as well as to the leaders of the moiement. This was reflected during the second phase of Satyagraha. Though police was present during the picketing, they hardly interfered. The tactics of picketing proved effective as the landlords were forced to hand over another 5000 acres of land to the govemment. Succumbing to the pressure from almost every quarter of Indian public life, in the 1955 Budget, the Bombay Gpvernment envisaged spending Rs. 30 lakh in 3 years for bringing the grasslands of Pardi and Dharampur Talukas under various crops and also decided to form co-operatives of the landless to cultivate these grassland. Morarji Desai formed a committee under a Congress leader. While 'all these happenings continued there was no political will behind these efforts. In the meantime, the Driver Committee Report was submitted and the Bhoodan and Gramdan movements had also started. But the Drivers Committee Report was rejected by the people and the Bhoodan movement did not succeed in the area because of the Ifoor response from the landlords. In 1960, Bombay state was divided into the two new states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Again the satyagrahis started afresh with the new government but the result with no different. The government was again warned in a rally organized on 1st September, 1962 and given a period of 1 year to solve the Pardi problem. On 1st September, 1963, the Satyagraha completed 10" year of its existence. It was declared that if Satyagraha failed, the ultimate step of Dhikti Dhara would be taken, in which the grass would be burned. This created a panic in the govemment, as well as in the Congress party. Government declared that it would implement the recommendations of the Driver Committee, as also of the Ravi Shankar Maharaj Committee. The government also assured that a survey would be carried out in the presence of local peasants and would be completed within the agriculture season. It further said that within six months of the completion of a survey, a decision would be taken and action initiated under the Land Ceiling Act. But the Adivasis and Kisans were not impressed. The Satyagraha continued as per the schedule and Iswarbhai and other Satyagrahi 'were arrested. But, during the same period some important events took place at the national level. Some of the top leaders of the Praja Sarnajwadi Party wished to co-operate with Congress to take a constructive part in the nation building activities. Ashok Mehta was one of the leading proponents, of this idea and he joined hands with Congress. As Ashok Mehta took active part in Satyagraha, it created a lot of confusion among the rank and file of the Satyagrahis. Second important development in Gujarat was that Balwant Rai Mehta took over the charge of Chief Minister. He was compassionate and sincere to solve the problem of Pardi. But a dominant section led by Morarji Desai was not particularly interested. Though the survey work was completed satisfactorily, the govemment did not take only further steps. As a result, the Satyagrahis were left with no option but to go for the next phase of Satyagraha. Ashok Mehta also wanted Iswarbhai to join the Congress. lswarbhai insisted that he would consider it only after a solution was found to solve the problem that he was fighting for the last ten years. To break the impasse, discussion began between Balwant Mehta and Iswarbhai Desai and an agreement was finally reached. The following were the salient features of the agreement. 1) As most of the grassland was suitable for cultivating crops, including paddy, it should be brought under cultivating food crops without any delay. The government expected to acquire about 18,000 acres of land through the Land Ceiling Act.

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

Land Reforms in Independent India

2)

The grassland which would continue to remain with the landlords or tenants under the Land Ceiling Act and which were cultivable, would have to be brought under food crop cultivation. If the landlords or tenants continue to grow grass on these lands, the government would compel them to switch over to food crops. The government was keen to ensure that the land which would be procured under the Land Ceiling Act would be distributed among the landless-and marginal farmers before the arrival of monsoon. The landless, the peasants and the members of co-operative societies who were being rehabilitated on such lands would be provided financial assistance through co-operatives and other means. Central government assistance would also be sought for thls purpose. In case of division of land within joint families, all except the wife and the minors would be declared illegal claimants. Government had cancelled all such divisions from the very beginning and whole measuring area for the implementation of Land Ceiling Act, the land under such artificial division was to be included. The government would take all initiatives for the overall development of the area. Programmes such as land development, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, dairy and cottage industries, would be launched. The concerned departments were to be instructed to formulate relevant schemes.

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5)

6)

After this agreement, Iswarbhai and other Satyagrahi joined the Congress. But soon they were disillusioned because of the apathetic attitude of the Congress, as well as of the Government. The implementation of the agreement was carried out at a snails pace. Though Iswarbhai expressed his anxiety in the Legislative Assembly, but even with the support of Balwant Rai Mehta, and could not force the issue. But the delay provided time to the landlords to rnarshall their defences. Those who were served notices went to court and were successful in defusing the issue.

In the meantime certain unavoidable developments, took place which delayed the matter further. First, War broke out between India and Pakistan in April, 1965 and second, Balwant Rai Mehta died in a plane crash. The new Chief Minister, Hitendra Desai, kept the matter pending till the court verdict. The Gujarat High Court gave its verdict by rejecting the writ of the landlords and gave a ruling that the government had every right under the Land Ceiling Act to declare grasslands conducive for paddy cultivation. Despite the favourable verdict, government did not show any urgency to implement the agreements. Iswarbhai Desai lambasted the lethargic attitude of the government and declared that unless urgency was shown, he would prefer to stay in the Jail, rather than in the Assembly. But he died on 21" March, 1966, on the day the meeting was to take place between him and the government, infact, just 20 minutes before the scheduled time of the meeting.
Finally, it was on ShJuly, 1967, that a final agreement was reached between the government, the landlords and the Satyagrahis. The terms of the agreement were as follows: a) Some land have been declared surplus land under Land Ceiling Act in above four talukas and cases are under proceedings in various courts. There are efforts to bring land under governments management by applying Section 65 of Tenancy Act. Cases have been going on regarding those procurement also. To provide solution to the problem, the three parties agreed that it would be desirable if the landowners hand over 14,000 acres of land to the government to distribute among the landless Adivasis and landowners consented to do so. Out of these, 14,000 acres of land, 6000 acres and some more land will be available to the government under the Land Ceiling Act. If the surplus land under the ceiling act will be less than 6000 acres, the governmerit will take suitable legal action to reach the mark of 6000 acres.

b)

c)

The landlords of the four talukas would then voluntarily surrender the remaining 8000 acres of land to the government. Out of these 8000 acres, the landowners surrendered 2500 acres of land instantly and agreed to handover it over land as and when government needs. The remaining 5500 acres would,be surrendered on or before 20 August 1967.
d

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

The price of these 8000 acres will be fixed by the Chief Minister and that will be agreeable to all landowners. Another 6000 acres of land are to be made available at a price that will be fixed under Land Ceiling Act. All these 14,000 acres of land should be suitable for cultivation and free from all types of encumbrances. The cases filed with regard to Section 65 of Tenancy Act should be withdrawn after surrendering 8000 acres of land. Fifty percent of the residual land that may be retained with landlords should be progressively brought under cultivation within a prescribed period of four years.

Check Your Progress 3 Note: i)

Space is given below for each cpestion for your answer.

ii) Check your answer(s) with the text

1)

Explain the land problem faced by the tribal people of Pardi in Gujarat.

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4.3
4.3.1

MILITANT MASS MOVEMENTS

The Great Land Struggle by Bhartiya Khet Mazdoor Union, All India Kisan Sabha and Communist Party of India

The great land struggle of 1970 was an outstanding event in the development of the agrarian mass movement. Nearly 15 lakh agricultural workers, poor peasants, the tribals, workers and the poor from the towns participated in this struggle. About 75 big farms including those of the Birlas and some of the former princess, were targeted. Trade unions and students, the youth and the women's organizations came forward and directly participated in the struggle. It was the first militant mass movement at the national level a true sense. The joint action committee had formulated the five pronged struggle to be conducted as follows: i) Occupation and cultivation of all types of government land and also the so called forest land including those grabbed by the landlords, the monopolists and the black marketeers.

ii). Resisting eviction of tenants and fighting for reduction of rent and for full ownership rights, as were granted in Kerala by the Achutha Menon government. iii) Restoration of the land to the tribals illegally grabbed by moneylenders and landlords of the plains and still held by them.

Land Reforms in Independent India

iv) Fighting for Pattas for the homestead land and occupation of vacant land of the governmental and big landlords by rural and urban poor for house sites. v) Occupation of the big farms of the monopolists, the former princess, the Zamindars and the Jagirdars and demanding radical amendments to the present ceiling laws and distribution of surplus land to the agricultural workers and the poor peasants.

The sttuggle was carried out in two stages. he first stage, began on 1st July, 1970, where the major aim was to grab the government land and the so-called forest land, and the tribal land, grabbed by others. The resistance against eviction of tenants was also organized. In the second phase which was started on 9" August, 1970, the major objective was to capture huge farms owned by big landlords, and occupy vacant land. The prime aim of this stage was to highlight the fact that land is concentrated in the hands of a few landlords, former princess, zamindars and monopolists and to alert public attention to the urgent need for radical agrarian reforms. In the first stage all the states, except Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and J & K, kept away from participating due to various reasons. In all, about 1,30,000 acres of land were occupied and thousands of people were arrested. In the second stage, again all states, except Assarn (due to heavy flood) and Kerala (due to Midterm election) participated. The highlight of this campaign was the exposure of top monopoly house of Birlas as the biggest land grabber owning about 80,000 acres of land in most of the states in the country. Apart from Birlas, big landlords and monopolists owning thousands acres of land were exposed before the people in different states. In all about 60 big farms were made the target in this campaign.

Significant Outcomes of the Great Land Struggle

While the Bhoodan movement faded away from public memory as well as from the political arena silently, the great land Satyagraha, created ripples, in the public mind as well as in the ruling party. The following were the significant outcomes of the land satyagraha.
1)

Before the land struggle, the central as well as the state government never felt the urgency of solving the land problem. The realization now came with a force. Every state government came out with figures of wastelands and also with some plans about distributing them among the landless agricultural workers and poor peasants. Besides, some forest land was also deregistered and transferred to the revenue department for the distribution. In fact, for the first time, land distribution started in actual practice, and some landless people got Pattas of land. The questions of concentration of land in a few hands became uppermost in the sphere of democratic reforms to be introduced in the country. The exposure of Birlas as the biggest land grabber had its impact. Some of the farms recovered from Birlas were distributed to workers working on the farm (in the case of Pipra farm at Lakhimpur-Kheri in the then U.P. and now Uttaranchal) and to the Purljab Agriculture University (in the case of Birla farm in Ropar). The most significant achievement of the land struggle was the appointment of the Central Land Reform Committee by the Central Government to address agrarian inequalities in the country.

2)

3)

4)

Check Your Progress 4 Note: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.
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ii) Check your answer(s) with the text

1)

Explain the four significant outcomes of the great land struggle.

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4.4
4.4.1

INITIATIVE BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Land for Tillers Freedom (LAFTI), Tamil Nadu

on-~overnmental Initiatives

There are very few organizations in the non-governmental sector which continued working in the field of land reforms. LAFTI is one such organization which is canying forward the mission of Bhoodan movement. Similar to Bhoodan movement which originated in Telengana (Andhra Pradesh) where there was a violent uprising to seize land, LAFTI was conceived in east Thanjavur where landlessness and resultant unrest was high. It is an area of tension and violence where 42 people, mostly women and children, were burnt to death over a wage dispute in Kilavenmani village, on 2Yh December, 1968.

Major Objectives of LAFTI

Major Objectives of L A R I are as follows:
i)

Secure more and more land and distribute it among the landless through democratic means and establishing a new social order. Search for a non-violent solution to the problems of the landless, who suffer because of the numerous redundant legislations of the central and state governments. Bringing the landed and landless to the negotiating table and solving issues in a non-violent way in which LAFTI took upon itself the task of negotiating a reasonable price for the purchase of land.

ii)

iii)

iv) Concretize and organize the people against the illegal holdings and locate the loopholes in land legislation. To attain the above said objectives, various types of activities are undertaken by LAFTI, such as Negotiation between LAFTI and Government Banks; L A m and Resource Mobilization; highlight loophoies in the land ceiling act.

i)

Negotiation among LAFTI, Government Banks and the Government

The major problem of acquiring the land is to pay the cost of the land. To achieve this, LAFTI started negotiating with local level Banks that were otherwise sympathetic to this project. Simultaneously, LAFTI appealed to the government and got the stamp dutymnd registration fees waived and also got a subsidy. By these efforts, LAFTI was able to distribute about 500 acres of land to 500 landless families during 198286. In 1987, LAFTI, as the next step, negotiated with landowners in 19 villages to transfer, 1,112 acres to 1,112 landless families. This time the only problem was to convince central government about the relevance of the land transfer project and persuading them to sanction subsidy. Though this process took a whole year, LAIT1 was able to finally influence the government to agree to the transfer of land to the poor. Generally, the nationalized bank charged a high rate of interest (14%) for offering loan for the land transfer projects. LAFTI appealed to the government of India to reduce the rate of interest to 4% as a relief measure to the poor. LAFTI also f interest till the full loan of the appealed to the donor agencies to bear the burden B land was-repaid by the beneficiaries. LAFTI is presently facing another obstacle from Reserve Bank of India. The Bank authorities are questioning the validity and utility of the land transfer project. The objection against financing the project is that land transfer does not create new assets. But the argument put forward by LAFTI is that land transfer is not mere transfer of individual ownership but a process of mutual sharing between the haves

Land Reforms in Independent India

and the have nots, thus effecting economic justice. Land as an instrument of production is a permanent asset for people who depend on the land resources for their sustenance.

ii)

LAFTI and Resource Mobilization

LAFTI started its own banking scheme, titled "LAFTI Land Bank", by involving 10000 landless farniiies. These 10000 people deposited Re. 1 per day or Rs. 10 per week or Rs. 500 per year for five years. With this money and help from the government in the form of exemption of stamp duties and registration fees, L A R I planned to transfer 500 acres of land per year to the landless families. With government subsidy, LAFTI Bank had a vision of transferring, 10000 acres in 10 years.
iii)

Highlighting the Loopholes in the Land Ceiling Act

LAFTI is exposing the exemption clauses and recommending that government should enact the necessary laws to plug all the loopholes to recover the expected 60 million acres under the land ceiling act. An Ordinance against bena~nitransactions was promulgated but could not secure an inch of land throughout India. LAFTI petitioned the President of India pointing out the weaknesses in the ordinance and suggested the following remedial measures.

i)

The government should devise methods and means to identify and list out the benamidars in order to. a) distinguish among the benamidars, those who are below the poverty line. b) confer ownership only to those who are below the poverty line. c) Take away the surplus and fallow land and distribute them to the landless. Another loophole in the land legislation is the exemption clause for groves1 orchads, called thopu in Tamil. Even beetel, coconut, mango and tamarind which are actually commercial crops, are cultivated in large tracts to escape from the Land Ceiling Act. Landlords often converted fertile rice field to grow casuarinas which is used for firewood and depriving the landless poor of employment. LAFTI is advocating for removal of exemption clause for thopu so that all this land can be taken over for distribution to the landless poor. Besides the above said methods, the other method by which the landowner circumvents the Land Ceiling Act is the transfer of land in the name of religious and public trusts. LAFTI pleads that such spurious trusts in the name of schools, hospitals and dharmashalas be taken over by the government for redistribution.

ii)

iii)

LAFTI experiment in east Thanjavur is a pilot project which can be experimented in other parts of the country like, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh etc. where land misdistribution is the cause of soqial inequality and unrest. Already the revenue authorities from Bihar are enquiring about the activities of LAFTI so that the same methodology can be adopted. Hopefully, LAFTI's programme can be adopted by 'other states and may become a nationwide movement, thus establishing a nonviolent, people-oriented strategy towards solving the land problem.

Check Your Progress 5 Note: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.

ii) Check your answer(s) with the text

1)
'

Describe in brief, the various activities undertaken by LAFTI in the area of land reform.

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4.4.2

~ h u - ~ d h i k Abhiyan ar - A Case Study of Ekta parishad in Madhya Pradesh

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

Ekta Parishad is an NGO, which was registered in 1984 in then Madhya Pradesh. Since its inception it has expanded its activities in the state, and in other states also. The approach of the Ekta Parishad has been a broad-based people's movement for their own empowerment. Thus, the Ekta Parishad has been able to mobilize large number of underprivileged people, including the tribal, the dalits and other backward communities. Most of its movements are based on the principles of "Samvad, Sangharsh, Rachna " (dialogue, struggle and construction). Ekta Parishad calls upon the government to implement people-oriented development policies by involving the affected people at the policy formulation. Ekta Parishad also appreciates the crucial importance of mass struggle for radical changes in social structure. Apart from the control over resources, Ekta Parishad also highlights other significant problems like gender discrimination, onslaught on positive aspects of local culture, corruption in the government delivery system etc. But their major struggle is against the state machinery, the landlords and the land mafia and other power groups, who are enjoying and allowing uninhibited plunder on natural resources, thus forcing the Dalits and the Adivasis out of cultivations which has been their source of livelihood for centuries. Ekta Parishad has launched a people's movement with the following objectives.
1)

To oppose the policy of inviting tenders from private companies, instead of giving land to the landless. To scrap the afforestation programmes funded by the World Bank. To regularize and settle the land problems by giving Pattas to occupant cultivators by a suitable land officer as per the directive of the Supreme Court. To secure the right to the traditional land of the cultivators by a suitable land officer as per the directive of Supreme Court. To enforce joint ownership of husband and wife on the property. To re-evaluate the criteria set by the government for the cases involving settlement of forest land, which the cultivators have been occupying since the 1980's. To resolve the problems of settlement of revenue land. To resolve land problems of any other kind.

2)

3)
4)

5)
. 6)

7) 8)

Ekta Parishad conducted field surveys across the six regions of the then Madhya Pradesh over a couple of years regarding the land problems. They found that there were two major problems, which mostly confronted the Advasis and Dalits. i) ii) Settlement problems of non-occupant Patta-holders as well as illegal occupancy; and Illegal selling of land belonging to the Advasis.

It was in response to above noted scenario that Ekta Parishad organized a 'BhuAdhikar' rally on 10" December, 1996, which was the Human Rights Day. According to the Ekta Parisha, land problem is the crux of all the problem because control over land and forest was so important for the livelihood of those people. Various mass organizations like Rashtriya Majdoor Gramin Abhiyana Samiti, Chhatisgarh Mukti Morcha, Narmada Bachao Andolan etc. participated in the rally. Later they submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, stating the above-mentioned eight points. But nothing happened. After exactly one year i.e. 10h December, 1997, Ekta Parishad called a convention of Adivasis heads of villages in Bhopal to protest against the World Bank sponsored Mega Project - the Madhya Pradesh Forest Project. According to the project document, "Joint Forest Management" with stress on people's participation

Land Reforms in Independent India

was supposed to be the key principle behind the project. However, a closer look at the oocio-economic and cultural aspects, brought to the fore glaring deficiencies. The project was not only anti-people, being insensitive to their aspiration and livelihood, it was also environment unfriendly as it facilitated uninhibited exploitation of forest. resdurces by commercial interest. Again, they submitted a emorandum to the Chief Minjster, which enlisted demands ranging from resolution of and problems to scrapping of the forestry project. Instead of government addressing the problem, a mid-term review committee for the forestry project was constituted wdich was again meaningless and an eyewash.

Ekth Parishad is still today fighting with the government 2nd other power groups for providing land rights for the survival and livelihood of the adivasis and the dalits of Madhya Pradesh.
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Check Your Progress 6 N'ote: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.
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ii) Check your answer(s) with the text

State the major objectives behind Bhu-Adhikar Abhiyan lunched by Ekta Parishad.

1)

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4.5

AN EVALUATION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL INITIATIVES IN LAND REFORMS

After the detailed discussion about various efforts made by non-governmental sector, whether a movement like the Bhoodan and the Gramdan, formation of registered NGOs like LAFTI or Ekta Parishad, let us evaluate the non-governmental initiatives.

1)

Number of initiatives are few and far between

I

If we look at the various initiatives taken in the country since independence, it is clear that compared to the number of NGOs working in the areas of education, health, and rural development, there are few non-governmental initiatives in land reforms. There is no dearth of organizations who are working in the area of agriculture or rural development, but they do not talk about land reforms.

2)

Nature and magnitude of movement is restricted

The geographical area of influence and the number of people covered by the movement are restricted. As discussed earlier, there are very few movements which have All India Character. Except Bhoodan and Grarndan and the great land struggle by Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, All India k s a n Sabha, and Communist Party of India, all other movements have been local and very few have had any regional impact.
3)

The issue of land reforms has not been in the priority list of various organisations representing agriculture or farmers.

There are various reasons for the silence the national level farmers organization or the farmers organization working at the state or regional levels about the land refonn.

problem. Second, they do not want to touch this contentious issues, which needs longer time. Irony is that most of these farmers organizations talk about either subsidy for various inputs or Minimum Support Price for the output which have direct significance for their interests. The big landlords form nexus with politicians and some of them get elected to the Parliament and to the Legislative Assemblies and even become Ministers. 4)

Land Reforms in India Non-Governmental Initiatives

Lack of Political will

With the passing time most of the political parties and sbecially ruling party, have fair amount of leadership from among the landlord class. So they tried to protect their interest. While the land issue is discussed in a token way by political parties, especially at the time of election, the issue is not raised with any amount of seriousness of any form. Paradox is that, in the name of development, liberalizations and globalization, we are taking away the only small piece of land owned by the tribals, dalits, etc. who are landless. Therefore, today there are some remaining organizations working in central India, are mostly backed by left organization.

Check Your Progress 7 Note: i) Space is given below for each question for your answer.
ii) Check your answer(s) with the text

1)

critically evaluate non-governmental initiatives in the area of land reform.

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4.6

LET US SUM UP

Non-governmental initiatives in the area of land reform are few and far between. This indirectly reflects the lack of priority in govemment agenda. With the onset of liberalization, privatization and globalization, land reform has taken a back seat, even though seiiousness of the problem remains.

I'f we broadly categorise the non-governmental initiatives in terms of scale of operation,

there were very few non-governmental initiatives that have an all India character, except the Bhoodan and Gramdan movements led by Vinoba Bhave and his sarvodaya workers, and the great land struggle by the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, the All India fishan Sabha and the Communist Party of India. But both these categories of movements occurred during 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Means used by both the movements were diagonally opposite. If Bhoodan movement was voluntary and peaceful, the great land struggle adopted protest, strike and some violent means to achieve the goals. Both the movements have had some success. But it seems that politically the great land struggle has had more impact, as it forced the central as well as state govemment to sit up and recognize the seriousness of the problem and attempted some action in that direction. Apart from these two all India movements, the others have been sporadic activities, mostly backed by socialists and left organisation. The organisations were active in central India, perhaps because problem has been very acute in this area. The initiatives, which have had some impact, were Pardi Ghasia Satyagraha in Gujarat and Land Satyagraha in Chhattisgarh. Out of these three, the last two are still active. Most of

Land Reforms in Independent India

the workers of these two movements were from the tribes and came from the backward castes who had sufferer from land alienation. There are a few organizations, working in this area which are duly registered. We have discussed two such NGOs, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Madhya Pradesh. The NGO in Tamil Nadu is specially working in this area for the last four decades with fair amount of success. Land for Tillers Freedom (LAFTI) is the non-governmental organization working in this area since 1968 with some innovative programmes. Some of their programmes are resource mobilization and for acquiring new land; highlighting loopholes in the land ceiling act, negotiating with governments and public undertaking banks etc. The other NGO, the Ekta Parishad, in Madhya Pradesh, works for the Dalits and the Adivasis who have been the worst sufferer. Ekta Parishad started Bhu-Adhikar Abhiyan gained some success. There are very few success stories in non-governmental initiatives in the area of land reform. Except a few left parties, most of the political parties in India do not have land reforms in their agenda. Even organizations that are worktng in this area like Bharatiya Kisan Union, Karnataka Rajya Ryotwari Sangathan, Shethkari Sangathan etc. also do not raise this issue in a vigorous manner.

4.7

KEY WORDS
It refers to the donation of land and donation of entire village It refers to land ownership document Gandhian Method of non-violence struggle for rights.

Bhooddn and Gramdan : Pattas Satyagraha

:
:

4.8

SUGGESTED READINGS

Desai, A.K. ed. (1986), Agrarian Struggle in India after lmpendence, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Desai, Kiran (2002), Land Reforms through Peoples' Movements in Shah, Ghansyam and Shah D.C. (eds) Land Reforms in India, Performance and Challenges in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Vol. 8, Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Doctor, Adi, H. (1967), Sarvodaya: A Political and Economic Study, Asia Publishing House, Bombay. Ekta Parishad (2002), A Perspective on Land and Forests in Madhya Pradesh in Praveen K. Jha (ed.); Land Reforms in India: Issues of Equity in Rural Madhya Pradesh, Vol. 7; Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Jaganathan, S (2003), Land for Tillers Freedom: A Humane Approach to the Land Problem, in Thangaraj M (ed.) Land Reforms in India, Tamil Nadu: An Unfinished Task, Vol. 9, Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Sail, Rajendra K (2002), Peoples Struggle for land-A Case study, in Praveen K Jha (ed.), Land Reforins in India: Issues of equality in Rural Madhya Pradesh, Vol. 7, Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Srivastava, S.K. et al., (1970), Agricultural Economic and Co-operation, Sultan Chand and Co., New Delhi.