Latest stories

In a year of conflict, future of war looks much like its past

The return of US isolationism

China autonomous driving leads Apple, tests NVIDIA

The revenue rate was fixed at a very high level, which was unsustainable and led to mass evictions, poverty, and hardships among the cultivators. As land became a mobile commodity, many peasants became landless, and zamindars became wealthy.

The caste system

In every society, the interconnectedness of class and land serves as a crucial indicator of wealth distribution. However, in India, wealth distribution is further shaped by the intricate influence of caste.

I have discussed in detail the caste system and its influence on Indian society. The zamindar system significantly contributed to the widening wealth divide, with a majority of zamindars belonging to the upper castes.

Issues related to peasants were an important part of the freedom movement, such as Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran movement in 1917 against forced indigo cultivation. Post-independence, Indian leaders were in consensus that land reforms would address poverty eradication and wealth inequality, and foster equitable development, given the predominantly rural and agrarian nature of India.

In 1947, Bihar became the first state to pass a Zamindari Abolition Act, transferring land rights from zamindars to the state. However, subsequent land reforms faced complexities involving rules, data, laws, and litigations.

The slow implementation was exacerbated by a majority of national leaders and bureaucrats, predominantly belonging to the upper castes, who were either zamindars themselves or closely related, further hindering the process.

Failure of India's first land reform

Despite the implementation of the Zamindari Abolition Act, many former zamindars retained a significant portion of their land.

The objective of providing land to the landless, set 70 years ago, has seen limited change on the ground. For example, in Punjab, upper castes, mostly Jat Sikhs who constitute 25% of the state population, own 80% of the land, while 32% of the Dalit (lower caste) population own only 3.5% of the private land, according to the Agriculture Census of 2015-16 . The national average is 8.6% of farmland for 16.6% of Dalits.

In Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state, upper castes, mainly Thakur and Brahmin, who constitute 17% of the population, own 26% of the land. Similarly, in Bihar, Bhumihars (2.8% of the population) own 39% of the land.

According to a survey by BAMCEF (All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation), the top four upper castes in Bihar (15% of the population) own a staggering 78 % of the land, highlighting significant caste-based land ownership imbalances.

The land reforms intended to help the disadvantaged are subverted by vested interests who dominate the country's politics and bureaucracy. Addressing this wealth disparity requires a renewed effort to implement comprehensive land reforms with accurate data.

Need for a Mandal-like commission

Insufficient land data and a weak institutional infrastructure, including land records offices, and tribunals contribute to the failure of past land reforms, perpetuating India's feudalistic society. Land reforms are crucial for the transition from feudal to modern capitalist societies.

India is one of the most unequal countries in the world, where the top 1% own 22% of the nation's income while the bottom 50% own 13%.