Why the recent initiatives by the Government of India haven’t been able to resolve the problems of land reforms comprehensively? Give an account on policy measures that are required for comprehensive land reforms. (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· The land reform legislations in post-Independence India consisted of redistribution of surplus land from the rich to the poor, abolition of intermediaries, security of tenure to tenants (and tenancy regulations) and consolidation of landholdings.
· As per the Agriculture Census 2010-11, there are 138.35 million farm-holdings in India, of which 92.8 million are marginal (<1 ha) and 24.8 million are small (1-2 ha).
Flaws in Land reforms
· PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) is one of the largest income support schemes for small-holder farmers in the world, the initiative does not cover landless agricultural labourers and the sharecroppers/tenants, unavailability of credible records.
· The model Land Leasing Act doesn’t specify the rent on leased land and the period of lease and has rightly left it to the concerned parties in the land lease market without any interference from the government.
· Restrictive land leasing legislations in many parts of the country have led to informal and concealed tenancies without security of tenure. This has ultimately resulted in impeding investments in the agriculture sector and, thus, impacted agri-productivity.
· The poor maintenance of land records and slow pace of digitisation of land revenue administration is negatively impacting agriculture.
Required policy measures
· Ensuring effective modernisation and digitisation of land records, the computerisation of land records, land-property transactions via Bhoomi Rashi portal is the need of the hour.
· High resolution satellite imagery coupled with ground truthing (information collected on location) has also been suggested for the survey operations.
· Aadhaar is uniquely positioned to assist the ongoing process of modernising land records to validate land assets.
· The titling of land would require a massive upgradation of land records and existing processes through computerisation, capacity building of stakeholders and amending the appropriate land laws.
· This can be carried out in the PPP mode, as already demonstrated in few states of India.
· An updated record of ownership would help farmers avoid land-related litigations.
Ensuring food and nutrition security and tackling the looming threat of climate change makes land reforms necessary. A land reforms agenda, particularly the land leasing legislations and updated land records, should receive the highest priority to increase incomes of smallholders, tenant farmers and sharecroppers.
