7/5/2015

India : Agriculture Knowledge by indiaagronet

Land Tenure Systems

Land Tenure Meaning:

AgriKnowledge
(Agri
Economics)

Land tenure refers to the way in which land is held by an individual from the
Government. It shows the relationships between the land holder and the State.
The absolute ownership of land rests with the Government. Government gives
proprietary rights to individuals or communities. Thus, whom we call a land owner,
is in that sense is the proprietor of that land and he has to pay land renew for
that.
History of Land Tenures in India:
In ancient times, the State of India claimed a share of the produce of the land
from the cultivator. The laws of Manu mention one sixth of the gross produce at
the legitimate share of the King. During the war and other emergencies, it was
increased to one fourth.
The institute set up by Timur represented the first systematic attempt in the
direction of converting the States share of the produce into money. Sher-shah
made some improvement. However, it remained incomplete due to his short reign.
The most famous settlement was made under Akbar by his able Finance Minister,
Todarmal. While fixing the revenue, scientific and detailed investigation was made
to assess the taxable capacity of different soils. Land was carefully measured and
divided into four classes representing different grades of fertility. The
Governments share was fixed as one-third of the gross produce. Thus, Mughals
did not introduce any fundamental changes in the ancient revenue system but put
a coherant system in place of customary and unwritten usages of the Hindu
administration.
Malik Amber of Ahmednager made similar improvements in the Deccan. He fixed
one-third of the gross value of produce as the revenue. Maratha rulers continued
the system. They fixed `Kamal or the maximum rates for the best lands. The
assessment was not permanent in majority of the cases. However, `Miras tenure
was subject to the payment of fixed assessment.
In the declining days of Mughal Empire, the control over the revenue officials
became weak. The flow of income started declining. So, the system called
revenue farming was introduced in Bengal in the reign of Farukhsiyer (1713-19).
Under this system, the revenue farmer paid the Government nine-tenth of the
whole collection and kept the rest as his collection charges. However, in the later
period, the right of collecting land revenue for a pargana or a district was sold by
public auction to the highest bidders. Due to this, the exploitation of the
cultivators started. The revenue farmers became more dominant. This revenue
farming system which started during the Mughal rule in Bengal was soon extended
to other parts of the country.
In Deccan, Nana Fadanis, in the later part of the 18th Century, had introduced a
revenue system which was very efficient and equitable. It was universally
recognised.
The revenue farming system even came to the Deccan. In Konkan, the Khots who
were earlier revenue farmers acquired landlord rights. In United Provinces and in
Punjab revenue farmers succeeded in acquiring certain overlord rights.
http://www.indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/agri_economics/CONTENTS/Land%20Tenure.htm

1/4

7/5/2015

India : Agriculture Knowledge by indiaagronet

The disorders in the revenue administration resulted in many complexities of land

tenures and rights.
Land Tenures under British Rule:
Under British Rule, there were three main types of land tenure systems in India.
They were Zamindars, Mahalwari and Rayatwari.

i. Zamindari: This system was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal in 1973.

Under this system, the lands of a village or few villages was held by one
person or few joint owners who were responsible for payment of land
revenue to the Government. There used to be number of intermediaries
between the Zamindars and the actual tillers of the soil. The system took
were various forms such as Zamindari, Jagirdari, Inamdari, etc. In many
cases revenue collectors were raised to the status of land owners. This
system was introduced in many parts of the country. In this system, tillers
of the soil were exploited by way of exhorbitant rents. There were no
incentives for them to improve the land or to use better cultivation
practices. There were many other social evils of the system. It is said that
the British introduced Zamindari system to achieve two objectives. First, it
helped in regular collection of land revenue from a few persons i.e.
Zamindars. Secondly, it created a class of people who would remain loyal to
the British ruler in the country.

ii. Mahalwari: Under this system, the village lands were held jointly by the
village communities, the members of which were jointly and severally
responsible for the payment of land revenue. Land revenue was fixed for the
whole village and the village headman (Lumberdar) collected it for which he
received Panchatra i.e. 5 per cent as commission.

iii. Rayatwari: It was introduced by Sir Thomas Munro first in Madras state and
then in Bombay State. In this system, there was a direct relationship
between Government and the tenant or Rayat i.e. individual land holder.
Every registered holder was recognised as its proprietor and he could sell or
transfer the land. He was assured of permanent tenure as long as he paid
the land revenue. The land holder was also allowed to sublet his land. It was
a better system as compared to Zamindari or Mahalwari and similar other
forms of tenure.
Though we have discussed the above three main systems of land tenure, there
was lot of intermixing of characteristics of these systems. It is said that these
three systems gravitated towards the tendencies of the Zamindari system. The
Mahalwari system in states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh subletting and
rock renting became common. It became common even in the Rayatwari areas.
There was no proper revenue record. This was the situation which prevailed at the
time of independence.
Post-independence Period:
Our leaders had thought about the need for land reforms even prior to
independence. For instance, the Agrarian Reforms Committee under Shri
J.C.Kumarappa had given the guidelines for the formulation of land reform policies
in the independent India. The committee recommended that

i. all intermediary interest should be abolished and land should belong to

the tiller;
http://www.indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/agri_economics/CONTENTS/Land%20Tenure.htm

2/4

7/5/2015

India : Agriculture Knowledge by indiaagronet

ii. leasing of land should be prohibited except in case of widows, minors

and other disabled persons.

iii. All the tenants who had been cultivating land for a period of 6 years
should be granted occupancy rights

iv. The tenants should have the right to purchase the holdings at
reasonable price to be determined by the land tribunal;

v. The agrarian economy should provide an opportunity for the

development of the farmers.
Abolition of Zaminari and Intermediaries Acts;
Indias First Five year plan has clearly mentioned the land policy and the specific
land reform measures to be undertaken. Most of the states passed the legislations
for abolition of zamindari and similar exploitative land tenure systems. The first act
in this respect was passed in Madras in 1948. The other states followed it. Now
land tenure systems like Zamindari, Mahalwari, Jagir, Inam, etc. are abolished in all
the states in the country.
It has been said that in implementation of land reforms, this first and the important
step of abolition of zaminari was completed peacefully.
As a result of abolition of Zaminari and intermediaries, about 26 lakh intermediaries
and 20 lakh tenants got proprietory rights of lands i.e. they became the land
owners. This has resulted in improving their economic and social conditions. The
land revenue income of the states also increased.
Tenancy reforms:
Tenancy refers to the relation between the land holder (owner) and the actual
tiller of the soil. Many of the land owners did not cultivate their lands personally
but gave it to some tiller and took rent for that. They were absentee landlords.
The tenancy prevailed in all forms of land tenure systems including Rayatwari
system. The main reason was the increase in the population of landless labourers.
In 1951, of the total families dependent on agriculture, as many as 23.6 per cent
families belonged to the tenant class. The National Sample Survey (8th round)
indicated that the lands leased out varied from 11 per cent to 26 per cent of the
total, in different states. The tenants were exploited by the land owners by way
of heavy rents (50 per cent or even 2/3rd of the produce). There was no
protection of tenure (evictions on minor pretexts). Thus, there were no incentives
for tenants to make land improvements or to increase production. This
necessitated enacting the legislation for tenancy reforms. Tenancy Acts were
passed in most of the States, they provided for

i. regulation of rents
ii. security of tenure, and
iii. confirment of ownership on tenants.
Bombay State promptly enacted the legislation as early as in 1950. As regards the
regulation of rents, different states fixed different rates. For instance, in Bombay
(Maharashtra), Gujarat and Rajasthan, one-sixth of the grass produce has been
http://www.indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/agri_economics/CONTENTS/Land%20Tenure.htm

3/4

7/5/2015

India : Agriculture Knowledge by indiaagronet

fixed as the maximum rent; while in Punjab rent fixed is one-third of the produce.
It was found that there were large scale evictions of tenants on the plea of
resumption for personal cultivation.
As reported in the draft fourth five year plan, as a result of tenancy legislations in
India, 3 million tenants or share croppers became the land owners. Uttar Pradesh
was in the forefront in this respect. The next state in order is Maharashtra where
13.56 lakh tenants got the ownership rights of about 32 lakh hectares of land by
September, 1992.
Protection of tenants and regulation of rent is the first step in the tenancy
reforms. The ultimate object of the reform is "land to the tiller". The Tenancy Acts
have been moved in that direction.
It could be said that the land reform measures adopted by the States soon after
independence, provided a sound basis for agricultural developments that took
place in the country in the later period.

http://www.indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/agri_economics/CONTENTS/Land%20Tenure.htm

4/4