1. Introduction

The genesis of the structure of power and authority in rural India can be traced to land. There is an ever-changing relationship between land, power and people. The shifting nexus between the rural elite and agrarian power structure centres around issues relating to land, which is one of the primary sources of existence in as much that land provides basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter to man.

The value of land is ever increasing and requires little renewal and replacement. Due to this basic utility, economists tend to treat land as a special kind of property. In a narrow sense, land reform means the distribution of surplus land to small farmers and landless tillers, accrued as a result of the implementation of the ceiling on agricultural holdings. More broadly, it includes regulation of ownership, operation, leasing, sales, and inheritance of land (indeed, the redistribution of land itself requires legal changes).

Land reforms have been major instruments of social transformation, especially in an economy based on feudal and semi-feudal production relationships. The main objective of land reform programme is not only to increase agricultural production, but also to build an egalitarian social order as contemplated under the Constitution of India. Thus, land and land reform issues are the focal point of the political and economic agenda of the country. This also lays a sound foundation for variable growth, to enable India to compete in the global market. A land reform policy is fundamentally a politico-economic issue and in most cases it is the result of a peoples’ movement.