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During the ancient as well as medieval period, the principal unit of land settlement in India was the village. Land was never considered to be the property of the King or the Sultan; it was the property of the village, the entitlement of the King being limited to a share of usufruct for the protection he gave in return. Since land revenue was the main source of state revenue, the village became the agency for collection and unit of revenue assessment.
At the time of independence, there were three types of land tenure system prevailing in the country - the zamindari system, the mahalwari system, and ryotwari system. The basic difference in these systems was regarding the mode of payment of land revenue. In zamindari system, land revenue was collected from the farmers by zamindar, in mahalwari system by the village headman on behalf of the whole village, while in ryotwari system the land revenue was paid to the state directly by the farmers.
As a result of these systems, some features pervaded pre-independent India like feudal agrarian structure, exploitation, low agricultural productivity, shortage of food grains and unbalanced cropping pattern. These land systems were based on exploitation with difference only in degree, decreasing in order from zamindari to ryotwari. A small group of large landowners, including absentee landlords had land rights. The vast majority of cultivators did not have any right or had limited rights as tenants or sub-tenants. The poor mostly leased-in land for subsistence. If the tenants used improved seeds, manure or extra labour, they had to share half of the increased produce with the landlords. Even before independence it was widely recognised that the main cause of stagnation and social injustice in economy was the stagnation in the agricultural sector and this stagnation could, to a large extent, be attributed to exploitative agrarian relations. When India became independent, policy makers felt the system of cultivation by tenants had to be overhauled as it was highly exploitative.