Land Policy formulation through Planning Period
Plan Period | Major Issue | Policy Thrust |
First Plan 1951 – 56 | Area under cultivation to be increased. Community Development (CD) networks to take care of the village commons. Vast uncultivated lands locked under large sizes of holdings. | Land reforms to bring in the fallow under cultivation and increase land use efficiency. Tenant to be given the rights to cultivate land. Abolition of intermediaries. |
Second Plan 1956 - 61 | Concern about vast rain fed agriculture, low land productivity and thrust on irrigated agriculture. | Soil conservation as an important programme. First phase of land reform implementation. Irrigation development for the rain fed areas. Training and extension work for the technology through CD. |
Third Plan 1961 – 66 | Food security concern dominated. Cultivable waste land to be brought under cultivation. Bringing the | Area development as an approach. Intensive area development programme adopted for selected districts. An |
lagging regions under mainstream growth. | integrated land policy approach was inherent. Soil surveys were taken up. | |
Fourth Plan 1969 - 74 | Emphasis on food security continued as minimum dietary requirements to be met. Incentives were created for diversion of land towards food crops and enhancing the capacity of such land. Domination of large holding sizes and low allocation and technical efficiency. | Increased emphasis on irrigation and soil conservation in dry land regions and technological change introduced. Higher cropping intensity the main concern. Second phase of land reforms with land ceiling acts and consolidation of holding. Institutional changes brought in. |
Fifth Plan 1974 – 79 | Problems of degradation land management in irrigated command areas surfaced. Drought prone areas attracted attention. | Drought-prone area development. Desert area Development programmes, and soil conservation started and further enhanced. New impetus to dry farming. |
Sixth Plan 1980 – 85 | Underutilization of land resources. Drought prone areas continued to attract attention. Attention lagging areas on the background of green revolution required cultivation | Land and water management programme under drought-prone area programme in selected areas. |
Seventh Plan 1985 - 90 | Soil erosion and land degradation surfaced as major issues. Land going out of cultivation. Deforestation and degradation of forest lands. | Soil and water conservation and averting land degradation. Specific attention to degraded lands. Wastelands Development programmes. Long-term view of land management. |
Eighth Plan 1992 - 97 | Dry land and rain fed areas requiring attention. Degradation of land in irrigated command areas. Peoples' participation surfaced as major issue in land management at village level. | Emphasis on watershed approach. Soil conservation merged with watershed programmes. Agro climatic regional planning approach incorporated. |
Ninth Plan 1997 - 2002 | Land degradation increased significantly. Integrating Watershed Development Programme across various components. Rethinking on land reforms. Gap between potentials and actual crop yields need to be bridged. Need for a long-term policy document. | Bringing the underutilized land under cultivation. Management of wastelands. Maintenance of village commons. Decentralized land management system. Panchayat Raj institutions to manage the village lands. Rethinking on land legislation. |
Tenth Plan 2002-07 | Land Acquisition, Forest Land, Land record, urban land etc. | SEZ Act, Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules, 2007 etc. |
Eleven Plan 2007-12 | Land records management | Merge the two existing Centrally- sponsored schemes of Computerization of Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration & Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) and to replace them with a modified Centrally- sponsored scheme in the shape of the National Land Records Modernization |
Programme (NLRMP). | ||
Twelve Plan 2012-17 | Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement | LARR 2013 |
Following the recommendation of Kumarappa Committee; the Indian National Congress appointed the Agrarian Reforms Committee under the Chairmanship of J.C. Kumarappa, for making an in-depth study of the agrarian relations prevailing in the country and the states enacted legislation for the abolition of intermediary tenures in the 1950s, although the nature and effects of such legislation varied from state to state.
The Bhoodan movement was launched in 1951. Vinoba Bhave hoped to eliminate private ownership of land through Bhoodan and Gramdan and maintained that the movement would go a long way to ensure just redistribution of land, consolidation of holding and their joint cultivation.
In May 1955, the Planning Commission set up a panel on land reforms under the chairmanship of Gulzarilal Nanda for reviewing the progress of land reforms in the country. The committee made recommendations related to absolute limit to the quantum of agricultural land (ceiling), inducting capital investment for land, encouraging personal cultivation, ending uncertainty in land sector; and providing work and security to the landless.
The chronological analysis of the all Five-Year Plans makes it clear that since the inception of planning in India, the approach to rural development and land reforms focussed on areas like consolidation of holdings, redistribution of ceiling surplus lands and wastelands, tenancy reforms, making legal provision for giving private land on lease for cultivation and agri-business; computerisation, updation and improvement of land records, recognition of women's rights in land etc.
In the wake of economic reforms, land reforms appear to have taken a back seat in India. Sometimes even the philosophy of redistribution of land through land reforms is questioned. However, the argument that land reforms stand in the way of market-led growth appears to be misplaced. The experience of countries like Japan and Korea shows that land reforms can help in faster and more sustainable development of capitalistic agriculture, without creating much pain for the rural population. But market-led economic reforms, not accompanied by land reforms, could be painful for the rural poor and may not be sustainable in the long run.
India's land policy interventions during the last five decades can be assessed based on their impact on various parameters, including alleviation of poverty, conflict management and equity, sustainable economic development, environmental impact, and production efficiency. The land policy interventions have had varying impacts across the states, depending in large part on the agrarian situation and the extent to which a given policy was implemented.
5.2.1. Digital India Land Record Modernization Programme
The Land Reforms (LR) Division was implementing two Centrally Sponsored Schemes viz.: Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) & Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR). Later in 2008, the Cabinet approved merger of these schemes into a modified scheme named Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) or NLRMP. The main aims of DILRMP are to usher in a system of updated land records, automated and automatic mutation, integration between textual and spatial records, inter- connectivity between revenue and registration, to replace the present deeds registration and presumptive title system with that of conclusive titling with title guarantee.
The DILRMP has 3 major components:
a) Computerization of land record
b) Survey/re-survey
c) Computerization of Registration
The District has been taken as the unit of implementation, where all programme activities are to converge. It is hoped that all districts in the country would be covered by the end of the 12th Plan period except where cadastral surveys are being done for the first time.