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Consolidation of holdings was one of the important steps towards land reforms. It was envisaged with the set objective to increase the agricultural efficiency and production of all category of farmers. Consolidation of holdings means to bring together in compact block, all the fields of land of a farmer which are well scattered in different parts of the village. Under the scheme, all land in the village is first pooled into one compact block and it is divided into smaller blocks called chaks, and allotted to individual farmer. This is a useful scheme which helped in overcoming the problem of fragmentation of holdings. But unfortunately, the scheme has not been implemented in all the states of the country. There are many hurdles in the implementation of consolidation of holdings in some of the states. Some points which are coming in the way of implementation of consolidation of holdings are as under.
(i) Farmers are emotionally attached to their ancestral land, anti therefore, they are not willing to take advantage of the scheme of consolidation of holding.
(ii) Those farmers who own good quality of land do not like the scheme for fear of getting the inferior and poor quality of land after the consolidation.
(iii) Consolidation of holdings is a cumbersome process. The government officials who implement the scheme are generally slow and often corrupt.
(iv) In general, the scheme did not receive the desired support and co-operation from the farmers.
(v) The scheme has paved way for litigation and court cases, many of which are pending in different courts for a long time. This vitiates the serene atmosphere of the rural areas.
(vi) Under the existing law of inheritance, the fields continue to be smaller and fragmented.
(vii) In every consolidation, about 5 to 10 per cent of the village land is taken out for providing-house sites to the weaker sections of society, approach roads (chak-roads) and village utility services. Hence, if the process is repeated three or four times, a sizable portion of the agricultural land would go out of agriculture.
(viii) The cost of consolidation is realised from the farmers which has adverse effect on their resources and economy.
(ix) It has been observed that the small farmers are generally allotted inferior quality of land, and due to lack of money power, they are neither able to please the officials nor get justice in the court.
Looking at these drawbacks, efforts should be made to remove these barriers and pitfalls in the scheme of consolidation of holdings to modernise the system of keeping revenue records. In the Seventh Five-Year Plan emphasis was laid on (i) scientific survey of the un surveyed land, (ii) registering the name of tenant and share cropper in land records, (iii) strengthening the revenue system at the lowest level, and (iv) providing training facility to revenue officials to improve their efficiency. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan, it was decided to use computer and new techniques for keeping and maintaining and updating revenue records, proper recording of land rights, tenancy and causes of rural unrest and restriction on the sale and purchase of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Land reforms also include computerisation of records of rights with maps, and land passbook.
Thus, a number of legislations have been enacted in the country for land reforms after independence, but due to socioeconomic and cultural complexities, loopholes in the land reform laws, laxity in implementation, and political and legal interference, these land reforms have not been able to achieve the desired success.