Agrarian Reforms, Land Markets and Rural Poor

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About the Author D. Narasimha Reddy recently retired as Professor in Economics and Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad. Labour Economics and Political Economy of Development have been his areas of research interest. Besides a number of publications, he supervised a large number of M.Phil. and Ph.D. dissertations in these areas. During the last decade he has done extensive work on globalization, WTO and Agrarian Crisis. His latest publication includes Agrarian Crisis in India (OUP), a jointly edited volume. Presently, he is Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi.

Preface This book is largely an outcome of the papers presented at the National Workshop on "Land Markets and Rural Poverty" organised during 10-11 August 2004 at Mussoorie by the Centre for Rural Studies (CRS) of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. The book in taking the present shape is made possible by the help, encouragement and cooperation of a large number of persons. Manoj Ahuja, the then Coordinator-cum-Vice-Chairman of the CRS is instrumental in initiating the Workshop, in evincing keen interest that the papers would take publishable form and facilitating the editorial process and publication. I am also grateful to S.R. Sankaran and B.N. Yugandhar for their valuable comments. I thank Binod Kumar, the then Chairman of CRS, who took keen interest not only in the Workshop but also in the publication of the papers. I also owe my debt to B.K. Sinha, former Coordinator and Vice- Chairman of the CRS, for permission to incorporate a few papers in the book, including one of his own, from the National Workshop he conducted on "Whither Tenancy?" (24-25 September 1999). I am grateful to all the participants in the Workshop who cooperated in not only by revising their papers but also patiently bearing with the unforeseen delay in the publication. Now, it is my pleasant duty to thank Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy, editor of the book and the staff of the CRS, particularly Dr. Varunendra Vikram Singh who bore the burden of coordination between the editor, authors and the administration.

Introduction Most of the overpopulated underdeveloped countries like India, which became independent after the Second World War, recognized the need for reforming the agrarian structure as a precondition for agricultural growth and rural development. Beginning with the 1950s, thus, land reforms became an important agenda of development, and a number of measures were inititated in India. By late 1960s, it was clear that but for abolition of intermediaries, much of the other reforms like tenancy and ceilings were only perfunctory in implementation and deliberately defective in legislation. The early 1970s saw some corrective legislative measures. However, by late 1970s, much before an assessment of the extent of completion of the agenda and its impact on rural poverty, land reforms, as if these were obsolete, had gradually vanished from the policy priorities. But, what is of more interest is that during the last few years as if to make amendments for the premature pass over of land reforms policy, 'land' is reappearing as an important ingredient of the strategies for rural development and poverty alleviation. The objective of the present proposal for a workshop is not only to explore the reasons and significance of this revival of interest in land, but also to re-examine the potential of the 'land' question in alleviating rural poverty.

The theoretical foundations for redistributive land reforms, both on the grounds of equity and efficiency, were never under severe dispute. Much of the criticism of land reforms is directed towards implementational failures. It is argued that a precondition for land reforms to be feasible and effective in improving beneficiaries' livelihoods is that such programmes should fit into a broader policy aimed at reducing poverty and establishing favourable environment for the development of productive small holder agriculture by the beneficiaries. A recent World Bank Report (2003), which tries to rediscover the importance of 'land' in improving the living conditions of rural poor through the role of 'land policies' identifies a number of characteristics as essential for effective redistributive land reforms which include land reform programmes need to be integrated into a broader strategy for rural development and cannot be limited to providing land, but should put households on a viable trajectory of development, incentives to maximize productivity gains including labour intensive modes of land use should become part of the strategy; there is need for multiplicity of paths, including land markets, towards the objective of equitable operational holdings; state should provide secure and unconditional rights; there should be a level playing field by extending complementary services, access to markets and technology supportive of small holder agriculture; extension of complementary grants for enabling investment, including working capital, and rule of law with clearly defined property rights.

Ironically, the implicit conclusion is that land reforms as implemented in countries like India suffered a setback because of lack of these characteristics. It is in this context that "land market" route is brought-in as a part of "land policy".

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