Land Reforms in India After Independence

After independence, most of the major legislations with far-reaching consequences to land reforms have been passed.  The main features of the laws relating to land reforms are:

1. All states passed the laws to abolish intermediaries, with varying provisions for resumption for self-cultivation.
2. Ceiling laws showed wide variations in their actual ceilings.
3. All laws provided heritable rights to the tenants. Eviction is possible only if tenants violates the conditions of the agreement or if the landowner wants the land back for self-cultivation.
4. In all states the provisions for redistribution gave preference to SC caste for allocation of surplus land.
5. Provisions with respect to tribal lands were made in every state with sizeable tribal populations.

Implementing these laws has been an uneven process in all the States. These differences were both in the timing of the laws as well as in their implementation.