Defining Landlessness

Land use and ownership in India

Out of 304 million hectares of land in India for which records are available, roughly 40 million hectares are considered unfit for vegetation as they are either in urban areas, occupied by roads and rivers, or under permanent snow, rock or desert. Of the remaining 264 million hectares of land that have some potential for vegetation, 142 million hectares are cultivated, 67 million hectares are classified as forestland, and 55 million hectares as fallow or wasteland, or land with pastures or groves. In percentage terms, according to World Bank estimates: Cultivable land amounts to around 58% of land that has potential for vegetation. 22% is forestland. 7% is uncultivated (revenue) 'wasteland'. 7% is rocky, barren land. 7% is urban/non-agricultural land. Roughly 20% of the total land area is 'commons', which includes both cultivable and uncultivable wasteland and some forestland. The Central Statistical Organisation puts the percentage distribution of the country's total land area by land use (1992-93 figures) as follows: Forests: 22.2% Land not available for cultivation: 13.3% Permanent pastures and other grazing land: 3.3% Land under tree crops included in net area sown: 1.2% Cultivable wasteland: 5.1% Fallow land: 8.2% Net area sown: 46.3% Area sown more than once as percentage of net sown: 25.7% Land ownership in India During the two centuries of British rule, India's traditional land ownership and land use patterns were changed. The concept of private property was introduced, de-legitimising community ownership systems in tribal societies. The British introduced the 'zamindari' or 'permanent settlement system' in 1793, whereby feudal lords became owners of large tracts of land against fixed revenue payments to the government. Peasants became tenant farmers and had to pay rent. This system prevailed in most of northern India. In the south and west, the 'ryotwari system' was followed. Individual cultivators (ryots or raiyats) were proprietors of land against revenue payments, with rights to sub-let, mortgage and transfer land. A third system under British rule was the 'mahalwari system' whereby entire villages had to pay revenue, with farmers contributing their share in proportion to their holdings. Land distribution under these systems became extremely unequal, and rural society got polarised into landlords and rich peasants versus tenants and agricultural labourers. Land transfer was institutionalised under British rule and moneylenders secured land against loans. Combined with high revenue rates, this led to growing indebtedness, dispossession of land, rising tenancy, and a widening of the income gap between rich landlords and poor tenants and agricultural labourers. By Independence, about 40% of India's rural population was working as landless agricultural labour. Thus India has inherited a semi-feudal system of land distribution that followed the social hierarchy. Most landowners belong to the upper castes and cultivators to the middle castes; agricultural labourers are largely dalits and adivasis. After Independence, India brought in legislation for land reform that included: Abolition of the zamindari system. Abolition of intermediaries. Protection to tenants. Rationalisation of different tenure systems. Imposition of ceilings on landholdings. However, legislation did not lead to substantial progress towards equitable land distribution. Most studies in fact show that inequalities have increased rather than decreased. The number of landless in India has progressively increased. Landholding distribution too has become skewed. According to government data compiled from sources such as the All India Report on Agriculture Census 1991-2000, in 1995-96: 1.2% of landholdings in the country accounted for 14.8% of the total operational holdings with large holdings of 10 hectares and above (average holding: 17.21 hectares). 6.1% of holdings accounted for 25.3% of the total operational holdings with medium holdings of 4 to 10 hectares (average holding: 5.8 hectares). 12.3% of holdings accounted for 23.8% of the total operational holdings with semi-medium holdings of 2 to 4 hectares (average holding: 2.73 hectares). 18.7% of holdings accounted for 19.8% of the total operational holdings with holdings of 1 to 2 hectares (average holding: 1.42 hectares). As many as 61.2% of holdings accounted for only 17.2% of the total operational holdings. On average, the size of these marginal holdings was 0.4 hectares. Landless labour According to the India Rural Development Report of 1992, 43% of the country's rural population was absolutely or near landless. Landless agricultural labour makes up almost half of those living below the poverty line in rural India. A majority of the economically and socially weaker sections of society, such as scheduled castes and tribes, dalits, adivasis and women, make up the majority of landless population working as labour. Landlessness has been steadily rising among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. According to a government Rural Labour Enquiry report, the percentage of landless households among scheduled castes increased from 56.8% in 1977-98 to 61.5% in 1983, while among adivasis it increased from 48.5% in 1977-78 to 49.4% in 1983. Even among those who own land, a majority own marginal plots that provide them little or no food security. The government describes such marginal landowners as 'mere landless' (those who own less than 0.002 hectares) and 'near landless' (those who own between 0.002 and 0.2 hectares). According to the draft paper of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, 77% of dalits and 90% of adivasis are either 'absolute landless' (own no land) or 'mere landless'.