Land reforms in India

The study of legal aspects of land reforms measures is a refreshing departure from the erstwhile tradition of analysing and evaluating the statutory and decisional laws in a given area without going into the actual implementation of the wider institutional aspects of the problem. Dr. Sarkar has produced a study of laws in action and not a mere study of "black letter law". He has made a balanced treatment of the problems of ceiling, consolidation, recording of rights, land revenue, etc. and also of the problems of agricultural labour, bonded labour and sharecroppers. He has particularly taken note of the political factors impinging upon various legislative and administrative measures and convincingly demonstrated the correlation between the level of political consciousness and the success measures relating to land reforms study extensive use has been made of the data, some of it unpublished, drawn from government files and records.

The study covers all the laws, beginning from the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Bill, having a bearing upon the land reforms in West Bengal. The most commendable research made in the problems of agricultural labourers and Bargadars deserves special mention.

The treatment of the problems of Bargadars aptly substantiates the author's conclusion that the law can create a norm but remains in effective in the absence of adequate support from social, political and economic forces.