Land reforms and distributive justice

The concept of land reform has been in use since the days of Soloman to the present time when it has evoked a renewed worldwide interest under the aegis of the United Nations. Like other developing countries in India too several measures have been taken in the past and are still being taken to implement Land Reforms effectively and under the O Ceiling Acts, hundreds of thousands acres of land have been acquired. However, increasing the size of the cake will be of little use without assuring its appropriate distribution.
The present volume gives a micro picture of three States (Haryana, Karnataka and West Bengal) as to how much surplus land has actually been acquired by the State Governments and how it has been distributed among the landless? Based on time schedule data, an account of the improvement in socio-economic condition of assignees of Surplus Ceiling Land has been depicted.

The gap between the much publicised success stories of Land Reforms and actual benefits derived by the beneficiaries have been brought to limelight as substantiated by field data. In the final analysis, the study suggests some useful measures-legislative as well as administrative-to be taken by the concerned state governments to achieve the constitutional goals of distributive justice.