Land reforms in India

This is the fourth volume in a series of studies conducted under the aegis of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. These studies are an outcome of a research programme entrusted to the LBSNAA by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. The primary aim of this series is to assess the current status of land reforms in India.
The collection of basic data was entrusted to successive batches of probationers on the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The field of study component was divided into four major sections covering respectively the implementation of land ceiling laws, the status of tenant-cultivators, the progress in allotment of govern ment lands to the poor and landless, and the position concerning tribal lands and forest rights. In this process, the probationers collected village-level primary data by interviewing landowners, tenants, allottees of surplus lands, and tribals and supplemented this data by consulting land records and other official documents.

This material was processed by the LBSNAA's project core group on land reforms comprising scholars from diverse disciplines. The findings were analysed, refined and integrated into comprehensive all-India and state-level reports which form the bulk of the volumes in the series. In addition, the LBSNAA conducted state-level workshops bringing together administrators, academics, activists and legal experts to explore the various dimensions of land reforms in India.