The primary objective of land reforms implemented in India after independence was to:
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
Correct Answer
Reduce inequalities in land ownership and abolish intermediaries.
Explanation
The primary objective of land reforms implemented in India after independence was to achieve social justice and economic equity in the rural sector. During the British colonial era, systems like the Zamindari system had created a highly exploitative structure where a small class of wealthy intermediaries (landlords) owned most of the agricultural land, leaving the actual cultivators as impoverished tenants. Post-independence land reforms aimed to dismantle this unjust structure through specific measures: abolishing intermediaries, enacting land ceiling laws to limit the maximum size of land a person could own, and redistributing surplus land to landless laborers.
The other options represent secondary components or unrelated goals:
While consolidating fragmented land holdings (land consolidation or chakbandi) was indeed a part of land reforms to improve agricultural efficiency, it was a secondary administrative goal rather than the overarching social and structural primary objective.
Promoting large-scale commercial farming and encouraging the cultivation of cash crops for export were not the main socio-economic driving forces behind the initial post-independence land reforms, which focused more on structural equity, food security, and protecting weak tenant farmers.
Key Points
Land reform measures in India are generally categorized into four main components: abolition of intermediaries (like Zamindars), tenancy reforms (providing security of tenure and regulation of rent), fixing land ceilings, and consolidation of land holdings.
The abolition of intermediaries was the most successful part of India's land reforms, bringing millions of cultivators into a direct relationship with the State.
Because 'Land' is a subject that falls under the State List (List II) of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution, the responsibility for enacting and implementing land reform laws rested primarily with individual state governments.
Important Questions and Answers
Question: Which system of land revenue introduced by the British created a powerful class of intermediaries that post-independence land reforms sought to abolish?
Answer: The Zamindari System (also known as the Permanent Settlement).
Question: Under which schedule of the Indian Constitution were early land reform laws placed by the government to shield them from judicial review regarding the right to property?
Answer: The Ninth Schedule.