Introduction
Agriculture has always been a vital sector when it comes to Indian economy and shall remain so in the foreseeable future as well. With more than 50 % of Indian population engaged in agriculture sector in some or the other manner, yet the agricultural laborers occupy the lowest position in the rural society. Land and caste are two vital keys when it comes to social stratification in a village setting since they primarily govern status, economic power and political influence.
As a matter of fact agricultural laborers do belong to the economically and socially backward class of the society. Illiteracy, poverty, seasonal nature of work and indebtedness to the affluent farmers are few of the main reasons which further add on to their grievances. Agricultural labourers are widely scattered and does work on daily wages in a highly unorganized sector. Because of their socio-economic reasons and are required to work continuously for a long time period. All this leave no medium through which they can raise voice against atrocities faced by them.
One of the crucial aspect of Indian Agriculture is absence of regular employment. Despite all the technological advancement this era has undergone still in the second decade of the twenty-first century; agricultural labourers in India are dependent on climatic factors and remain unemployed for almost half the year; as a consequence of which they have to suffer starvation. The abundance of human resource in present time is going waste and the governmental institutions have failed to utilize this huge manpower due to non-utilization despite their willingness to work. This results in mass migration of such agricultural labourers to the urban area in search of employment so that they may sustain their respective families.
LAND REFORMS AND LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS
In the early days off Independence the foremost cause of the then leaders of the nation was to enhance the productivity since the majority of population were engaged in agricultural sector. Accordingly need was felt for undertaking adequate measures when it came to the usage of land. The earlier period governing agricultural reforms can broadly be categorized into following groups:
- Those aimed at tenancy reforms;
- The ones aimed at abolition of intermediaries;
- Ceiling of land holdings and finally the laws governing; and
- Law relating to Gramdan and Bhoodan.
Among many measures taken, abolition of zamindari helped the real cultivators to directly co-ordinate with the State. Although the law varied from states to states; the land reform measures in India were primarily based on the principle of conferring ownership on the tenants. In order to achieve social justice and redistribution of land which was taken by the government by enacting laws in almost every state in order to put a restriction on the size of agricultural land holdings.
As a result, more than 1 million hectare of agricultural land was declared surplus with the government. Of the various movements, the Bhoodan Movement was one of the most significant and was started in early fifties by Acharya Vinoba Bhave whereby the donated land were collected for distribution among the landless. This movement was subsequently supported by legislative sanction and approval by states through series of laws and rules.
Role of Industrialization
Industrialization has drastically reshaped the manner in which agriculture is today conducted. It can rather be said that agriculture has been professionalized into an industry and it becomes equally important to have regular monitoring by the Land Reform Division to confer ownership rights to tenants, preserving and safeguarding the tribal land, clubbing the holdings and the distribution of government wastelands, ceiling surplus land and the Bhoodan Land. Organizing meetings of Chief Ministers and Revenue Ministers at regular interval helps in achieving the said targets. Another key aspects of land reforms in the country is distribution of government wastelands. As a matter of state policy the State Governments should be dispersed among the eligible poors in the rural sectors.
Multi-dimensional measures such as skill development related training programmes, encouraging the small scale industries and; agricultural business have been taken up to safeguard the interests of agricultural labourers by various institutions throughout the nation.
In the present days agricultural organization and management has become an essential requirement for increasing the farm production. All this can be realised in its full capacity only through ensuring that the farmers are provided with better treatment. Therefore in this context it becomes equally important for state to ensure better living conditions for the agricultural workers.
Broadly speaking agricultural labour may be classified into two broad categories; the ones who are landless labourers and end up working for big land holders for a meagre sum of money. The other category is that comprising of small peasants with very little piece of land. Yet they have to spend their majority of time in working for others.
CONCLUSION
Considering the diversity and dynamics of land reforms it becomes quite an ardous task to arrive at any single conclusion. There are various aspects which shapes and is being shaped in a manner which need deliberate efforts both at the end of governmental institutions as well as the non-governmental actors. The initiative undertaken by NGOs on the land reforms are contributing towards grass root level in different parts of the nation by acting as an evident pressure groups. Funding is again a crucial criteria which differs their position on land issues. Moreover various unions dedicated towards Agricultural workers and kisan sabhas; have turned out to be instrumental in execution of ceiling surplus and tenancy reforms. Experiences depict that bottom to top approach need to be followed for effectively carrying out land reforms and; that top to bottom approach shall end up miserably even with well-intentioned officers and government.
In present era when even the state is also more inclined towards capitalistic society; it is equally important to ensure that the rights of the neediest are being safeguarded:
through ensuring a proper balance
through taking measures to ameliorate the conditions of impoverished masses,
while making sure that the resources we have and the power dynamics that help corporations appropriate land by further ensuring that the other natural resources do not get disturbed.
Thus in present time there is a greater need for involvement of people both during the process of initiation as well as during the process of implementation.
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Written By: Arun Raghav