land holding

8/3/2019 Land Holding

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SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN LAND

OWNERSHIP IN INDIA

A STUDY WITH PARTICULARREFERENCE TO WEST BENGAL

Aparajita Bakshi

Junior Research Fellow

Indian Statistical Institute

Kolkata, India


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Objectives

Assess the inequalities in access to land betweenthe different social groups, especially Dalits andAdivasis in rural India

A case study of the impact of land reforms inWest Bengal, a State in Eastern India on theland holding among Dalit and Adivasihouseholds


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Secondary data sources on land holdings in

India

National Sample Survey Land and LivestockHoldings Surveys

48th round (1992)

National Sample Survey Employment

Unemployment Surveys50th round (1993-94)

61st round (2004-05)


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Definitions of land holdings

Land and Livestock Holding surveys

Ownership holdings of agricultural land

Employment Unemployment Surveys

Land cultivated by households


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Households that do not cultivate land, India and States, 1993-94 and 2004-05 per

thousand rural households

States 1993-94 2004-05

Dalit All Dalit All

Andhra Pradesh 604 495 747 607

Assam 444 294 272 243

Bihar 676 375 679 464

Gujarat 713 463 745 506

Haryana 886 515 945 593

Himachal Pradesh 140 133 225 189Karnataka 516 383 622 461

Kerala 811 694 550 364

Madhya Pradesh 385 249 464 335

Maharashtra 597 430 676 480

Orissa 515 354 534 415

Punjab 949 615 941 683Rajasthan 279 189 451 260

Tamil Nadu 770 634 845 718

Tripura 567 521 566 541

Uttar Pradesh 296 229 364 282

West Bengal 471 416 486 474

India 528 387 574 428


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Index of Access

Index of Access for the social group j, denoted asAj can be represented as;

Aj = Percentage of total extent ofownership/operational holdingsowned/operated by group j Percentage ofhouseholds in group j in total households

Relative access index A = Ai/Aj


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Index of access to agricultural land by social groups, 1992

States Ownership holdings

ST SC Others

Andhra Pradesh 1.0 0.4 1.2

Assam 1.3 0.8 1.0

Bihar 1.7 0.2 1.1

Gujarat 0.5 0.5 1.2

Haryana 0.0 0.2 1.3

Himachal Pradesh 1.2 0.6 1.1

Jammu & Kashmir 0.4 0.7 1.1

Karnataka 0.8 0.6 1.1

Kerala 1.2 0.2 1.1

Madhya Pradesh 0.8 0.7 1.2

Maharashtra 0.7 0.5 1.2

Orissa 1.3 0.5 1.0

Punjab 0.0 0.1 1.6

Rajasthan 0.6 0.6 1.2

Tamil Nadu 0.7 0.4 1.3

Tripura 1.4 0.9 0.9

Uttar Pradesh 0.8 0.5 1.2

West Bengal 1.0 0.8 1.1

India 1.1 0.5 1.2


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Relative Index of Access to agricultural land, 1992State Ownership holdings

ND/Dalit ND/Adivasi

Andhra Pradesh 3.0 1.2

Assam 1.3 0.8

Bihar 5.3 0.6

Gujarat 2.5 2.2

Haryana 6.0

Himachal Pradesh 1.8 1.0

Jammu & Kashmir 1.7 2.9Karnataka 1.8 1.4

Kerala 6.4 0.9

Madhya Pradesh 1.7 1.5

Maharashtra 2.2 1.6

Orissa 2.1 0.8

Punjab 13.0

Rajasthan 2.1 2.1

Tamil Nadu 3.4 2.0

Tripura 1.0 0.6

Uttar Pradesh 2.6 1.5

West Bengal 1.3 1.1

India 2.5 1.1


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TENTULTALA

DALKATI

KALINAGAR &

BIDYANIDHI

AMARSINGHI

THUTHIPAKAR

KALMANDASGURI


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Social composition in the study villages, May June

2005

Village District As percentage of total householdsMuslim Non-Dalit Dalit Adivasi

Tentultala North 24Parganas

59.4 1.2 39.0 0.4

Amarsinghi Malda 0.0 66.4 32.7 0.9

Thuthipakar UttarDinajpur

0.0 7.9 36.2 55.9

Kalmandasguri Koch Bihar 39.8 8.6 46.1 5.5

Bidyanidhi Barddhaman 18.3 33.8 47.9 0.0

Kalinagar Barddhaman 0.0 28.4 32.8 38.8

Dalkati WestMedinipur

30.73 69.27

Source: Survey data


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Land reform benefits - Share of different social groups in agricultural land

distributed in the study villages, May June 2005

Village Percentage of total agricultural land distributed Total land

distributed (in

acres)Muslim Non-Dalit Dalit Adivasi

Tentultala 29 0.0 71 0 6.5

Amarsinghi 95 5 0 11.64

Thuthipakar 46 8 45 9.72

Kalmandasguri 40 17 19 25 19.01

Bidyanidhi 18 0.0 82 2.8

Kalinagar 11 39 50 4.52

Dalkati 27 73 476

Source: Survey data


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Index of access to agricultural land in study villages, by social groups, May June2005

Village Access Index - ownership holdings

Muslim Non-Dalit Dalit ST

Tentultala 0.6 2.3 1.5 5.8

Amarsinghi 1.3 0.5 0.0

Thuthipakar 1.4 1.3 0.8

Kalmandasguri 0.5 1.1 1.4 1.2

Bidyanidhi 0.4 2.4 0.2

Kalinagar 2.8 0.3 0.3

Dalkati 1.8 0.6

Source: Survey data


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Land reform benefits Share of different social groups in homestead landdistributed in the study villages, May June 2005

Social group Number of

households

that gained

homestead

As percentage

of all

household

s

Extent of

land

acquired

(in

acres)

As percentage

of total

land

acquired

Muslim 50 23.8 5.1 21.5

Non-Dalit 20 9.5 2.28 9.6

Dalit 44 21.0 3.93 16.6

Adivasi 96 45.7 12.38 52.3

All 210 100.0 23.69 100.0

Source: Survey data


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Net purchase of land in the last 15 years (1990 2005) in the survey villages, bysocial groups, in acres

Caste Tentult

ala

Amarsin

ghi

Thuthipa

kar

Kalmandas

guri

Bidyani

dhi

Kalinag

ar

Dalkati

Muslim 6.3 0.0 0.0 15.8 2.6 0.0

Non Dalits 1.0 -9.6 -3.4 -1.8 -0.8 -2.5 4.2

Dalit 11.0 -0.6 14.9 14.3 8.6 0.2

Adivasi -0.5 0.0 -20.9 0.0 0.0 0.9 5.8

All 17.7 -10.2 -9.3 28.3 10.3 -1.5 10.0

Source: Survey data


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Dalits in rural India have far less access to land than any other social group. There is

an increase in landlessness among Dalits in India in the previous decade.

Secondary data show the Dalits in West Bengal have better access to land compared toother Indian States. This is indicated by the fact that the proportion of landless Dalithouseholds is lower in West Bengal than the national average and the Index of Accessis higher.

The increase in the incidence of landlessness among Dalits in West Bengal in the

previous decade is lower than that in India. Also, the increase in the incidence oflandlessness in West Bengal is higher for non-Dalits than Dalits.

Village level data show that Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim households have been majorbeneficiaries of land reforms in West Bengal. These social groups have gained accessto agricultural and homestead land through the process of land reforms. The directpolicy of land reform implemented by the Government of West Bengal, though in a

limited way, have contributed to lowering inequalities among the deprived socialgroups in the State and that is also reflected in the secondary data.

Increased purchasing power among the poor in Bengal facilitated by land distributionhas increased the participation of Dalit and Muslim households in land markets.

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