The land reforms started in the early 60s in Odisha have not been implemented properly and largely remain unfinished.
The makers of modern India have visualized a socialist pattern by ensuring equal opportunity for all in ownership of productive assets, especially land, for those who are engaged in agriculture. The ownership and management of land is closely related to production.
The land reforms aim at abolition of estate and all kinds of intermediaries, enforcing ceiling, distribution of land, consolidation of fragmented holdings, reform in tenancy, recognizing rights of agriculture workers and sharecroppers, completion of survey and settlement, preparation of land records, protection of SCs and STs from land alienation and reform in land revenue administration. In order to fulfill these series of objectives, laws have been enacted by the State Government as land is under the State list.
The laws include, the Estate Abolition Act, the land Reforms Act, the Survey and Settlement Act, the Odisha Government land Settlement Act, the Odisha Prevention of land Encroachment Act, the Consolidation of Fragmented Holdings Act and the Bonded labour Abolition Act etc.
It is extremely important to revisit the objectives of thes legislations and their impact over the agriculture sector of the State in the context of continued crisis faced by the people engaged in agriculture and the overall production situation.
It is revealed that the Estate Abolition Act and the land Reforms Act have not been implemented for last 25 years because of cases in courts by the then land owning king, Zamindars and feudal lords against the Government challenging the implementations of various provisions of the laws.
Finally, these Acts got a place in the Ninth Scheduled of the Constitution of India.
So, almost 25 years have wasted in enforcing the important provisions of land reforms, especially in the abolition of estate, enforcement ceiling laws and distribution of ceiling surplus land.
The land owning feudal classes in the State have benefited with compensation for abolition of estate and managed to hold huge land by cunningly avoiding the ceiling laws. But on the contrary, the real farmers have been deprived of record of rights over the land they have been cultivating since generations.
In the absence of survey and settlement and distribution of land, a vast majority of farmers, sharecroppers and landless agricultural workers, have been deprived of land ownership.
The huge land available with temples and mutts has been taken over by the Government under the Odisha Hindu Religion Endowment Act, but they have been left to its trustees for management whereas it was expected to distribute this to the cultivators.
As a result of which there has been continual existence of a large number of absentee land owners who are not engaged in agriculture but they do cultivate either by informal sharecropping arrangement or left the land unused. The post 90s experience shows the move of the Government in allocating land to the corporates, companies for various commercial and non-agriculture purpose but not to the landless farmers for cultivation and also it is unfortunate that the different categories of assigned land for distribution such as ceiling surplus land, waste land, Bhoodan land and Anabadi land are being given to the companies but not to the farmers. The shift in non –agricultural use of land and non-availability of private land for agriculture has led to deprivation and penury of agricultural workers and sharecroppers of the State.
This has led to huge distress migration in rural villages. The migrant workers are accompanied by their children to the workplace and leave their family elders in distress. There is no future of these children migrant workers because they are being deprived of childhood care and education.
There are thousands of such families in the State, especially in the western Odisha, who have been living in subhuman condition but they can be engaged throughout the year in agriculture, provided land and all other opportunities for cultivation such as irrigation and input assistance are available.
These wage labourers can be easily converted to producers.
The plight of landless sharecroppers has not been mitigated in the absence of protective laws even as about 70 per cent of the cultivation is done by the sharecroppers.
They are the real farmers, but the Government support often eludes them. They have been facing difficulties in getting input subside, credit and also in vending their produces.
There has been distress sale much below the declared price of the Government, but unfortunately, the State Government is silent over the issue and is continuously avoiding in bringing any Government order to protect the sharecroppers. It is revealed that mostly the sharecroppers in distress are committing suicide due to lack of social support and protection of the Government.
These sharecroppers are the real producers and they boost the State agriculture production in many ways but the land reform laws in the State have failed to protect their interest even after 65 years of constitutional governance.
It is also fact that these agricultural workers and sharecroppers are largely from the marginalized sections who are historically denied land, education and power and continue to face social and educational backwardness and deprivation in many forms in the hegemonic social structure. But the constitutional governance also has not contributed much to change their socio-economic condition because of lack of political will and administrative aloofness to their cause.
The political mobilization of agricultural workers and sharecroppers has been weak. The response of the civil society organizations and media in raising the issues of these sections is lukewarm. This one of the reasons for the non-implementation of the land reform laws in the State.
In a State like Odisha with huge land, water and forest resources, it is unfortunate that people are migrating in search of livelihood. It speaks volume about failure of the Government in planning and management of resource utilization and in engaging the working force in production.
Therefore, in order to bring the desired change in the agrarian distress condition, it is highly desired to implement progressive land reforms by taking forward the unfinished task, mostly focusing land distribution and tenancy protection for growth, employment and raising the stranded of living of the people of the State.
(manasbbsr15@gm-ail.com)