Why In News?

A paper titled ‘Land Inequality in India,’ by the World Inequality Lab (WIL), a research center based at the Paris School of Economics, highlights an extreme concentration of agricultural land.

What are the Key Findings of the World Inequality Lab Study?

Extreme Wealth Concentration: The top 10% of rural households own 44% of the total agricultural land, while the top 1% alone controls 18%.

Widespread Landlessness: 46% of all rural households in India are completely landless. 

• This problem is most severe in states with highly commercialized agriculture like Punjab (73% landless) and in states with high population density like Bihar (59%).

High Village-Level Inequality: Average village land Gini index (a measure of inequality) is an alarming 71 (where 100 is maximum inequality). Kerala has the highest Gini coefficient at 90.

Dominance of Mega-Landholders: On average, the single largest landowner in a village controls 12.4% of the village's land. In 3.8% of villages, a single owner holds over half the land.

Market and Infrastructure Paradox: Villages with better infrastructure and market access show higher land concentration.

• This suggests that local elites leverage these advantages to consolidate the most productive lands.

Why Does Land Inequality Persist in India?

Historical Legacy of Colonialism: Former British-ruled villages under the Zamindari system exhibit land inequality 3-4 percentage points higher than former princely states.

Ineffective Post-Independence Land Reforms: While the abolition of intermediaries was successful, the implementation of Land Ceiling Acts largely failed. Landlords used loopholes like:

• "Benami" transactions (transferring land to relatives or servants).
• Exploiting exemptions for plantations, religious trusts, and educational institutions.

Socio-Cultural Stratification: Agricultural holdings remain tied to the caste system.

• Villages with more Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) show higher landlessness, mirroring historical and persistent social discrimination.

What are the impacts of land inequality?

Agrarian Distress & Poverty: Landless households are forced into being daily wage labour, lack of asset ownership traps them in poverty.

Financial Exclusion: Tenant farmers and sharecroppers lack land titles to use as collateral, excluding them from institutional credit, crop insurance, and schemes like PM-KISAN.

Political Elite Capture: Large landowners dominate Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), influencing the allocation of local resources and public works in their favour.

Environmental Degradation: Short-term tenants have no incentive to invest in sustainable practices like soil conservation or efficient irrigation, leading to resource depletion.

Way Forward 

Digitize and Formalize Land Records: Accelerate the SVAMITVA Scheme, as it provides villagers the official property cards, which can be used to secure bank loans and reduce disputes.

Legalize and Regulate Land Leasing: Encourage States to adopt the Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016. 

• This Act protects the ownership rights of landlords while allowing tenant farmers to enter formal lease agreements, giving them access to credit and insurance.

Empower Women through Collective Farming: Women perform a majority of agricultural labour but hold less than 14% of land. (Source: Agriculture Census). 

• The Government must Promote Women's Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) for collective farming to transform the rural economy.
• Case Study (Kerala's Kudumbashree): This program organizes landless women into farming collectives that lease land. Over 60,000 JLGs farm on 35,000 hectares, enhancing food security and financially empowering millions. (Source: Kudumbashree Official Data).

Redistribute Ceiling-Surplus and Wastelands: State governments should distribute ceiling-surplus, Bhoodan, and cultivable wastelands to landless households, prioritizing SC, ST, and women-headed families.

Conclusion

Modernizing land governance through technology, progressive laws, and collective empowerment is essential to tackling India's deep-rooted rural inequality and ensuring inclusive growth. 

Source: INDIANEXPRESS