Land Reforms (I): Colonial Impact and the Legacy of the National and Peasant Movements

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand the devastating effects of colonialism on Indian agriculture.
2. Examine the role of commercialization and differentiation under colonial rule.
3. Analyze the impact of land revenue policies and landlordism.
4. Trace the peasant movements’ role in shaping post-colonial agrarian reforms.

Indian Agriculture at Independence: The Colonial Impact

Colonialism had a devastating effect on Indian agriculture, which dominated the country’s total output like in any pre-industrial society. Colonial practices disrupted traditional agricultural systems without introducing progressive alternatives, leading to commercialization and differentiation among the peasantry. This process was unique as it did not result in capitalist commodity production or the rise of a rich peasant/capitalist farmer. Instead, it deepened the extraction of surplus from the peasantry and facilitated its transfer to Britain.

Key Features of Colonial Agriculture:

1. High land revenue demand forced peasants into a cash economy, where surplus agricultural produce was exported.
2. The creation of a rentier landlord class, rather than capitalist farmers, contributed to a colonial transformation that had long-term debilitating effects on agriculture.
3. Burden on the peasantry was immense due to high tax demands, absentee landlordism, and subinfeudation, creating multiple layers of intermediaries between the state and the cultivator.

Land Revenue Policies and Their Effects

Colonialism introduced the Zamindari system in which intermediaries, or zamindars, collected rent from direct cultivators on behalf of the state. However, land revenue was fixed permanently, leading to the appropriation of surplus by zamindars, and the state failed to capitalize on rising agricultural incomes.

Important Note:

In the ryotwari system, where settlements were made directly with peasants, revenue demands were periodically raised, sometimes consuming up to 75% of the net produce during crises like the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Key policies include:

1. Permanent Settlement with zamindars, where the state fixed high land revenue rates, giving intermediaries control over rent collection.
2. Introduction of temporary settlements with peasants in ryotwari areas, covering over 40% of British territories, where tax rates escalated periodically.
3. Growth of landlordism and tenancy in both zamindari and ryotwari regions, leading to nearly 70% of cultivable land being owned by landlords on the eve of independence.

Conditions of Tenancy and Rack-Renting

Tenancy and rack-renting grew under colonialism. Absentee landlordism was rampant in the zamindari areas, while landlord holdings in ryotwari areas covered 40 to 50% of total land. By the time of independence, about 75% of rural households were either landless or semi-proletarian, owning small, uneconomic holdings of less than an acre.

Key Points of Rack-Renting:

1. Rent levels were often higher than 50% of the crop, reaching up to 80–85% in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
2. Illegal exactions such as forced labor and begar added to the peasant’s burden, with up to 50 different exactions recorded in some regions.
3. The focus of large landowners was on extracting high rents, rather than investing in capitalist agriculture.

Indebtedness and Decline of Agriculture

Extreme indebtedness became another major feature of colonial agriculture, worsened by reliance on private moneylenders charging usurious rates. By 1954, 93% of rural credit was supplied by private lenders, while state, cooperatives, and banks accounted for only 7% combined.

Key Statistics:

1. In 1950-51, interest payments on debt and rent amounted to Rs 14,200 million annually.
2. Bonded labor and debt bondage became widespread, further impoverishing the peasantry.

Agricultural Stagnation and Post-Independence Challenges

Colonial policies left Indian agriculture stagnant with declining yields and increasing dependence on food imports. Between 1936-38 and 1950, per capita agricultural output dropped by 14%, and food grain output by 24%. By 1946-53, 14 million tonnes of food grains had to be imported.

Post-independence goals were to reverse these distortions by focusing on:

1. Comprehensive land reforms to remove intermediaries and provide tenancy reforms.
2. Institutional and technological reforms to modernize agriculture and achieve food self-sufficiency.

Legacy of National and Peasant Movements

From the late 19th century, nationalists highlighted the backwardness of Indian agriculture and its failure to modernize under colonialism. They criticized high land revenue collections and advocated for permanent settlement of revenue demands in temporary settled areas. Early figures like G.V. Joshi argued for small peasant farming, while Justice Ranade proposed replacing semi-feudal systems with capitalist agriculture.

Key Developments:

1. Permanent tenant rights and low land taxes were key demands of the Indian National Congress since its inception in 1885.
2. Peasant movements emerged in various regions, advocating for occupancy rights, reduction of rents, and abolition of illegal exactions.

Important Note:

Justice Ranade’s vision of capitalist agriculture included a class of wealthy Junker-style landlords alongside independent peasant proprietors.

Peasant Movements and Nationalism

By the 20th century, the link between peasant movements and the broader anti-imperialist struggle became firmer. Nationalist leaders began to take up agrarian issues, and peasant movements like the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) marked a significant convergence of peasant and national movements.

Key Events:

1. The Civil Disobedience Movement took the form of no-rent campaigns in regions like Uttar Pradesh, with peasants demanding a 50% rent reduction.
2. In 1931, the Congress’s Karachi session included agrarian demands in its Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme, calling for reduced rent, debt relief, and freedom from serfdom.

1937–39 Congress Ministries’ Agrarian Reforms

The Congress ministries of 1937–39 made significant attempts to implement agrarian reforms despite limited powers. They focused on tenancy rights, rent reduction, and indebtedness relief.

Key Reforms:

1. In Bihar, tenancy legislation reduced rents by 25% and gave under-ryots occupancy rights after 12 years.
2. In Madras, a revenue committee recommended reducing rents by two-thirds and ending zamindari without compensation.

Province	Key Reform	Impact
Bihar	Tenancy rights, rent reduction by 25%	Improved tenant conditions
United Provinces	Tenant protection laws	Strengthened tenancy security
Madras	Rent reduction proposal, zamindari abolition	Proposed radical changes, not implemented
Bombay	Liberated 40,000 tied serfs	Improved rural labor conditions

Radicalization of Mahatma Gandhi on Agrarian Questions

Gandhi’s radical stance on agrarian issues in the 1930s and 1940s was crucial in shaping the agrarian reforms. He advocated for land to the tiller and predicted that zamindars’ lands would be redistributed, either voluntarily or through legislation.

Post-War Peasant Movements and Zamindari Abolition

After the war, peasant movements re-emerged, with demands for zamindari abolition taking center stage. Movements like Telangana and Tebhaga mobilized peasants against landlords, contributing to the climate that necessitated post-independence reforms.

Agrarian Consensus and Land Reforms Post-Independence

On the eve of independence, a consensus emerged on the agrarian question, with broad agreement on:

1. Zamindari abolition and compensation for intermediaries.
2. Addressing rural indebtedness and promoting cooperative farming.
3. Introducing land ceilings to prevent large-scale land accumulation.

Key Reports and Plans:

1. The National Planning Committee and the Bombay Plan recommended structural changes to the agrarian system.
2. The Congress manifesto (1946) proposed reforms to balance individual farming with cooperative systems suited to Indian conditions.

Important Note:

The Congress agrarian program emphasized that cooperative reforms should be made only with the goodwill of the peasantry, highlighting the gap between policy and peasant mobilization.

Post-Independence Agrarian Reforms: Achievements and Limitations

After independence, the Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee (1949) and subsequent land reform initiatives aimed at transforming agrarian relations. However, challenges emerged

at the state level due to varying provincial politics and peasant mobilization, leading to uneven implementation of reforms like land ceilings and cooperative farming.

Reform Initiative	Key Focus	Outcome
Congress Agrarian Reforms (1949)	Cooperative farming, land ceilings	Limited success in implementation
Kumarappa Committee (1949)	Abolition of zamindari, debt relief	Laid groundwork for post-independence laws
1959 Nagpur Congress	Cooperative farming, compulsion element	Faced resistance at state and grassroots levels

Critical Dichotomy:
While the central government advocated comprehensive land reforms, the states often lagged behind in implementation due to political resistance and administrative challenges. The interplay between recommendations and actual provincial execution remains central to understanding the successes and failures of post-independence land reforms.

Multiple Choice Question:
Which of the following was a key feature of colonial agriculture in India?
A) The rise of capitalist farmers
B) Extensive state-led investment in agriculture
C) The growth of landlordism and rack-renting
D) Rapid mechanization of farming practices
Answer: C