Agenda for Land Reforms Administration in India

Abstract

This paper reviews the book titled ‘Land Reforms Administration in India: An Unfinished Task’ by Beni A Ekka. The book examines the issue of land reforms administration in India from diverse perspectives. The book tries to raise certain difficult questions and find appropriate answers to them in order to unravel land-caste-power axis in the context of land reforms policy under democratic rule. Basic purpose of any land reform endeavour is to rationalize the land holding by taking land from those who have a surplus and distribute the same among the landless peasants. The onus of implementing the reforms rests with the bureaucracy. As a large number of bureaucrats belong to the dominant caste who have traditionally owned huge tracts of land and who are yet to overcome their feudal mindset, their role in implementing the land reforms has always been viewed with suspicion by the social activists and the landless peasants themselves. This position is further reinforced by the dismal outcome of almost five decades of land reforms efforts in states like Bihar.