A STUDY OF LAND REFORM LAWS IN THE STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Abstract

              “There is only one fundamental method of improving village life – namely, the introduction of a system of peasant proprietorship under which the tiller of the soil is himself the owner of it and pays revenues direct to the government without the intervention of any zamindar or talukdar.”

                                                                              -Indian National Congress Resolution, 1935 

Land in every society, is most important natural resource which is needed for creation of material wealth. From it we get everything that we use or value, whether it be food, clothing, shelter, fuel, metal or precious stones. We live on land and die on land, even after death our ashes are committed to land. The availability of land is the key to human existence, and its distribution and use is of vital importance.  

            The concept of land reforms did not arise in pre-agricultural times because at that time population was scarce and ample land was available. With the rise in population, pressure on land was also enhanced thereby leading to concentration of land in the hands of few persons which ultimately necessitated the urgency of land reforms.            

            India is an agricultural economy with great dearth, and an unequal distribution of resources including land, there is a large mass of rural population below the poverty line which ultimately leads to enthralling financial and political opinions for land reform. The main purpose of land reforms is efficient use of scarce land resource, redistributing agricultural land in favour of the less privileged class in general and cultivating class in particular. Land reform can be explained as redistribution of land from the rich to the poor. Generally, it comprises of regulation of ownership, inheritance of land, operation, sales, leasing, maintenance of land records, etc. Indeed, the redistribution of land itself requires legal changes. 

           At the present juncture, every bit of land is to be utilised to meet the needs of ever increasing population which can be made possible only with the equitable distribution of land among the tillers i.e. poor peasants and landless agricultural labourers.