Which of the following land reforms were initiated by the independent government in India?
(A) Raiyatwari system of tax collection
(B) Abolition of Zamindari System
(C) Land Ceiling Acts
(D) Tenancy Abolition and Regulation Acts
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (B), (C) and (D) only
(A) Raiyatwari system of tax collection Incorrect. The raiyatwari system was the colonial system of land settlement in areas under direct British rule: the government settled the revenue directly with the ‘actual cultivators’ instead of the zamindars. It was a way of collecting tax under the British, not a reform of independent India.
(B) Abolition of Zamindari System Correct. It was the first important land reform law after Independence. It removed the layer of intermediaries between the cultivators and the state and took away the superior rights of the zamindars, which made it probably the most effective of all the land reform laws.
(C) Land Ceiling Acts Correct. The third major category of land reform laws. They put an upper limit on the amount of land a family can own; the state was to take over the surplus land and give it to landless families.
(D) Tenancy Abolition and Regulation Acts Correct. These laws tried either to outlaw tenancy altogether or to regulate rents, so that tenants had some security. In most states they were not implemented well, but West Bengal and Kerala gave land rights to tenants under them.
NCERT (2025-26): “Independent India … The first important legislation was the abolition of the zamindari system, which removed the layer of intermediaries who stood between the cultivators and the state.…” “…Among the other major land reform laws that were introduced were the tenancy abolition and regulation acts. They attempted either to outlaw tenancy altogether or to regulate rents to give some security to the tenants. In most of the states, these laws were never implemented very effectively. In West Bengal and Kerala, there was a radical restructuring of the agrarian structure that gave land rights to the tenants.” “The third major category of land reform laws were the Land Ceiling Acts. These laws imposed an upper limit on the amount of land that can be owned by a particular family. The ceiling varies from region to region, depending on the kind of land, its productivity, and other such factors. Very productive land has a low ceiling while unproductive dry land has a higher ceiling limit.…” “…In other areas that were under direct British rule had what was called the raiyatwari system of land settlement (raiyat means cultivator in Telugu). In this system, the ‘actual cultivators’ (who were themselves often landlords and not cultivators) rather than the zamindars were responsible for paying the tax.…” |