ABSTRACT
Land reform in India varies in date because land law is state law and progress varies between states. India probably has more land reform laws than any other country, but the laws were conferred upon, rather than stemming from, the peasantry. The dominance of Indian land tenure patterns by revenue extraction was intensified under the British. Land reform legislation, mostly mild and local, extends back into Indian history. Consolidation of fragmented holdings has long been a component part of Indian agricultural development planning. Indian agriculture has undergone dramatic developments since the peak of land reform under Nehru in the late 1950s. The prospect for future Indian land reform is impossible to predict, but certain features are clearly important. The 1969 Land Reforms Act in the communist controlled south-western state of Kerala represents the most farreaching legislation yet enacted in India; landlords' rights are taken over by the government and some 400000 tenants may become owners.
