UPSC Previous Year Question | Prelims GS | 2019

With reference to land reforms in independent India, which one of the following statements is correct?

  1. The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings.
  2. The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless.
  3. It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation.
  4. Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits.

Answer

Correct Answer

The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless.

Explanation

Land reforms (abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reform, land ceilings, consolidation of holdings and distribution of surplus land) were aimed primarily at giving land to the tiller/landless and reducing inequality in agrarian relations. Ceiling laws had several exemptions (e.g., plantations, certain categories of land), so (d) is wrong; land reforms did not make cash-crop cultivation predominant, so (c) is wrong; and ceilings were not exclusively on family holdings (early laws applied to individual holdings), so (a) is not a correct blanket statement.

Topics: agriculture, indian economy, land reforms, land reforms in independent india