The West Bengal government enacted the Land Reforms Act in 1995 to reform the state’s land tenure system. The Act responds to peasant demands for land reform and absentee landlordism.
Many provisions in the Act aim to redistribute land more equitably and improve the lives of peasants. These provisions include:
- Landholding limit: The Act limits the amount of land a person can own. Any excess land owned by a person is subject to seizure and redistribution to landless peasants by the government.
- Tenant eviction: The Act makes evicting tenants more difficult for landlords. Tenants who have had land for a certain period are now entitled to security of tenure.
- Rent fixation: The Act establishes the maximum rent a landlord may charge a tenant. It has eased the burden on tenants and made land ownership more affordable.
- Land to the tiller: The Act gives preference to the tiller of the arrival in the distribution of surplus land. It has helped ensure that land goes back to those who work it.
The West Bengal land reform law is affecting the lives of West Bengal’s peasantry. It has aided in more equitable land distribution, tenant security of tenure, and rent reduction. The Act has also contributed to increased land productivity and a rise in the peasantry’s standard of living.
However, the Act’s implementation has drawn criticism. Some critics argue that DDA had poor execution and that West Bengal still has significant land inequality. Others claim that the Act has caused the Zamindari system, which provided employment and social services to the peasantry, to decline.
Despite these criticisms, the West Bengal Land Reforms Act is one of India’s most progressive land reform laws. It has improved the lives of millions of West Bengal peasants and contributed to the state’s economic development.
Before India’s independence, the British Rulers did their best to consolidate and stabilize the revenue collection system through the permanent settlement enacted under Regulation 1/1773. The British Rulers established a department with the name and style of ‘Board of Revenue to maximize revenue collection from the land for colonial interest. The rules so framed were the cause of tears of the actual soil tillers under this statue. Exploitation continued with vigor until India.
The leaders of independent India recognize the strain on actual cultivators and act rationally by shifting the concept of revenue administration to welfare administration. In West Bengal, the palmers were concerned with relieving farmers from the extreme exploitation of Zaniders and ensuring food security for farmers by providing an ample supply of agricultural items to meet the demands of free India’s newly established agri-based industries.
However, until 1989, when the Land Department became one, the Board of Revenue was divided into two wings: Department of Land Management, which collects revenues from minor minerals primarily with the management of vested land made under the preview of the WBEA Act, 1953, and Department of Settlement, which frames records of rights in favor of the raiyats after the act became law in 1953.
The Board of Revenue’s two apartments combined in 1989 under the Land and Land Reforms Department, West Bengal.