land reforms

 

The 20^th  Party Congress of the CPI(M) expresses its strong opposition to the present policies of reverse land reform, that is, the dispossession of the peasantry from their land, and the efforts to facilitate corporate takeover of land, including fertile agricultural land. This is reflected in the Approach document of the 12^th Five Year Plan which encourages reverse leasing for consolidation of the landholdings and encourages corporate farming. In many States land ceiling laws have been changed to permit this.

 

There is extreme concentration of ownership of agricultural holdings in India As the NSSO report on landholdings shows, just 3.5 per cent of landowners own 37.72 per cent of the land.