Sheikh Abdullah and Land Reforms in Jammu and Kashmir

Author(s): ANIRUDH KUMAR PRASAD

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, AUGUST 2, 2014, Vol. 49, No. 31 (AUGUST 2, 2014),
pp. 130-137
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Sheikh Abdullah and Land Reforms

in Jammu and Kashmir

ANIRUDH KUMAR PRASAD

One of the reasons attributed to the poor agricultural and Kashmir (j&k) is the only state of the Indian
situation in post-Independence India was its unequal Union which enjoys two special "statuses". Of the two,
Jammu
the first has been conferred upon it by Article 370 of the
land relationship. The Congress Party opted for land
Indian Constitution, and the second, the radical land
reforms as that would transform India into a progressive reforms, i e, abolition of landlordism, land to tiller and coop
nation. As the 1949 Constitution decided in its favour, erative association has been by the state, j&k has
earned

the responsibility of implementation was left to the achieved a unique distinction the states of India by
among all

introducing land reforms of considerable magnitude, inclu

states. One state which emerged as the leader in
ding the remission of land revenue on smallholdings (Aslam
agrarian reforms was Jammu and Kashmir, led by Sheikh 1977), and went on to become the most publicised land reforms
Abdullah. This article reviews the land relations and of the country.
Prime Minister of j&k1 Sheikh Abdullah, soon after coming
agrarian reforms in Jammu and Kashmir and suggests
to power,2 started the agrarian reform programme in the state
implications this had for the politics of the state. in 1948, with the abolition of sinecure payments such as jagirs,
muafis and mukarraries. Earlier, the beneficiaries of jagirs and
muafis3 had a number of privileges at the cost of the citizens
within the territorial limits of such jagirs, approximating the
rights of the erstwhile maharaja of j&k in matters of fiscal
nature. In one stroke, the new state government abolished

396 jagirs/muafis involving an annual land revenue assign

ment of Rs 5,56,313.4 The government also abolished fixed
cash grants known as mukarraries (2,347) to the tune of
Rs 1,77,921 per annum (j&k Today, nd).
These changes were as very revolutionary because
viewed

they took away the privileges of the erstwhile maharaja

and feudal vassals over most of the cultivated areas in the
state without payment of any compensation. Land reforms in

the state were also seen as correcting a historical wrong

against the peasantry and were one of the most important

promises of the National Conference's New Kashmir Manifesto

(1944). state
The government's next step in 1948 was to
protect the rights of the tenants through amendment of
the State Tenancy Act of 1924. Safeguards were provided
to the tenants-at-will (tenants-at-will were those peasants
who could be ejected from the land at the landlord's

pleasure). Rights of protected tenants were given to the bulk

of tenants-at-will; their tenure was secured by making their
ejectment illegal.
The change in the tenancy law was followed by the
Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950, j&k Agrarian
Reforms Act, 1972, and j&k Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976
(Verma 1994). The most important feature of the reforms

introduced as a result of the enforcement of the Big Landed

Anirudh Kumar Prasad (anirudhkumarprasad@yahoo.co.in) is with the Estates Abolition Act, 1950 was that ownership of land in
Department of Political Science, Hindu College, Delhi University. the state was subjected to a maximum ceiling of 22.75 acres.

130 august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31 PEB3 Economic & Political weekly

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

All holdings above this ceiling were distributed among Kashmir Valley were called assamis who had to pay, besides
the tillers. land revenue, malikana in recognition of his being the owner
of the land (Bhat 2000). The assamis had no right to transfer
Passing of this Act led to the expropriation of 9,000 land owners (both
in Jammu and Kashmir) who owned among themselves 8 lakh acres, land on the ground that they were entitled only to its possession
Without payment of compensation for the surplus land. Thus, 2.3 lakh as iong as they paid land revenue and malikana. "The assami
acres were transferred to about 2 lakh tillers out of 4.5 lakh acres of
land taken away from land owners (Dhar 1989:235).
be defined reCognised by the State as the lawful
as a man
ι . , ,, , , . ,
occupant in
of land
Kashmir, and in the Mughal times and
Historical Background thereafter, from the point of view of the State, the status of
It is awell-known fact that the relation between assami in theory meant nothing more than a tenant-at-will
ownership
and cultivation of land, and rights and status of the actual cul- (Lawrence 1967: 428). Such assamis existed in the districts of
tivators determine the conditions under which agricultural Ladakh and
Gilgit well, the source of the maharaja's
as owner
production is conducted. ship of land in this case being conquest and not purchase as in

From the early Hindu period down to the twelfth century, ownership the case of Kashmir Valley.5
of land in Jammu and Kashmir had remained vested in the community. In Jammu also, considerable areas of land were held by him
Between the 12th and the 18th centuries ownership of land was vested jn ownership prior to the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846, and the
in kings. Peasants could occupy the land for cultivation subject to pay-
ants of such land were a]s0 called assamis/majguzars.
ment of an arbitrarily fixed rent or at the pleasure of the kings or their
e case of land, for public purposes, the
agents. Some land was earmarked as khalsa (state) land and reserved acquisition
for the royal household to meet their expenses. In exchange for certain assamis/malguzars entitled to compensation
were at only
privileges, chosen agents called kardars managed this land on behalf one-third of the prevailing market value. Original occupants
of the royal households. Rest of the land was divided into military
Qf tbe jand be]d proprietary rights granted by the State deeds,
circles and granted to army chiefs, subedars and taluqadars. They in , , , . , , .
turn divided these land grants into khalsa and jagir lands and granted
Thls mcluded blS landholders who cultivated their own
these to their favorites and dependents on the same terms and condi- land. A powerful class of grantees and intermediaries was a
tions on which they had received them (Bhat 2000:143). distinct feature of the land tenure system prevalent since the
This system of land management led to the emergence of a 12th century. In spite of the change of rulers, cultivators

hierarchy of landed aristocracy which not only misappropriated suffered impoverishment and tyranny (Bhat 2000).
land revenue, but also showed no interest in the management The rulers in j&k changed many a time, but for tillers,
of land. Another class of intermediaries called farmers was nothing but the means of exploitation changed (Bhat 2000).
created through the process of leasing out villages to contractors While this misery and oppression sapped any interest left in
who were free to make their own contract with the occupants, the cultivator to improve the land, he continued to cultivate
i e, people who were forced to cultivate a particular piece of only due to the pressure of the state and the landlord. The

land (Bhat 2000:143). state appointed kardars agents), giving them enormous
(land

Thus, 'people became landlords and tenants by a process different powers and made them in charge of circles of villages, which
than that obtained during earlier period'. During the period between were formed in 1859. The distribution of land among the cul
18th and 19th centuries, rulers attempted to marginalise the landed
tivators, the choice of crop, and the allotment of area were
aristocracy and dealt directly with the cultivators. However, their decjded by tbe jand agents
efforts were thwarted by the powerful landed interest groups such as r ** . . ,,,,,, ,
The famine of l877-79 that devastated the Valley of Kashmir
the chieftains (called sirdars). These groups were accommodated by
assigning them the ruler's share. This gave birth to yet another class of provided the impetus for the British government demanding
assignees of land revenue with no proprietary rights in land. These an overhauling of agrarian rights and relations in Kashmir and
were called jagirdars, maufidars and mukarndars.
prompted serious reconsideration of their policy of non
From mid-i9th century, a new type of land tenure came into interference in this princely state (Rai 2004). According to
existence on account of the Treaty of Amritsar signed in 1846. Lawrence (1967), the death toll from the famine of 1877-79 had
According to this treaty: been overwhelming by any standards. Famines in Kashmir
(a) the British government transferred and made over, for ever, were caused by either early snows or heavy rain occurring at
in independent possession to Maharaja Golab Singh of Jammu, the time when the autumn harvest was ripening. Of the 19
and the heirs male of his body, all the hilly or mountainous great famines which took place in Kashmir, there were two ter
country, with its dependencies, situated to the eastward of the rible famines in the 19th century in the valley, one known by
river Indus, and westward of river Ravee, including Chamba the name Sher Singh, which was caused by the early, heavy
and excluding Lahool; and (b) in consideration of the transfer autumn snow of 1831 and the other which was similarly caused

made to him, Maharaja Golab Singh paid to the British Govern- by continuous rains which fell from October 1877 till January
ment the sum of Rs 75 lakh (Nanak Shahi) of which 50 lakh 1878. Sher Singh famine reduced the population of Kashmir
were paid on ratification of the treaty and 25 lakh subsequently from eight lakh to two lakh (Lawrence 1967). According to
by the end of September 1846 ad (Beg 1995:406). Lawrence, in the famine of 1877-79 there was an enormous loss
Thus, the Kashmir Valley was "purchased" by Maharaja of life. "One authority has stated that the population of Srina
Gulab Singh from the British rulers, and so the ownership of gar was reduced from 1,27,400 to 60,000, and others say that
the land in Kashmir Valley from this time onwards was vested of the total population of the valley only two-fifths survived"
with the maharaja of Jammu. The occupants of the land in (Lawrence 1967: 213).
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SPECIAL ARTICLE

The famine had brought to light the inadequacy of the protec- At the time when Hari Singh signed the instrument of acces
tion afforded to Kashmiri cultivators by the agrarian arrange- sion with in 1947, the state was like the rest of
India

ments of the Dogra state. It was pointed out to the authorities the subcontinent of India - an agricultural state. The large
that substantial quantities of rice could have been saved and the majority of the people subsisted in one way or another on the
staggering loss of life averted if cultivators had been permitted land. The peasants still living as though in medieval
were

to cut their crop before the start of the rains that destroyed the times as serfs. The major portion of the produce of the agri
autumn harvest of 1877. But the rigid adherence to the old cultural land was being taken away by the absentee proprie
revenue system, in which assessments were made on the stand- tor of the land, leaving very little for the actual tiller to live
ing crop, delayed the reaping operations (Lawrence 1967:213). on. The result was that these agricultural labourers who

When Pratap Singh became the new ruler of j&k after the formed the majority of the community had always been living
death of his father maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1885, he was not at a subsistence level.
only forced to accept the British interference in the state by Sheikh Abdullah, after becoming the prime minister of the
stationing a Resident in Kashmir, but also the implementation state in 1948,8 decided to destroy the power of the landed aris
of wide-ranging reforms in the Dogra state that included regu- tocracy, and to take the 1931 movement to its logical conclusion
lar settlements, which was carried out initially by A Wingate by fulfilling the promises made to the peasants of land reforms
and then by Walter Lawrence. Both these British officials were in his New Kashmir Manifesto (1944). The document had prom

civil servants of the colonial

government. ised radical restructuring of the society and economy of the
Sheikh Abdullah, in 1931, launched a movement against the state. The introduction to the New Kashmir Manifesto says,
maharaja of j&k and among other things, he demanded grant Throughout the lean centuries of history, the poor exploited sons of
of normal rights to a citizen to hold land as owner. As a result Jammu and Kashmir have been palanquin bearers of Hindu monarchs,

of this agitation, the maharaja was forced to set a commission Buddhist rulers and Moghal emperors. The peasant sons of the valleys
c■ ■ « ... r, r, .. 1 j j u η j and mountains have scattered only nine inches of top soil and eked out
of inquiry called the Glancy Commission, headed by Bertrand ,, ......
a ,bare existence. Now the time has come when they must dig deep into
J Glancy, to find out the legitimate grievances of the people
the bowels of the earth and yoke the technique of modern science to
and appropriate recommendations.6 On the recommen-
make the task of getting for themselves a bigger and better morsel of daily
dations of the Glancy
Commission, appointed on 12 November bread (Malaviya 1955:415-16).

1931, Prime Minister of j&k Colonel Colvin on 10 April 1933 According to Korbel (1954), the economic reforms in j&k
issued a government order directing that the implementation were introduced by the Sheikh Abdullah government to coun
of the recommendations be commenced forthwith. ter the demand of plebiscite made by Pakistan.
Among J recommendations,' the commission
6 many had sug- „ .... , ,
. . , ,
° For the party which has the more serious reasons „to be fearful of the
gested granting of proprietary rights, with the accompanying result of a plebiscite - the government in Srinagar - has been doing
right to transfer land, to the cultivators who were till then everything in its power to delay this day of reckoning. It has been
tenant-at-will of government-owned lands. This was achieved working hard to change the conditions of life under the Maharaja and
t0 brinSsome relief t0 the Poverty-stricken masses (Korbel 1954:198).
at a time when India, including j&k, had not gained Independ-
ence (Beg 1995). In j&k, the demand for restitution of the In its editorial on 11 January 1948 People's Age wrote:
ownership of land to the farmers goes back to 1924 when The game of Pakistani reactionaries and of the imperialist war
Viceroy Lord Reading was presented with a 17-point memoran- mongers can be easily defeated if the peasant masses of Kashmir are
dum from prominent Kashmiri Muslims to inquire into assured that feudal autocracy and jagirdari will be liquidated, land
will be given to the tillers, and the complete right of self-determination
their grievances
granted to the various nationalities that comprise Kashmir. Kashmir
can be saved only by winning over the peasants, and ending feudal
Land Reforms after 1948
autocracy and the reactionary policy of the appeasement of the Maha
One of the main demands of the National Conference raja by the Indian Union government and by really liberating peasants
movement,7 which was launched in 1931, was the transfer of (quoted in Raina 1988:159)·

ownership rights of land from the maharaja to the peasants. Immediately after coming to power, Sheikh Abdullah
Till then, almost the entire area of the Kashmir Valley and a declared the abolition of the privileges of muafidars and
substantial part of Jammu province was regarded as being in mukkarraree-khwars (recipients of cash grants). Further, he
the personal ownership of Hari Singh, like the Sarf-e-Khas gave priority to the reorganisation of agriculture on a modern
lands of the Nizam of Hyderabad. This demand was conceded and rational basis, through the abolition of landlordism, secur
as a result of the freedom movement, and lakhs of petty culti- ing the land to the tiller, and formation of cooperative associa

vators who were till then tenants-at-will got the ownership tions. These steps were taken to free the peasant from the bur
over their land (Malaviya 1955). den of the jagirdars and kardars. Besides, waste lands were

However, at the same time the jagirdars and chakdars who till then granted to tillers for cultivation, a moratorium was declared
had the status of tenants-at-will, acquired vast areas of land through on non-commercial debts, and ejectment proceedings against
the exploitation of the poorer villagers. The village population tenants were stayed for a period of one year.
was impoverished and these jagirdars and chakdars, taking advan- . ,. . _ . π ·_ *«·_·
, , , . . . r ι . According 0 to George
0 Mathew (2011), even Prime Minister
tage of their poverty, manipulated the sale and purchase of land
and accumulated thousands of kanals (8 kanals = ι acre) of land Jawaharlal Nehru was envious of the Government of j&k for
(Aslam 1977:60-61). its speed and clarity on the issue of land reforms in the state.

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Addressing the annual session of the National Conference on Three months later, on 18 October 1950, the j&k Big Landed
14 June 1951, Nehru said: Estates Abolition Act was passed by the j&k assembly, which
But perhaps the greatest reform was in respect of land and agrarian superseded most of the preceding temporary measures and

matters. The abolition of big Zamindari system, which was the ideal legalised the sweeping land reforms. The Act was aimed at
all over India had been given effect to here more swiftly than else- translating into practice the principle of transferring land
where...These were achievements of which any country might be t0 the "actuai tiners" 0f the soil. "Tiller means a person who
proud ...(Dhar 1989.242).
tills land with his own hand" (Thorner 1976: 48). Khaliqa, a

This is also a fact that the leadership of the National Conference Matipura village peasant, was the first to receive land under
opted for India for accession, and not for Pakistan, because the Act. Under this Act, every proprietor, whether he himself
they were sure that their radical agenda of bringing about cultivated land or not, retained only 22.75 acres of land
reorganisation in the agrarian structure would not have been (besides orchards, grass farms and fuel reserves), and the
possible in a feudal Pakistan. right of ownership of the remaining land was transferred to
The government's next measure not only gave economic re- actual tillers of land (subject to the maximum that the
lief to peasants, but also brought about a fundamental change individual cultivator can possess) free from encumbrance and

in their status. In October 1948, the State Tenancy Act of 1924, without payment of compensation. The tiller-owner was, how

which provided for the maximum be paid by a tenant

rental to ever, liable for payment of land revenue and was assessed on
to his landlord, was amended the severities caused by its
and the land that was transferred to him, together with a surcharge
operation stopped. The amendment provided tenants-at-will of four annas per rupee of land revenue as "land development
rights of protected tenancy in respect of 2.13 acres of wet land cess" which was earmarked for use in the rehabilitation of the
or 4.13 acres of dryland in Kashmir province and about double cultivators and the improvement of land given to them,

the sizein the Jammu province, and placed restrictions on According to this Act, the landlord was allowed to keep not
ejectments of tenants from land. The amendment fixed the more than 20 acres of agricultural land, one acre of land for
maximum rental payable by a tenant to his landlord, in respect vegetable gardening, half acre as residential site, and 1.25
of tenancy holdings exceeding 12.5 acres, at one-fourth of the acres of orchards - altogether 22.75 acres. Also, it was stipu
produce (or cash thereof) in the case of wetlands (including lated that the landlord must work on his land; otherwise, it
those growing paddy, wheat, maize, sugar cane and linseed) would be expropriated. Provision was also made for the confis

and at one-third in the case of drylands. Previously, the tenant cation of the property of "enemy agents", these agents being
had to surrender more than half of his produce to the landlord largely defined as persons who had expressed a desire for

as rent. According to the provisions of this amendment, a ten- Kashmir to join Pakistan (Korbel 1954). This expropriated land
ant who had cultivated the land of his landlord for seven was to be transferred in full ownership to the maximum of 20
months before the commencement of the Tenancy Act was acres to the tenant. All lands which were not under cultivation

entitled to the privilege of a protected tenant. or not rented and in excess of 22.75 acres were transferred to
The tenancy reforms benefited nearly three-fifths of the the government for redistribution,
peasantry, cultivating about 7 lakh acres out of the 22 lakh As far as the question of paying compensation to the ex
acres composing the total cultivated area of the state (j&k proprietors was concerned, the Big Landed Estates Abolition
Today nd; Kashmir Marches Ahead 1958). These reforms gave Act left the matter to be settled by the Constituent Assembly of
relief to impoverished peasants of the state but did not bring the state, and till such time for the expropriated land the gov
about the abolition of the landlord system which was at the ernment was to pay the former owner for the first year after
root of their poverty suffering. In order to bring about a
and expropriation an amount equal to three-quarters of the land
fundamental in the production and ownership rela-
change revenue of the expropriated land, for the second year two
tions in agriculture, the Sheikh Abdullah government in April thirds, and for the third year and subsequent years half of such
1949 appointed a Land Reforms Committee under the chair- land revenue, these sums never to exceed Rs 3,000 per year
manship of Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beg, minister for revenue, (Korbel 1954). With a view to check and safeguard against the
agriculture, forests and cooperatives, to prepare a plan for evasion and circumvention of the law, the Act declared all
the abolition of big landed estates and transfer of land transfers of land after April 1948 to be null and void,
made

to tiller. This included the transfer of land consequent on partition,

whether the transfer was affected by an order or decree of any
The New Acts court or an act of the parties, if it was found that such transfer
In j&k, there were about 22 lakh acres of cultivated lands was made mala fide or with an intention to defeat the object of
belonging to the maharaja, his jagirdars and chakdars (a class the enactment (j&k Today nd).
of landlords). The landlords rented these lands to the Under the new law, the interest of the ex-proprietor in any
peasants under inhuman
feudalistic conditions of tenure. But, land which was transferred to the tiller was not liable to
before the committee could prepare and submit its report, attachment or sale in execution of a decree or any other process
Sheikh Abdullah on 13 July 19509 announced sweeping land of any court, civil or revenue, and any attachment existing at
reforms in a speech from the National Conference platform the date of transfer or any order for attachment passed
(Bamzai 1973). before such date ceases to be in force. Similarly, all suits and

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

proceedings pending in any court of law at the date of the their land. He related the new measure both to Communist agitation
transfer of land, and all proceedings or order 'n the state and to the conflict with Pakistan, and suggested that 'agents
upon any decree
of Pakistan jagirdars in whose grip those areas are at present will not
passed in any such suit or proceedings previous to the date of
r . r . , . - r , allow these measures to be implemented, and so it is for the people of
transfer in respect of any interest in the land so transferred, those areas ω dse and ovenhrow thdr enslayers, (Bekker ^32g)
were stayed. All holdings between two and 12 acres of self
cultivating properties were made inalienable. The tiller was When the National Conference government decided to carry
not allowed to transfer the newly acquiredproperty without out the land reforms in the state, especially the resumption of
governmental permission. No one other than a Kashmiri citi- the jagirdari system, the opposition to the reforms came not
zen was entitled to acquire land. If a proprietor or tiller dies only from the head of the state, Hari Singh, in the form of
without heir, or transfers the land or any interest therein in withholding of assent, but also from the Indian government,
contravention of the law, or sublets it continuously for two har- especially Union Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel who did not
vests, he loses the rights of ownership, which lapses to the trust the leadership of the National Conference (Navlakha

government Today (j&k nd). 1996). V Shankar, private secretary to Sardar Patel, on 4 May
In most cases, the government failed to receive the land tax 1948 wrote to Sheikh Abdullah:
from the peasants for the simple reason that they had no Honourable Minister (Sardar Patel) has asked me to request you to see
money to pay. As a logical consequence, former owners rarely Panditji (Prime Minister Nehru) about it (withholding of assent to the
-
had any indemnity paid to them for precisely the same reason. resumption of jagirs) inviting his attention in particular to the fact
The Constituent Assembly on 6 November 1951 appointed an that these Jagirs are being sought to be resumed without any payment
of compensation whatever, which is quite contrary to anything that we
11-member committee to examine and report on the desirability
are doing in the Indian Dominion. It is also to be borne in mind that
or otherwise of the payment of compensation for lands expro
probably the jagirdars would be mostly non-Muslims (Hindus), and
priated under the provisions of the Act. this measure would probably create a certain amount of discontent

Acting on the report of the committee, on 26 March 1952, and ill-feeling against the government among the minority community
the Constituent Assembly of the state decided to confiscate all (Raina 1988:162).
landed estates without any compensation (Korbel 1954).10 At The credit for the historic decision of the land reforms was
the time when the Act was passed, there were 1.5 lakh absen- given to the government for their foresight at a time when no
tee landlordsholding 11% of the land, and cultivating peasants body in Pakistan very few in India had thought of making
and

numbering nearly 8 lakh holding 32% of the total cultivated the experiment. But, the reforms were not above criticism,
area of the state. There were 3 lakh peasants who had no land, According to Amrita Bazar Patrika, Calcutta (quoted in
but cultivated 10% of the total cultivated area. All these figures Kashmir after 9 August 1953 (1955:13)),
tell of how large an area was held by the absentee landowners
Credit must be given to him and to the National Conference for intro
and how little was with those who themselves cultivated the ducing land reforms in the State at a time when nobody in Pakistan
land. About 1.45 lakh acres of land was owned by 472 proprie- and very few in India had thought of making the experiment. But the
reforms in Jammu and Kashmir were introduced in a huff. The Land
tors, and 1,886 owners held 1,40,760 acres of land. There were
, . ν « ,j r Reform Committee of which his policy-maker,' Mirza Afzal Beg, was
about proprietors whose holdings exceeded
9,000 20 acres of ... .. .. ,, ,. . . ,, ,
the chairman, had neither concluded its deliberations, nor had the
land, out of which nearly 5,62,000 acres were transferred to committee submitted its report and the recommendations to the
the tillers under the Abolition Act (J&K Today nd)."The success government. Suddenly - presumably on account of political exigencies
-

of the Act of 1950 can be very well appreciated from the fact he thought of abolishing the big landed estates and transferring land
that out of 9.5 lakh acres of land distributed throughout the t0 tillers·The question had not been examined in all its details and no
.„ , _ ,r,. ,,, , regular plan had been prepared' when one fine morning he an
country till 1970, about half (te, 4.5 lakh acres) was distributed . r , ,. . , _
nounced the reforms from the National Conference party platform.
, f

in j&k alone (Verma 1994. 94). ■phg jaw kacj not j,een prepared and the assent of the Head of the
The National Conference government, in order to review state which was necessary before the reforms of such a far reaching
the working of land reforms in the kandi (dry) areas of the character could be announced had not been obtained. Though the
a committee under the justice
announcement was regularised later on, the breathless hurry in
State, appointed chairmanship
which a time-old system was abolished without even proper obse
Janaki Nath Wazir in 1952,11 who, in his report, recommended
quies, left every one wondering. The result was that the reforms were
that the maximum unit for a proprietor in Kashmir kandi not jmpiemented properly. Avenues of corruption were opened and
should be fixed at roughly 28 acres and for a proprietor in the'the gift was bereft of the benefit'. The ceiling of holding was put
Jammu kandi at 34 acres, against the present uniform unit of arbitrarily no matter if the land was irrigated or dry. Some tillers got
committee that lands at- less while others got more·
22.75 acres. The also recommended

tached to Gumpas (Buddhist religious institutions) in Ladakh Daniel Thorner (1953), who visited the valley in 1953 noticed
should be excluded from the operation of the Act. similar grievances from the people of the villages he visited.
He was informed that some of the well-off families in the
to the Reforms
Opposition village, they got wind of the impending land reform, had
when

Commenting on the issue of paying compensation to the gone through the legal forms of breaking up their joint fami
former landlords, Sheikh Abdullah stated that lies. People with money and connections were able to acquire
neither his government, which had inherited a bankrupt treasury, nor more land than was due to them under the Act. Those who

the penniless tiller was in a position to compensate big landlords for already possessed large landholdings were in the best position

134 august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31 Economic & Political weekly

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 ; SPECIAL ARTICLE

allotments. According to him, the bitter-

to receive additional The land reforms in the state were
made more effective by
est complaints were about the government's procurement taking to relieve
measures the distress of rural and poor debtors

policy and the malfunctioning of the cooperatives. "Yet, by preventing creditors from charging excessive interest,
whatever the defects in implementation, the fact of agrarian Along with the Agrarian Reforms Act of 1976, was also passed

change could not be denied. Many tillers have become the j&k Debtors' Relief Act of 1976, and the j&k Restitution of
landowners and some land has even gone to the landless" Mortgaged Properties Act of 1976. These Acts were passed to
(Thorner 1976: 50). provide relief to debtors as it was in the 1950s. According
done

Keeping in view the total sociopolitical turmoil and post-partition

to Tara Singh Rekhi (l993)> as recommended by the land com
development throughout the subcontinent the agrarian reforms of mission and the subsequent agrarian reforms by the govern
early fifties were definitely radical. Smooth transformation, irrespec- ment, the absentee landlordism vanished from the state,
tiveofthe reasons which made it possible, of agrarian set-up added an
tenancy system was abolished and the ownership rights of
element of uniqueness to it. Number of anomalies in the pattern of , , , .. ,. .
, . . „ , . , , land were vested in the tillers. The total number of benenciar
land „tenure crept m over the years. For instance, the Big Landed
,

Estates Abolition Act carried with it certain discrepancies such as uni- 'es from the transfer of land to the tillers from 1951 up to 1985
form fixation of ceiling without giving due weight to fertility of soil stood at 11,22,918 (see Table), whereas during the period from
and geo-physical contiguity. Similarly, no ceiling was imposed on 1980 to 1985, the number of beneficiaries was 5,38,000
holding size of protected tenants who illegally sublet their land violât-
(Rekhi 1993)
ing the spirit of land reforms.
Hence the government in 1963 set up a Land Commission to find out
Outcomes of the Reforms
the various discrepancies which had crept in over the years in the land
tenure pattern. The recommendations of this Commission formed, by According to George Mathew (2011: 25), land reform
and large,
° ' the basis of Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reform Act, 1972 Γ j , ,, ..
was a watershed in the history of j&k and a measure, the first of its
epea e at 19 9.102 .
kind in the lauded different sections of and
subcontinent, by society
This Act ended the rights in land of those who personally never people belonging to different walks of life in the country. The land reform
cultivated, and also reduced the ceiling limit to 12.5 standard yearly helped the marginalised sections, especially the scheduled
r , , t t , ,, castes to become landowners,
acres of land. With the enactment of this new Act, the old
system of the landlord-tenant relationship came to an end. According to another research on land reforms in the state by
J&K from 1951-52 to 1980-85
Table: Land Transferred to Tillers in J&Kfrom Ashish Saxena (quoted in Mathew 2011), during the 1950s
SNo
S No Year Land Transferred Number of Number of 1970s, out of total surplus land of 84 acres, mainly taken away
Tillers Beneficiaries
(in Acres)
{in
from Rajputs and Mahajans, 70.24% was allotted to scheduled
1 1951-52 92,927 30,418# 2,98,922 tenants. A
caste radical inter-generational shift in the occupa
2 1952-53 66,755 50,189 1,70,165
tion pattern of the scheduled castes in terms of landless agri
3 1953-54 36,619 32,260 1,15,831
cultural labourers to landowning peasants from grandfather
4 1980-85 1,06,000 3,08,000 5,38,000
Total
(nil) to 47.1% in the present generation has taken place.
3,02,301 4,20,867 11,22,918
#However, Aslam (1977:62) puts this figure at 80,418 quoting Economic Development in However, Verma (l994) has different views ΟΠ the outcomes
Figures (Jammu and Kashmir), Director of Information,
information, Srinagar.
srinagar. of the agrarian reforms in j&k. For him, the land reforms were
Source: Rekhi (1993:127).
not sufficient to extinguish the class differences between the
Even the new Agrarian Reforms Act of 1972 was found higher and lower sections in the farm sector. With the intro
wanting in many ways. While enforcing the Act, it was found duction of better irrigation facilities and high yielding crop
that many landowners who depended heavily on income from varieties, new classes of rich peasants and orchard owners

land and wanted to cultivate the land personally could not have become dominant and stifled efforts towards equity in
own or cultivate the land. to pay higher rent
Some tillers had the countryside. The increasing inequalities in the agrarian
than what they were paying before the enforcement of the sector may be attributed to the defective ceiling laws, circum
Act. In order to remove these discrepancies, the Reforms Act vention of laws by the landed peasantry and exemption of
of 1972 was replaced by the Reforms Act of 1976 (amended) orchards from the ceiling laws. Dhar's opinion on the land
which, after its enforcement, came into effect on 1 May 1973 reform is also quite similar to that of Verma.
(Bhat 1989). The Act of 1976 alsofixed a ceiling of 12.5 stand- . , c , , . ,. .., . ,
. . . . .
Land reforms in Kashmir involved a gigantic redistribution of owner
ard acres including orchards with certain conditions. ship holdings both horizontally and vertically. These reforms led to
, . * 1^ . , « , t . ,. . the total restructuring of land tenure system. By and large0 it achieved
It further seeks to bring about the complete peasant proprietorship of . , , , , , , _
, . .. , . . its aims but it brought forth new problems. ...Establishment of peasant
land by eliminating landlord-tenure relationship wherever it exists , , , ,
proprietorship in Kashmir, however, led to the concentration of more
within the ceiling limit of 12.5 standard acres. It has kept option for the
land in the hands of rich peasantry. It abolished absentee landlords
petty landlord to resume for his personal cultivation that fraction of but created Kulaks at the site of the land (Dhar 1989: 256-57).
his holdings which is equal to the fraction of that produce which he
was recovering as rent from the tiller. Tiller shall become the owner of
por Jhorner (1953· 1002)
the rest of the land left with him. Unlike the previous Acts tenant
should be deemed to have become the owner of the land right from the Land reform in Kashmir has clearly done away with the jagirs, and has
enforcement of the new Act but shall have to pay compensation for the weakened the position of all the great landlords. It has distinctly ben
land which he owns within a period of 10 years from the date of en- efited those individuals who, at the village level, were already the more
forcement of the Act (Bhat 1989:103). important and substantial people. It has done the least for the petty

Economic & Political weekly B353 august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31 135

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

tenants and landless labourers, these two categories being the largest the abolition of big landed estates quite as shrilly as did their Dogra
in the countryside. By not paying the compensation to the dispos- counterparts (Rai 2004: 283).
sessed absentee landlords, Kashmir has escaped the financial burden
According to her
which several of the states of India have found so onerous.
an arena in which the National Conference made conspicuous conces
Sheikh Abdullah, far-sighted leader, knew from his
being a sions to Pandit privileges was in administrative employment. Their

experiences since 1931 that bringing radical change in the State primary vocation...being employment in government service, 10% of
the state j°bs were reserved for Pandits' while i£ is true that a much
and fighting the Dogra Maharaja would not be an easy task
. . . r , __ . larger proportion of 50% was reserved for Muslims, the smaller num
without active support of the entire Kashmiri society. For Rai bfirs of £he pandits made ^ an jmpressively generous allowance.
(2004) agrarian reforms in Jammu and Kashmir were not as indeed the Pandits were getting much more than their proportion of
radical as they were made out to be. She finds "indications of the population entitled them to and, through the liberality of the
National Conference, were said to be better represented in the state
the compulsions to placate variety of special interests within
a
services than they had ever been before (Rai 2004: 284).
Kashmiri society, including Pandit concerns, under which
Abdullah had to operate" (Rai 2004: 281-82) while implement
land reforms. to the radical Conclusions
ing According her, promises made
in the New Kashmir Manifesto (1944) were diluted by the As expected, India's most-publicised land reform became a

ruling party so that there was no social instability in the coun- success. This achievement has been attributed largely to the

tryside. Corruption in the National Conference machinery political will ofthe leadership of j&k, especially that of Sheikh
mitigated the harsher aspects of the reforms for the big land- Abdullah, and the special status granted to the state under
owners. Smelling a nexus between the National Conference Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. This Article of the
government and Kashmiri Pandits, Rai asks how come Pandits Indian Constitution, originally intended as an interim meas
did not oppose the agrarian reforms. ure, gave exemption to j&k from the Fundamental Rights and
said that over 30% of the land in the valley belonged to (the Pandits)
It is Directive Principles. Sheikh Abdullah, to whom Maharaja Hari
prior to the reforms, much of which had been obtained at the time of Singh had handed over the reins of the state after signing the
the first settlement of the 1880s. An equally large proportion was Instrument of Accession to India, had sought such an exemption
obtained through purchase after 1934, when proprietary rights were
SQ that his government could implement the promises made in
granted to Kashmiri cultivators following the agitation of 1931-2. , . ,
1S eW aS mlr anlfestO.
Considering that the Pandits comprised approximately 5% of the
Kashmiri population, their control of over 30% of the land speaks As expected, there was alsoa strong reaction against the
for significantly large holdings. However, Pandits did not resist land reforms because majority of the beneficiaries were poor

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136 august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31 EEE3 Economic & Political weekly

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 ; SPECIAL ARTICLE

Muslims, and those who lost their lands were powerful in 1953, his successors in Srinagar were not accepted by
Hindu landlords having strong ties with the erstwhile ruler the "people" as their own leaders, rather they were seen as
and other important political leaders in New Delhi. There "rulers" who were imposed on them by New Delhi. The
were alsoreports of an anti-reform movement launched by the people of Kashmir were neither anti-Pakistan, nor pro-India;
"Praja Parishad", but it cut no ice. Needless to say, these they were, in fact, pro-Sheikh Abdullah because of his
reforms were not only extremely popular in the Muslim- untiring implementation of the radical agrarian reforms,
dominated areas of the state, but were also equally popular in So, the people of Kashmir were ready to go anywhere Sheikh
the areas dominated by "Harijans" (scheduled castes) and Abdullah would take them. This is where the leadership of
lower-middle-class Hindus. Sheikh Abdullah becomes crucial as someone who fought for
Owing to post-Partition developments, particularly the in- social, economic, political and cultural rights since 1931,
ternational conflict over Kashmir and immense popularity of whereas his successors lacked his strength, charisma and,
Sheikh Abdullah, the opposition to the agrarian reforms could above all, the legitimacy.
not even find any outside patronage. Involving all Kashmiris in Prime Minister Nehru knew the importance of Sheikh
a "nation-building" programme and the articulation of the Abdullah as far as India's relations with j&k were concerned,
notion of "Kashmiriyat" were some of the strategies adopted The governments in New Delhi, over the years, in their eager
by the state government to not just deflect the rising opposi- ness to integrate the state with India and do away with the
tion to the reform programmes, but also to strengthen its pop- "interim measure" of Article 370, eventually separated the
ularity and acceptability in the post-Dogra regime and tighten people of the state from India. New Delhi's relations with j&k
its hold over the state. could have become an example of a true federal system in
Although reforms in the land relations in the state continued practice, but it is presented more as an example of asymmetry
even after the removal of Sheikh Abdullah from power in the Indian federation.

NOTES from Jammu), Pandit Prem Nath Bajaj (Pandit Dhar, D Ν(1989): Socio-Economic History of Kashmir
The chief minister in J&K was earlier designat nominee from Kashmir), and Pandit Lok Nath Peasantry (Srinagai: Centre for Kashmir Studies).
ed as prime minister. However, this was Sharma (Pandit nominee from Jammu). J&K Today (nd): Jammu and Kashmir Today, Minis
changed when the Constitution of Jammu and In October 1932, Sheikh Abdullah founded the try of Information and Broadcasting, Jammu
Kashmir (Sixth Amendment) Act, 1965 was All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference. and Kashmir.
passed on 10 April 1965. On 11 June 1939, it was renamed as the All Kashmir after 9 August, 1953 (1955): Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference.
According to Alastair Lamb, Sheikh Abdullah after 9 August 1953 (Srinagar: Lalla Rookh
became head of the J&K Emergency Govern According to Alastair Lamb (1992), Sheikh Publications).
ment on 29 October 1947 (with the title of Chief Abdullah on 5 March 1948 was appointed Kashmir Marches Ahead (1958): Kashmir Marches
Emergency Administrator), with Bakshi Ghulam prime minister as head of an Interim Govern Ahead: A Review of Progress (Srinagar: Lalla
Mohammed as his deputy and Mirza Afzal ment of the state of J&K. Rookh Publications).
Beg as a minister. This Emergency Government, 13 July is celebrated every year in Kashmir as
Korbel, Josef (1954): Danger in Kashmir (New
however, continued to operate under the Martyrs' Day in the memory of those who died Jersey: Princeton University Press).
general supervision of the prime minister or following a clash with the police in 1931.
Lamb, Alastair (1992): Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy,
Diwan, who until March 1948 remained Mehr However, according to Jammu and Kashmir
Chand Mahajan (Lamb 1992: 144-45). Accord 1946-90 (Karachi: Oxford University Press).
Today, the date on which it was decided by the
ing to Khushwant Singh, Sheikh Abdullah was Constituent Assembly was 13 March 1952 (J&K
Lawrence, Walter (1967): The Valley of Kashmir
appointed Director General, Administration - (Srinagar: Kesar Publications).
Today, nd: 15).
the first Kashmiri Muslim to hold this post
Justice Janaki Nath Wazir was a former judge Malaviya, H D (1955): Land Reforms in India (New
(Abdullah 1993: 97). Delhi: Economic & Political Research Depart
of Lucknow High Court and subsequently Chief
Muafis were land revenue assignments, and ment, All India Congress Committee).
Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
there were two types of muafis: religious and Mathew, George (2011): "Land Reforms: Jammu
non-religious. In religious muafis, one-third of and Kashmir Shows the Way", Yojana, October,
the amount of the land revenue was received
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Abdullah, Sheikh Mohammad (1993): Flames of and Official Nationalism of 'Bharat'" in
the assigned land revenue was received either the Chinar: An Autobiography, abridged and
in cash or kind, or both. The government totally Τ V Sathyamurthy (ed.), Social Change and
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Economie & Political weekly ES3S3 august 2, 2014 vol xlix no 31 137

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