SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN LAND OWNERSHIP IN INDIA A STUDY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO WEST BENGAL

1. SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN LAND OWNERSHIP IN INDIAA STUDY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO WEST BENGAL Aparajita Bakshi Junior Research Fellow Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata, India

2. Objectives • Assess the inequalities in access to land between the different social groups, especially Dalits and Adivasis in rural India • A case study of the impact of land reforms in West Bengal, a State in Eastern India on the land holding among Dalit and Adivasi households

3. Secondary data sources on land holdings in India • National Sample Survey Land and Livestock Holdings Surveys 48th round (1992) • National Sample Survey Employment Unemployment Surveys 50th round (1993-94) 61st round (2004-05)

4. Definitions of land holdings • Land and Livestock Holding surveys Ownership holdings of agricultural land • Employment Unemployment Surveys Land cultivated by households

5. Households that do not cultivate land, India and States, 1993-94 and 2004-05 per thousand rural households

6. Index of Access Index of Access for the social group j, denoted as Aj can be represented as; Aj = Percentage of total extent of ownership/operational holdings owned/operated by group j ÷ Percentage of households in group j in total households Relative access index A = Ai/Aj

7. Index of access to agricultural land by social groups, 1992

8. Relative Index of Access to agricultural land, 1992

9. KALMANDASGURI THUTHIPAKAR AMARSINGHI KALINAGAR & BIDYANIDHI TENTULTALA DALKATI

10. Social composition in the study villages, May June 2005 Source: Survey data

11. Land reform benefits - Share of different social groups in agricultural land distributed in the study villages, May June 2005 Source: Survey data

12. Index of access to agricultural land in study villages, by social groups, May June 2005 Source: Survey data

13. Land reform benefits – Share of different social groups in homestead land distributed in the study villages, May June 2005 Source: Survey data

14. Net purchase of land in the last 15 years (1990 – 2005) in the survey villages, by social groups, in acres Source: Survey data

15. Dalits in rural India have far less access to land than any other social group. There is an increase in landlessness among Dalits in India in the previous decade. • Secondary data show the Dalits in West Bengal have better access to land compared to other Indian States. This is indicated by the fact that the proportion of landless Dalit households is lower in West Bengal than the national average and the Index of Access is higher. • The increase in the incidence of landlessness among Dalits in West Bengal in the previous decade is lower than that in India. Also, the increase in the incidence of landlessness in West Bengal is higher for non-Dalits than Dalits. • Village level data show that Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim households have been major beneficiaries of land reforms in West Bengal. These social groups have gained access to agricultural and homestead land through the process of land reforms. The direct policy of land reform implemented by the Government of West Bengal, though in a limited way, have contributed to lowering inequalities among the deprived social groups in the State and that is also reflected in the secondary data. • Increased purchasing power among the poor in Bengal facilitated by land distribution has increased the participation of Dalit and Muslim households in land markets.