Chapter 3-Land Reforms in The Constitution of India

Similarly, the right of persons holding land for personal cultivation and within ceiling limit to
receive market compensation at the market value will not be affected.. Property, while
ceasing to be a fundamental right, would, however, be given express recognition
as a legal right, provision being made that no person shall be deprived of his property save in
accordance with law.”
This explanation for the change is neither candid nor convincing. Not convincing, because
the fact that the Constitution had to be amended a number of times to deal with right to
property is not a sufficient reason for deleting it from the chapter on fundamental rights. Nor
does the 44th
Amendment give any new position to the fundamental rights, which those rights did not
occupy
before. This explanation is not candid, because a candid explanation would have said that the
change was being made to fulfill part of the pledge given in the Janata Party Manifesto for
the 1977 Parliamentary elections, namely “delete from the list of fundamental rights and
instead affirm right to work.” The present Amendment implements a part of the pledge,
because the right to work has not been affirmed. It seems to have been realised that right to
work cannot be affirmed because no work may be available. Article 41, which is a principle
of state policy, recognises this when it qualifies the duty of the state to secure work by the
words “within the limits of working capacity and development.” Nor does Article 41 confer
“right to work” on anyone, because Article 37 clearlymakes the “rights” conferred in the Part
IV (Directive principles of state policy) not enforceable in any court. An unemployed person
will seek in vain to secure his “right to work” which must mean gainful employment and not
slave labour.
The amendments proposed by in the Janata Party Manifesto, are now partly implemented by
the 44th Amendment, have been made without realizing
(1) the close relation of property with other fundamental rights, which the Janata Party was
pledged to restore;
(2) the effect of this change on the legislative power to acquire and requisition property; and
(3) the correlation of fundamental rights to Directive principles of state policy.
CHAPTER 3- LAND REFORMS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

3.1- Land Reforms
Land reform is a strategy for social change through state intervention. It is where the State
uses instrumental rational action for intervention. Land reform forms the basis for the
abolition of the feudal colonial structure and distributes the property that belonged to the
erstwhile higher classes to the tiller. It is an initiative to increase the productivity of the tiller
by giving him a portion of the land that he works on. The other associations to the question
of land reforms came with the associated problems of ownership of property. Ownership of
property by a certain section of the society ensures rule poverty, income inequality and
discrimination on economic grounds.
The socialist goal of the State was to ensure a ceiling on land holdings and the distribution of
surplus land. This was targeted at 4/5th of the population which had no ownership of
property. The reason that the State went for a policy of land reform was that one of its
objectives was the prevention of class wars and to attain this objective the State had to
intervene in regulating the relationships among the classes. The reason that land reform has
remained a policy and never been actually implemented is the fact that it is ideological based
to protect the interests of the upper classes. It is precisely for this reason that land reforms
have been conservative. In reality land reform is a radical ideology of a newly emerging
political system which is used by the ruling elite to pacify the role masses.
Land reform, called for social change at an ideological and at a practical level. Social change
can only occur when all three of these three factors exist
1 .Interplay between society and social economic factors
2. Intervention of the State
3. Collective action
Although any or all of these may exist the state has been unable to implement land reforms
for the distribution of property for the following reasons
1. Influence of land owners in the democratic setup
2. Lack of commitment and political will to implement land reforms
3. Influence of the economic and agrarian relations prevalent in India
4. Social and hierarchical setup
5. Legal and constitutional set up1
1
See Judge, Paramjit. S. SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH LAND REFORMS. (New Delhi : Rawat Publications. 1999)
3.2- Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
Thus to foster the goal of equality, the Directive principles the State ensured adequate means
of livelihood and that the operation of the economic system and controlled of the material
resources of the country and subserve common good. By establishing these positive
obligations of the state, the members of the Constituent Assembly created the responsibility
of future Indian governments to find the middle way between individual liberty and public
good, between preserving the property and privilege of the few and distributing benefits on
the many in order to liberate the people of India.
The Directive in Article 39(b) and (c) is solely aimed at the third kind of property and it
evades logical reasoning as to why the other fundamental rights should be abridged, what to
say of abrogation. Thus seen there is no conflict between the Directive Principles and the
Fundamental Rights. Both have been placed after much deliberation by the Constituent
Assembly and none can be made redundant. The plea that Fundamental Rights are an
impediment to the implementation of Directive Principles is deceptive and mischievous and
intended to cover our failings.
Article 39(b) calls for distribution of ownership and control which mean that private
ownership and control will be expanded and therefore nationalisation of private industry
cannot be read into distribution. Distribution does not exclude the original owner. He is only
to be deprived of the part which he does not work. So it is the third kind of property which
has been referred to in Article 39(c) while talking of concentration of wealth and means of
production.

Chapter 3-Land Reforms in The Constitution of India

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 3-Land Reforms in The Constitution of India

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 3-Land Reforms in The Constitution of India

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Similarly, the right of persons holding land for personal cultivation and within ceiling limit to

CHAPTER 3- LAND REFORMS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

You might also like