Land Reforms in Jammu and Kashmir :

Land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir constituted a part of a spate of reforms, including health, education and agrarian reforms, introduced by the National Conference government between 1948 and 1976. Two major legislations through which these reforms were affected were – the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950 and the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976. Under the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, the upper limit for landholding was reduced to 22.75 acres in 1950, which was further reduced to 12.50 acres through the Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976. All land in excess to the ceiling was expropriated by the state and was then transferred to the actual tillers. The decision on compensation was taken later in 1951 by the Constituent Assembly of the state which decided against paying any compensation to landlords. It was their belief that the system that resulted in this kind of stark disparity in land ownership was deeply exploitative and parasitic and neither the state nor the beneficiaries of the reform owed compensation to the landlords who had benefitted from this exploitative structure for centuries.

Naya Kashmir :

These reforms, as first envisioned and articulated by the leaders of the National Conference, were introduced by them in the Naya Kashmir (New Kashmir) Manifesto in 1944. The basic principles informing these land reforms – ‘abolition of intermediaries’ and ‘land to the tiller’ – were proposed in Naya Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in independent India that refused compensation to landlords whose lands were expropriated by the state. These reforms were further supplemented with elaborate tenancy reforms. 

Naya Kashmir was launched by the leaders of the National Conference in 1944. This document laid down a comprehensive plan for socio-economic, political, and cultural reconstruction of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Drawing inspiration from the Soviet model, Sheikh Abdullah declared the vision that was being laid down for the newly emerging state would be socialist. He emphasised that real freedom is possible only after economic emancipation of the people. With this leaning, he resolved to build the foundation of democracy in the state on the bedrock of economic equality.

The remarkable nature of land reforms can be assessed by contextualising it within the socio-political background of Jammu and Kashmir during the Dogra rule. The state economy was predominantly agrarian with 80% of the peasantry constituting of Kashmiri Muslims. In her book Languages of Belonging, Chitralekha Zutshi details how over centuries of rule under the Afghans, Mughals, Sikhs and Dogras, landownership in the region had become deeply skewed with the majority of Kashmiri Muslim peasantry working as landless labourers. The people of Hindu community ascribed as ‘lower caste’ were placed similarly or worse. While this was the condition of the vast majority, exorbitant amount of lands came to be owned and controlled by Kashmiri Pandits and the Kashmiri Muslim communities of Syeds and Peers. 

Impact of Land Reform :

Jammu and Kashmir’s better than national average human development indicators is that along with the land reforms, there was a massive debt write-off undertaken over a period of twenty years between 1951 and 1973. It is because of this that the incidence of indebtedness in Jammu and Kashmir is at the second lowest. Landless labour in the state is nearly absent and land ownership translating into economic empowerment has led to more than 25% of the household earnings in Jammu and Kashmir coming from own cultivation. As a result, the incidence of poverty in the state is remarkably low with households living below the poverty line at 10% against the all India average of 22%.

The case of land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir and the consequent prosperity within the society and economy presents with a unique example in the history of Indian subcontinent.