Submitted by ,

Joshua b varghese
IMPSS MG UNIVERSITY

KERALA BEFORE LAND REFORMS AND ITS IMPACT

INTRODUCTION

Land reforms were considered one of the main ideas that had circulated during the
start of the 20th century, which add on to both economical and also political
change. The land reforms in Kerala and West Bengal are considered more
successful than others. While the West Bengal case has already been found to
influence land market functioning, there are hardly any studies in the Kerala case.
Kerala state in India has been given importance for its development model.
However, we can see that the peasant has an interesting case in the realm of land
reforms. Considering the earlier land reforms, we can see that a legacy of
interventions can be seen as early as the 19th century. The land reforms that we
can see after the communist government came into force were among the reputed
interventions that the government itself has done because of its radical and also
successful political terms in the distribution of land among the landless labourers.
But still, there were various confusions regarding which all groups were being
taken into consideration when the plan was distributed where. Dalits and also
tribals were losing their hold over the lands when other middle-class and elite men
tried to invade their rightful land. The contemporary study that has been done in
Kerala during the past years has shown that the distribution of land reforms was
reducing landless, and the land has been changed to urban figures.

EVOLUTION OF LAND IN KERALA

The evolution of land can be studied within various contexts where debates are still
engaging throughout the study. The emergence of the individual right to the ground
can be seen as a gradual development which has been mainly caused due to the
process of population increase, technical progress, commercial integration and risk
reduction (hyami and Ruttan).In the case of property rights, we can see that the
result of interaction between the economic and political forces can be termed as a
reason for the improvement. In the present scenario, the critical issue which has
been regarded as the development of land and real estate, which is a significant
component of household wealth and a crucial determinant of modern economics,
household welfare can be seen in the form of merit as well as in the form of
demerit .so in short we can see that the land reforms that has been taken place in
Kerala can be sighted from the landless communities to the land market
community.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF LAND REFORMS

When travelling through the present era of Kerala begin to see that integrated
Kerala was formed in 1956 from the princely states of Travancore cochin and
Malabar district of the former Madras presidency of British India, which had a
different variety of land relation where various type of tenures that existed in
Kerala during the past years. Even though Kerala has been separated with the
rolling of another princely state, there were common property rights where the land
has been divided, which can be seen in the form of kinship, religion etc.
The Influence of religion on land was also evident from the emergence of the
temple, where the temple can be seen as a dominant institution in rural localities
and societal formation. Land was either gradually transferred or taken away by the
chief or the landlords, where temples and brahmins, which have been called
Janmy, held most of the available lands on permanent hereditary rights. Lands
were also seen as least out of cultivation, or the cultivated products which have
been taken out from the land were also being transferred to the temple granaries.,
By the 17th century, we can see the developments such as the expansion of
agriculture production overseas trade with Arabs, Chinese, jews and the Christians
began to redefine the landscape of Kerala in different ways.
The division later from the disintegration of “tharavadu” can be seen with a
conversion from the joint family to the individual family institution, where the
development of the variety of land institutions can be seen in Kerala from the 19th
century onwards.
Another drastic change which has been taken place during the Malabar conquest
by the Mysore and later by the British in northern Kerala. Similarly, the same
method has also been seen in the southern regions where the expansion of the
Travancore Kingdom under marthanda Varma and the annexation of local
chieftens can be seen as a radical change in the land relations. The British, who had
tried to make some changes to the rights and interests of the land based on the
contract, shared a type of old customary land system which had been accessed for
centuries. But the change which can be taken to be seen in cochin as well as in the
Travancore areas where one excellent enlightenment and a progressive agrarian
policy can be seen through the expansion of agriculture where where
“centralization of the land by the state” can be seen as a primary idea behind it.
Evidence regarding the encouragement of the cultivation of waste lands, reduction
of tax-free for the first 10 years imposing only light taxation thereafter can be seen
during starting of the 19th century
all these improvements, which have been cited during the 19th century, can be
termed as a way to crave land in its position.

PHASES OF LAND REFORMS

Has mentioned earlier, the root causes of the change in the Reformation started in
the 19th century, where the direct Influence of the state in relation to giving rights
to the individual where the land became an individual property. This has been first
done to increase the area under cultivation and to remove the evils which have
been seen in this society ( social evils). The property rights were started in 1865,
when the pattam proclamation was issued on the 2nd of June 1865. This gave the
tenants property rights from the land holdings of the temple. Just like this, a series
of regulations came in, and after this, Like the janmi kudiyan regulation act of
1896, the dewasam proclamation of 1922, triangular land proclamation act of
1946, were some of them.
These tenancy rights had made the land a part of commodity where the
commercial interest of the people is being fulfilled and also has made discontent
among the janmies That they are not the single owner of the land. The agrarian
discontent which has changed communal feelings in the revolt of 1921, which has
also been called as Mappila rebellion. This incident caused the active mobilization
of the tenants in the following decade resulting in the Malabar tenancy act in 1929.
In Kochin also, we can see the cochin tenancy act of 1914 and 1938. The condition
of cochin was a type of intermediate when considering Travancore and Malabar. In
short, Travancore was transformed into a region where the person properties and
cochin to a track of peasents and properties with some landlords and Malabar to
almost landlord tract.
All these regulations act that has been mentioned above have resulted in the lower
strata of society where they were able to economically progress through non-
agricultural pursuits and through the acquisition of land.
All these reforms, which have been working under the monarchs in the South, were
not beneficial to the agrarian labour class. The basic demands of all these groups
have been taken to the political movements around the 1930s, which were started
in the 19th century and still progressing through the contemporary era. The idea of
forming the United Kerala where the integration of Travancore and Cochin states
into a single political unit where the United states of Travancore and cochin after
the British had left had made several land tenures which made the state Kerala
united. In Malabar, during this period since independence from the British in 1947
since the formation of United Kerala in 1956 the act was that there were several
tenancy acts which have been passed in 1952 and 1954, but the whole idea of the
land reforms had come into effect among the common people has started only after
the political unification of Kerala 1956. the communist government, which took
place after 1956, had different demands for land reforms, which forcefully formed
the first ministry headed by EMS namboodiripad, initiated additional land reforms
through the passing of the land reforms act, an act which was introduced and
passed in 1963 came into existence only after 1964 which has come through
different amendments in 1969 and 1972.
So considering Kerala, we can see different phases of land reformation considering
political, economic or both throughout the years.

END RESULT: THOUGH NOT AN END.

The analysis of all these land reforms

resulted in changing of landlordism which was fixed in Kerala during the past
years. We can also see the change which has been taken through the different acts
and amendments by giving the number of tenants lands and help in fulfilling their
needs, but we should always keep in mind that still the groups (Dalit and tribal)
which have been erased from the pages of histories are still in doubt that whether
they had got what they had needed. Even though Kerala is often cited as an
example where land reforms have been carried out successfully, different studies
point out that there are various shortcomings where the evil of tenants and
labourers who had been working in the lands for their past years have been
excluded from the land reforms. Studies also show that labourers who were
attached to the landlords were provided hutment land, and to point out that
agricultural labourers Belonging to marginalized sections did not benefit much
from the redistribution process (herring 1980). Land reforms can also be said to be
associated with the fragmentation of land holdings and an impact on the production
of Paddy ( growing lands..)
Submitted by,
Joshua b Varghese
Date : 21-02-2023