INTRODUCTION

The problem of land ownership at present cannot be resolved without understanding the land
ownership structure of the past. The past plays an important role in shaping our perceptions and
ordering our priorites. Naturally, the solutions we find for the contemporary crisis are affected by
our past. Hence, it is important to see how our ancestors understood land ownership.

Land ownership systems

Various land ownership and transfer systems were introduced by the British:

 The ‘zamindari’ system prevailed in most of northern India whereby feudal lords (zamidars)
became owners of large tracts of land. They had to pay fixed revenue payments to the
government and so peasants became tenant farmers and had to pay rent on the land they farmed.
 The ‘ryotwari’ system was followed in south and west parts of India. Individual cultivators
(ryots or raiyats) were proprietors of land against revenue payments. They had rights to sub-let,
mortgage and transfer land.
 The ‘mahalwari system’ was a third system whereby entire villages had to pay revenue, with
farmers contributing their share in proportion to their holdings.
 The Indian Forest Act was passed in 1920, making all forest land government-owned. This de-
legitimised the traditional community ownership systems in adivasi (tribal) societies.

Land distribution under these systems became extremely unequal - rural society was
polarised: landlords and rich peasants versus tenants and agricultural labourers. By the time of
Independence in 1947, about 40% of India’s rural population was working as landless
agricultural labour.

BACKWARD CLASSES IN INDIA

The constitution of India does not define the term backward classes. It is up to the centre and the
states to postulate the classes that belong to this group. However, it is assumed that classes that
are not signified passably in the services of the state can be termed backward classes.

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Further, the President can, under Article 340, can establish a commission to scrutinise the
condition of socially and educationally backward classes. Structural standards are attached to the
different relationships between the subordinate and the prevailing group in every society. The
norms act as structural obstacles giving rise to various forms of disparity.

There is some structural discrimination faced by these vulnerable groups. In India, members of
gender, caste, class, and ethnic identity experience structural discrimination that has adversely
impacted on their health and access to healthcare. Women also face dual discrimination being
members of specific caste, class or cultural group apart from experiencing gendered
susceptibilities. Women have less control on the resources and on important decisions related to
their lives.

In a caste-dominated country such as India, Dalits who comprises more than one-sixth of the
Indian population, stand as a community whose human rights have been sternly dishonoured.
Literacy rates among Dalits are very low, about 24 per cent. Their living conditions are very poor
or have low access to resources and entitlements. In rural India, they are landless poor
agricultural labourers attached to rich landowners from generations or poor casual labourers
doing all kinds of available work.

In the metropolitan, they get low level job as wage labourers at several work sites, beggars,
vendors, small service providers, domestic help, etc. They live in slums and other temporary
shelters without any kind of social security.

General Development of SCs & STs:

The Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) of 1979 mandated a planning process for the social,
economic and educational development of Scheduled Castes and improvement in their working
and living conditions. It was an umbrella strategy, ensuring the flow of targeted financial and
physical benefits from the general sector of development to the Scheduled Castes. It entailed a
targeted flow of funds and associated benefits from the annual plan of states and Union
Territories (UTs) in at least a proportion to the national SC population. Twenty-seven states and
UTs with sizable SC populations are implementing the plan. Although the Scheduled Castes
population according to the 2001 Census was 16.66 crores (16.23 percent of the total

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population), the allocations made through SCSP have been lower than the proportional
population.

The Objectives and Strategy for SC / ST Development:

The Government has spent a lot of funds on various schemes of SC /ST development during last
six decades. This massive fund flow has helped in building up infrastructure facilities like
irrigation dams, road network, electrification, health and education in the tribal areas. All these
have affected the living standards and quality of life of SC /ST people. The focus of the plan was
on improving the economic status of backward and providing basic infrastructure facilities in the
tribal areas. The strategy also specifically aimed at improving the living environment of the tribal
by giving them better social and civic amenities and facilities. The objectives of the 12th Plan are

 Reduction in the incidences of poverty and unemployment and thereby reduction in income
inequalities.
 Human resource development of the scheduled tribes by providing them economic & health
services and development of the confidence among them through intensive educational
efforts.
 Development and strengthening of infrastructure base for further economic exploitation of
the resources (physical and human both) in tribal areas.
 Providing physical & financial security against all types of exploitation.

The strategy to achieve these objectives has a blend of area based and individual based
approach. The efforts will be to strengthen and develop vibrant socio-economic infrastructure
on the one hand and on the other to provide better means of livelihood to those who still live on
inadequate economic base Thrust Area. Human resources development through education and
vocational training receive the importance. Women education will be given special importance
because the literacy level of tribal women is very low. Facilities like hostels, residential schools
and multipurpose hostels up to college level will be provided during the 12th plan period.

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Constitutional Provisions for safeguards of SCs & STs:

The social and economic position of the Scheduled Castes had been the concern of the
Constitution. For providing safeguards for Scheduled Castes special provisions were made to
promote the social, educational, economic and service interest of this section of the society. In
order to ensure that the safeguards are properly implemented the Constitution on its inception,
provided for appointment of a special office under Article 338 of the Constitution to investigate
all matters relating to the safeguards provided for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes and
report to the President about the working of these safeguards.In pursuance of this provision a
Special Officer known as the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes was
appointed for the first time on 18th November, 1950.

By 1965 the Commissioner of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes has 17 regional offices
located in various States, headed by Assistant Commissioners for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes who were in July 1965, re-designated as Deputy Commissioners. This field
organization of the Commissioner was recognized into 5 Zonal offices in June 1967 and placed
under the control of the newly created Directorate General of Backward Classes Welfare in the
department of Social Welfare.

It was felt that the office of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was
not enough to monitor the safeguards provided to SCs & STs. Hence, due to voice raised by
Members of Parliament, a proposal was mooted for amendment of Article 338 of the
Constitution (46th Amendment) by replacing the single member Special Officer by multi-
member system. The first Commission for SC & ST came into being on August, 1978. Witeffect
from 1-12-78 the field offices were transferred to the newly set up Commission for SCs & STs
and the Zonal Directors, BCW and the Deputy Directors, BCW were re-christened as Directors
for SCs & STs and Deputy Directors for SCs & STs respectively. Later on the Zonal set up was
abolished and the Commission once again had 17 field offices. Since the field Directors were
also working for the Commissioner for SCs & STs, they were re-designatedas Director for SCs
& STs and Ex-officio Deputy Commissioner for SCs & STs.

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The National Commission for SCs & STs came into being consequent upon the 65th Amendment
Bill, 1990 notified on 8.6.1990, and rules there under were notified on 3.11.1990. In the 89th
Amendment of the Constitution it was decided to have a separate National Commission for
Scheduled Castes & separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. This came into effect
on 19.02.2004. The erstwhile National Commission for SCs & STs was bifurcated into two
different Commissions. After bifurcation there are at present 12 State Offices under the
jurisdiction of NCSC. These are located at Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore,
Chandigarh,Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Pune &
Thiruvananthapuram.

Constitutional Provisions for the SC/ST/OBC and Minorities:

 Art. 15(4): Clause 4 of article 15 is the fountain head of all provisions regarding
compensatory discrimination for SCs/STs. This clause was added in the first amendment to
the constitution in 1951 after the SC judgment in the case of Champakam Dorairajan vs
State of Madras. It says thus, "Nothing in this article or in article 29(2) shall prevent the
state from making any provisions for the advancement of any socially and economically
backward classes of citizens or for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes." This clause
started the era of reservations in India.

 Art. 15 (5) : This clause was added in 93rd amendment in 2005 and allows the state to make
special provisions for backward classes or SCs or STs for admissions in private educational
institutions, aided or unaided.

 Art. 16(4): This clause allows the state to reserve vacancies in public service for any
backward classes of the state that are not adequately represented in the public services.

 Art. 16 (4A): This allows the state to implement reservation in the matter of promotion for
SCs and STs.
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 Art. 16(4B): This allows the state to consider unfilled vacancies reserved for backward
classes as a separate class of vacancies not subject to a limit of 50 per cent reservation.

 Art. 17: This abolishes untouchability and its practice in any form. Although the term
untouchability has not been defined in the constitution or in any act but its meaning is to be
understood not in a literal sense but in the context of Indian society. Due to the varna system,
some people were relegated to do menial jobs such as cleaning toilets. Such people were not
to be touched and it was considered a sin to even touch their shadow. They were not even
allowed to enter public places such as temples and shops. The constitution strives to remove
this abhorring practice not only making the provision a fundamental right but also allows
punishment to whoever practices or abets it in any form. Towards this end, Protection of
Civil Rights Act 1955 was enacted.

RIGHT TO PROPERTY IN INDIA

Right to property is framed as a human right under the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and is recognized as a fundamental right in most democracies. It is one of the most
controversial of rights, always in need of an appropriate definition suited to a nation’s
political, social and economic conditions. While all liberal constitutions allow for certain
reasonable restrictions on an absolute right to property for some public good, the challenge
facing every country is where to draw the line against state interference into a person’s right
to own and enjoy property.

In 1950, independent India drafted into its new Constitution a set offundamental rights for its
citizens to free speech, peaceful assembly, association, to move freely throughout the
territory, to reside and settle in any part of the country, “to acquire, hold and dispose of
property”, and to practice any profession, or carry on anyoccupation, trade or business. The
Constitution also gave the nation an independent judiciary.

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 Of all the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution, the right to property has
been persistently under attack from the executive. Political philosophies of the day claimed a
need to set right historical wrongs. Whittling down property rights through repeated
subversion of the Constitution was the chosen path. This pitted the executive against a
judiciary, which believed itself to be the final arbiter on the Constitution as framed by the
founding fathers.

Evolution of Property Rights in India: Pre-independence

The concept of private property as understood in today’s constitutional sense evolved with
the interpretation of classical Hindu law by judges of the British Empire. The English
common law practices ironed out conflicting texts and divergent customary rules prevailing
across India and codified problematic elements of a Hindu’s right to property and its
alienation Muslim rulers4 had introduced the Jagirdari system of creating temporary
alienations on military-revenue considerations, which evolved in the sixteenth century. Jagirs
(land holdings) were granted to nobles, scattered away from each other to prevent
consolidation by the assignees. British rulers inherited the existing land settlement systems of
the Mughals that covered much of the Indian sub-continent. Waning Mughal rule had made
the jagirdars de facto owners of the land. It was politically expedient for the colonial rulers to
continue dealing with them to generate land revenue. By imposing the English common law
to determine property relationships, the British ironically laid the ground for recognition of
private property rights in India.

In 1793, the British government granted Permanent Settlements to zamindars in the region of
Bengal with ownership rights over land. The settlement was extended to Bihar, Madras and
Orissa. Modified versions of such settlements, including short-term alienations, were created
in other parts of India also . The common feature of these diverse land tenure systems was
that the zamindars did not technically own the land and the tillers of the land were tenants of
the zamindars.

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Indian Constitution and Property Rights

By the end of the British rule, zamindars held vast tracts of land with complete control over
the tillers’ rights. This land was however, hugely fragmented, because of the historical nature
of alienations made first by the Mughals and later by the British. In the run-up to the Indian
independence in 1947, socialism was the dominant ideology of the Indian National Congress,
the party that led India’s freedom struggle against British rule. Insecurity of land tenures
among the village communities, poverty and indebtedness and recurring famines preoccupied
negotiations on law-making with the British to secure independence and later, within the
Constituent Assembly drafting the Constitution for independent India.

The Constituent Assembly was strongly divided between government take over of private
property and the continuance of property rights as it stood in the 1935 Act. Even among
those who favoured expropriation, and no one really opposed abolition of zamindari,
differences arose over how much compensation should be paid The Constitution of India,
which came into effect in 1950, was therefore, a compromise. So while the citizens enjoyed
fundamental right “to acquire, hold and dispose property” under Article 19(1)(f), Article
19(5) made this right subject to reasonable restrictions in public interest. This fundamental
right could also be taken away under Article 31, the eminent domain article, but taking of
private property could only be ‘by the authority of law’, ‘for public purposes’ and on
payment of compensation.

BACKWARD CLASS COMMISSIONS -AND MODALITIES FOR

IMPLEMENTION

The terms "Socially and Educationally Backward Classes" as used in Article 15(4)
and Backward Classes of citizens used in Article 16(4) have not been defined in the
constitution. Therefore, it is necessary to know the criteria or units and factors which
have to be taken into consideration to determine the "Socially and Educationally
Backward Classes" of citizens for the effective utilisation of Article 15(4) depends
much upon the clear determination of the said classes of citizens for whose benefit and
uplift it has been incorporated into the constitution.
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 The President of India has the power under Article 340 of the Constitution to
appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of Backward Classes and make
recommendations to improve their conditions. The Commissions appointed by the
President under Article 340 have to first identify the Backward Classes and then they
have to investigate the conditions of Backward Classes.
The identification of the Backward Classes poses a problem to the commission in
applying the relevant criteria for designation of theclasses as backward. The member of
commissions appointed by the President under Article 340 and the States under the
commissions of Enquiry Act, 1952 have adopted varied criterion for the identification of
the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes.
A perusal of the reports submitted by the various commissions clearly indicates lack of
consensus among the members of the commissions as to the criteria to be applied for the
identification of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes. It is necessary to review
briefly the reports of the commissions for a proper understanding of the criterion to be
followed for the identification of the consumers of the fruits of the protective discrimination.

Backward Class Commissions and Their Views;

Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission

In 1953, the President of India acting under Article 340 of the Constitution, appointed a
Backward Classes Commission under the Chairmanship of Kaka Saheb Kalelkar. The
Commission was asked among others to determine the criteria to be adopted in considering
whether any sections of the people of India should be treated as socially 'and educationaly
Backward Classes, to prepare a list of such classes for the whole of India in accordance
with such criteria and to examine the difficulties of such Backward Classes and to
recommend steps to be taken for the amelioration of their condition. In its report
submitted in 1955, the Commission observed that, besides the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes, there were other communities, castes or social groups which were
also socially and educationally backward. In this connection, it interpreted the term
"socially and educationally backward classes as relating primarily to

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 social hierarchy based on Caste" and said that such an interpretation is not only correct but
inevitable and no other interpretation "is possible".
Since the two commissions failed to suggest satisfactory criteria for determining the social
and economic backwardness, the State Governments were authorised to render assistance,
until the determination of more satisfactory tests, to those classes of backward people whom
the State Government might consider "Socially and Educationally Backward" in the existing
circumstances. Consequently some of the states appointed Commissions for the purpose of
determining tests to ascertain the social and educational Backward Classes of people in the
State who deserve special treatment.

Mandal Commission;

In 1978, Government of India appointed a Commission under the Chairmanship of Shri

B.P.Mandal, which submitted its report in 1980. This report has mentioned a few indicators or
criteria of backwardness on the basis of which Socially and Educationally BackwardClasses may
be identified.1 First of all, it has strongly recommended that caste must be accepted as a unit of
identification of "other backward classes" that is other backward class among the Hindus.
Secondly, according to the report, caste being the basic unit of social organisation of Hindu
society, castes are the only readily and clearly "recognisable and persistent collectivities" and it
is of the view that in the Indian context such collectivities can be castesor other hereditary
groups. Thirdly, the Commission has also applied some other tests like stigmas of low
occupation, criminality, nomadism, beggary and untouchability to identify social backwardness.
Inadequate representation in public services has been tdken as another important test.

Regarding other backward classes among Non-Hindu Communities, the report says
that though the evil of caste system has entered other religions such as Islam,
Christianity and Sikhism, they still have retained their egalitarian outlook. Therefore,
the Commission has to evolve some other rough and ready criteria fo identifying Non-
Hindu other Backward classes. But, finally the Commission has evolved the following
rough and ready criteria for identifying Non-Hindu other Backward classes:

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 (1) All untouchables converted to any Non-Hindu religion;
(2) such occupational communities which are known by the name of
their traditional hereditary occupation and whose Hindu counterparts
have been included in the list of Hindu other Backward classes.

Mandal Commission Report and its Aftermath

The Mandal Commission recommendations accepted by the Government have come into
force from August 7, 1990, according to a notifacation issued on August 13 by the
Department of Personnel, Ministry of Home Affairs, it was officially stated on August
16, 1990.
According to the notification while 27 per cent of civil posts and jobs in Government of
India services are to be reserved for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes,
similar instructions are to be issued in respect of public sector undertakings, financial
institutions by the Department of Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Finance. These
reservations will apply to vacancies which are to be filled by direct recruitment.

Locating caste in India’s farm economy (CONCLUSION)

social divisions in India’s countryside are a well-established fact. A National Sample Survey
Office (NSSO) report released last week shows there are significant caste-based differences in
economic status of agricultural households in India. Unsurprisingly, lower castes are the worst-
off by most yardsticks.

A large majority of India’s farmers are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Around 70% of
agricultural households report a deficit situation, where average monthly income was less than
the sum of average monthly consumption and net investment in productive assets.

Agricultural households have been defined as those who received not less than Rs.3,000 of
produce from farm activities in the preceding 365 days. The survey was conducted over two

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rounds in July-December 2012 and January-June 2013. The two survey periods broadly capture
India’s two agricultural seasons.
An analysis by social groups shows scheduled caste (SC) farm households have the highest share
among those running a deficit, followed by other backward classes (OBC).

Given the dominance of upper castes in the farm economy thanks to largest relative land
ownership (share of land owned divided by share in population), they have the highest share of
earnings from cultivation and non-farm incomes among all social groups. SCs have the highest
share of income from wage employment, which makes them more vulnerable to unemployment.

The report also suggests a reversal in social fortunes might be in making. Currently, upper castes
are the only social group that enjoys a more than proportionate share in total income and
consumption than their share in population. Once again, SCs are the worst-off.

However, other backward castes have an equal share in income and consumption, but a much
higher share in total expenditure on net investment in productive assets. Interestingly, the upper
castes have the lowest share in investment expenditure relative to their share in population.
These shares have been calculated by multiplying average income, consumption and investment
expenditure with expected number of agricultural households in each social group.

OBCs are becoming the biggest stakeholders in agricultural activities. Theyhave close to 45%
share in population and land ownership—the highest in both categories—in rural areas. The
disproportionate share in investment might be because they are actively engaged in farming,
while upper castes are holding on to land for speculative purposes after having migrated in
pursuit of better opportunities outside villages.

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