With reference to land reforms in independent India, which one of the following statements is correct?
- (a) The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings.
- (b) The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless. ✓ UPSC's answer
- (c) It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation.
- (d) Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits.
Why the answer is (b)
• Land reforms after 1947 — abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reform, ceilings and consolidation — aimed to redistribute land so that the tiller owned it and surplus land went to the landless; the official key treats 'providing agricultural land to all the landless' as the major aim — option (b).
• Hence option (b).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings.
- Early ceilings applied to individuals; family basis came only in 1972.
- (c) It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation.
- Land reforms did not make cash crops predominant.
- (d) Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits.
- Ceiling laws had many exemptions.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2019, held on 2 June 2019. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.