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).

• Option (a) is wrong: early ceiling laws applied to individual holdings; only after 1972 did they shift to family holdings.

• Option (c) is wrong: reforms did not make cash crops predominant.

• Option (d) is wrong: ceiling laws allowed many exemptions (plantations, orchards, religious trusts, well-managed farms), which blunted their impact.

• 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.