Land reforms refer to changes in the ownership of land holdings. At the time of independence, the land tenure system was characterized by intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars etc.. who were just indulged in collecting rent from the actual cultivators without contributing towards improvements on the agricultural ****. The low productivity of the agricultural sector forced India to import food from USA. At this juncture, the land reforms were introduced.
After introduction of land reforms, steps were taken to abolish intermediaries and to make the tillers the owners of land. The idea behind this move was that ownership of land would make incentives to the tillers to invest in making improvements provided sufficient capital was made available to them. Abolition of zamindari system and ceiling on land holdings were the major land reforms introduced immediately after independence.
