For ages, Indian farmers have been paying land revenue from dawn to dusk for someone else’s prosperity.
The Zamindari System
The Zamindari System was an evil land revenue system introduced by the British East India Company in India to sponge off vast sums of cash from Indian farmers.
Abolishing the system was of a priority when India gained independence in 1947.
History of Zamindari System
The British Governor-General, Lord Cornwallis, introduced the Zamindari System in 1793 under the Permanent Settlement. Under this system, the Zamindars (landlords) were declared the owners of the land instead of being tax-collecting agents for the British.
It came with four rules:
- 89% of revenue was to go to the British government, while the remaining 11% was the share of the Zamindars.
- The British would fix the demand of revenue, which the Zamindars had to collect from the peasants.
- The Zamindars could mortgage, sell, or divide the land at their will.
- The Zamindari System was followed throughout Bengal, Bihar, and the United Provinces, Orissa, and Madhya Pradesh and partially in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
It gave poor peasants little consideration, for exploitation of cash and heavy revenues for the landlords, and created social inequality among cultivators.
After Indian independence in 1947, the government took measures to abolish the system that created a class of moneyed men in the countryside and adopted new laws for regulating the relations between the landowners and cultivators.
According to the First Five-Year Plan (1951-56), states had announced a series of laws, the most important of which was the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950.
The impact of Zamindari abolition was enormous, as more than 2 crore cultivators became the owners of the land they cultivated, while the system of begar and illegal evictions was removed.
Abolition of Zamindari: Before and After
After abolishing Zamindari, the state’s share of revenues went directly to the state, removing an intermediate body and establishing direct contact between the cultivators and the state.
| Before | After |
| Land relationship: There is a landlord between the state and tiller | Intermediaries removed |
| Revenue collection: Arbitrary collection by landlords and their private enforcement agencies | Controlled and directly paid to revenue departments |
| Peasants’ security: Continuously insecure and threatened by evictions and begar | Legal security of the land holdings without any unauthorized interference |
| Land distribution: Concentrated in a few large-feudal owners | Surplus land distributed among the landless cultivators and the existing tiller |
| Social structure: Exploitative master-serf relation | Basis for developing a new society |
However, the abolition of Zamindari faced a major problem because Zamindars started approaching the court with petitions about the infringement of their property rights guaranteed by the Constitution, resulting in a severe constitutional dilemma.
Judicial Decisions
| Case name | Remarks |
| Shankari Prasad v. Union of India, 1951 | The First Constitutional Amendment Act (1951) was passed making all Land Revenue Acts a part of the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution, which saved them from judicial scrutiny. Lord Shankari Prasad challenged this amendment before the Supreme Court, which upheld the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution. |
| Kameshwar Singh v. State of Bihar, 1952 | The Bihar Land Revenue Act, 1951, was passed by the State Assembly. It was challenged before the Patna High Court by Kameshwar Singh on the ground that there was no provision for compensation for the Zamindars whose rights were extinguished by the Act, but the challenge was rejected. It led to passing of a number of laws for protecting the interest of Zamindars. |
| Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 1965 | The question before the Supreme Court was whether the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution was absolute; in other words, whether Parliament could amend any provision of the Constitution, including those relating to Fundamental Rights. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the amendment. |
| I. C. Golaknath v. State of Punjab, 1967 | The Supreme Court said that Parliament could not amend, revise, or repeal any of the rights conferred by the Constitution, which created a roadblock for the passage of any of the Land Revenue Acts. |
| Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, 1973 | It ruled that while Parliament could amend any part of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights, it could not amend the “Basic Structure” of the Constitution. |
The Constitution (Forty-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978
- The Constitution (Forty-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 was passed, which nullified the Right to Property as a Fundamental Right.
- The amendment act was moved to reassure the poor people of the country as well as to remove obstacles in the path of implementing land reforms.
- The loopholes in the law created a nexus between the Zamindars and the politicians and the Zamindars managed to transfer huge tracts of land to their relatives and servants to bypass the law for dividing the land between different members of the family without crossing the limit of 25 acres.
- Besides, the Zamindar class was also transformed into a rich cultivating class by leasing out their land to poor peasants on high rents.
- There were regional disparities in implementing these acts, as the states favorable to the peasants like Kerala and West Bengal could successfully implement the laws, while Bihar and the UP lacked the necessary zeal in implementing land reforms.
- Although abolishing Zamindari was only the first step towards implementing land reforms; it opened the door for new legislation, like tenancy regulations, fixing the ceiling on land ownership, and various other laws related to land revenue and agricultural development.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Zamindari System?
The Zamindari System was a land revenue system followed during the British rule in India, under which the Zamindars or landlords collected the land revenue as the agents of the British Government.
Who introduced the Zamindari System and when?
The Zamindari System was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 under the Permanent Settlement.
Why was the Permanent Settlement so harmful for the cultivators?
The Permanent Settlement was harmful for the cultivators because the British fixed the revenue demand, which the Zamindar had to collect from the peasants, but they did not fix the limit for what could be extracted by the Zamindars from the poor cultivators, leading to severe rack-renting and degradation of the peasants as they were forced to enter the bondage of the Zamindars to pay the huge revenue demand.
Which regions were primarily affected by the Zamindari System?
The Zamindari System was primarily followed in Bengal, Bihar, United Provinces, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh and partly in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
When did India abolish the Zamindari System?
The abolition of Zamindari started right after Indian independence in 1947, when the government took suitable measures to remove this obstacle in the way of agricultural development of the country.
How was the system beneficial to Indian cultivators after its abolition?
More than 2 crore cultivating peasants in India were enriched as they became the owners of the land they were cultivating and all the intermediaries were removed.
Is the Right to Property a Fundamental Right?
The Right to Property is not a Fundamental Right anymore, because it was removed by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, to promote land reforms in India.
Ravi Raaz
Hassan Khan
Shadab Ali