Land reforms in India    

Land reforms aimed at re-distributing of ownership of lands and optimum utilization of land. It also dealt the rights, duties, obligations of the land holder.

Lord Cornwallis is considered as one who regulated the Zamindari system, but some other say that Zamindari system is the ancient practice in India; others say it was introduced after Mughal invasion into India.

Whatever may be the history, in this system, the land was held by a person who was responsible for collecting revenue from cultivators and for payment of a share of produce, usually in percentage, to the ruler.

The land holder was known as Zamindars or Mirasudars. Zamin means Land; Dar means Holder or a person. The cultivator was called Ryot and the land is called Estate.

The Zamindari system, after modification, was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in West Bengal in 1793 and later it spread to other parts of country.

By this system, the Zamindars acquired the land from the government free of cost and related out to Ryots. The ryots were allowed to cultivate on the estate, land, and has to pay the rent to the Zamindar irrespective of quantity of produce. However, this system could not work well because the ryots were over burdened. This led to the introduction of permanent settlement.

Permanent settlement

The permanent settlement regulation, XXX of 1802 was passed. By this arrangement, the proprietary right of the land became vested in Zamindars and was inheritable. The cess, which was to be paid by Zamindars to the government, was assessed and fixed independent of productivity of land.

Estates Land reforms

When time passed, it was felt that the interests of the Ryots had to be governed. As a result, the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908 was introduced. By this act, the Ryot had to pay a fair rent and thus the right to have, to hold and possess the land permanently by the Ryot was assured.

The Ryot should not be evicted at the will of the land lord. Besides, the right of occupation was heritable and transferable.

And both Ryot and Land Lord shall exchange documents to this effect.  The document which Ryot gets from land lord was/ is called Patta and that from Ryot is called Muchalika.

However, this system of permanent settlement has been repealed by Tamil nadu Estates Abolition Act as it was not properly implemented.

In 1948, Ryotwari Settlement was introduced and in 1963, its second phase is implemented. By this, the entire estates held by the Zamindars, Inamdars including Porampokes, Kulams (Tanks), Eri (Lakes), Samudhayam (Lands for communal use), etc were transferred to government.

Under this system, the responsibility of paying land revenue or tax to the government is of the cultivator (Ryot) and no Zamindar is available.

The government shall grant patta to Ryot. This patta is called Ryotwari patta and the land is called as Ryoti land (Land owned by Cultivator). The water bodies, land reserved for common use are retained by the government itself.