People's Democracy

THE existence of a strong peasant movement and the continuation in office of a pro-people Left Front government for all of a quarter of a century has made it possible for the redistributive land reforms programme to get ahead at a steady pace in the state of West Bengal. Over the past one year, 64 thousand of the rural poor and the landless could receive patta deeds for both agricultural and homestead land in Bengal.

During the past year, 10 thousand hectares of fresh ceiling-surplus land was made to vest in the state government. The same period has also witnessed the re-distribution of 16 thousand hectares of vested land among 64 thousand of the rural poor and the landless in the province. Once the documentation for the freshly vested land is completed, another round of the re-distributive land reforms will commence.

The programme of re-distributive land reforms has always formed an important politico-economic agenda for the Left in Bengal, as elsewhere in the country. Till 1977, the largest bulk of the 14 lakh-odd hectares of ceiling-surplus land made to vest in the state government of Bengal should be traced to the brief period in office of two United Front governments in 1967 and 1969.

Nationwide, of the 73.66-lakh hectares of land vested in the government until September of 2001, 18.75 per cent (or 13.81 lakh hectares) has been vested in Bengal. Of the total land parcel of 53-odd lakh hectares re-distributed all over India, Bengal’s share is a creditable 20 per cent.

Figures available with the Land and Land Reforms department of the state Left Front government reveal that till January 2002, 26.45 lakh of the rural poor have benefited from the redistribution of 10.63 lakh hectares of vested land parcels.

Of the beneficiaries, 9.82 lakh belong to the scheduled castes and 5.11 lakh to the scheduled tribes. They represent 56 per cent of those who have received patta deeds. Over the past year, the state Left Front government has also recorded the names of 14.99 lakh of bargadars.

During the past couple of years, 4.58 lakh of joint patta deeds have been issued among married couples in the countryside. There is a proviso that in case of a divorce, the wife would stand to enjoy the patta right.

A large number of sand pits and stone quarries, vested in the state government, have been handed over to unemployed rural youth while fishponds have been given to fishermen’s cooperatives.

Over the recent years, a cumulative total of Rs 6.5 crore has been devolved amongst the rural poor, thus forming a stable base for the further growth of agriculture and agro-based industries in Bengal.