Discuss the tenancy reforms in independent India throwing light on their achievements.

Tenancy reforms aimed to regulation of rent, providing security of tenure and conferring ownership to tenants.
Regulation of Rent: With the enactment of legislation for regulating the rent payable by the cultivators in the early 1950s, fair rent was fixed at 20 to 25 percent of the gross produce level.
Security of tenure: It envisaged that ejection could not take place except in accordance with the provision of the law; Land could be resumed by an owner, but only for personal cultivation; and in the event of resumption, the tenant was assured of a prescribed minimum area.
Conferment of ownership rights to tenants: At national level, a tenancy regulation policy was announced. As per this policy; large landowners were allowed to evict their tenants and to bring the land under personal cultivation up to a ceiling limit to be prescribed by each state. The tenants of those lands which were not resumable (i.e. without landowners) were given occupancy rights on payment of a price to be fixed as a multiple of the rental value of the land.
There was a positive correlation between the growth in production and the progress of tenancy. It led to changes such as greater social equity and self-confidence among the poor tenants. Furthermore, the proportion of landless agricultural households in the rural area got stabilized.

Topics: GS-III: Land Reforms in India