In the absence of land

India has a problem on its hands. Some 25,000 protesters are camping in Delhi, and say that they will do so indefinitely if the government doesn't do something for them. They are mostly poor farmers, from the lower castes. Their demand: land. Their problem: they are being forced off their lands, legally or illegally. Since these people could well become the nucleus of a movement with its focus on issues that are already getting resonance in parts of the country, the government has responded with unusual alacrity and set up a committee on 'State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms'. This will carry out surveys, collate data and make recommendations on policies related to land. It is to be headed by Rural Development Minister Raghvansh Prasad Singh and will report to the National Land Reforms Council, headed by the Prime Minister. Too much should not be expected from this initiative.

The protestors' problem may be the absence of land ownership, but land does not have to be the solution too "" not if education is made universal and enough jobs are provided in non-agricultural sectors. In the ordinary course, both would get provided in a rapidly growing economy. Since that is not the outcome just now, Naxalite insurgencies have taken root in every fourth district. Other societies too have grappled with the reality that capital-intensive economic activities often happen at the cost of the landholder. The most infamous episode was the enclosure movement in the UK during the early phase of the industrial revolution, when millions were thrown off their land. That helped generate surpluses for investment by the aristocracy and kept wage rates low as millions sought a livelihood in new industries. In Europe and Japan also the same thing happened, but the US and Russia were fortunate in that their land availability in relation to the population was more than adequate. China, too, has been seeing millions of people being forced off their lands but, in the absence of the right to democratic protest, the world does not get to hear about the plight of China's millions. Much the same thing happened in Latin America and Australia also, but there the reasons were colonial exploitation of the local population. East Asia solved the problem by undertaking substantial land reforms but was lucky in that the pressure on land was not what it is in India and China.

Land reforms are an obvious answer but are politically difficult and take time "" after the initial banning of the zamindari system, only West Bengal and Kerala have shown some success in subsequent land reforms, during Marxist rule. Rapid industrialisation, with the setting up of labour-intensive industries and the provision of abundant entry-level jobs in key service sectors (like retailing and tourism) are another solution, but the country's laws come in the way and the Left will not allow them to be amended. Meanwhile, the government has sought to provide some relief through its new rehabilitation and resettlement policy but that, as this newspaper has commented earlier, is good only in parts and therefore unlikely to provide many answers. In short, the problems of the landless are not about to go away.