Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/240

4. The evils of this excessive sub-division and fragmentation of land may be briefly stated as follows:—

(a) they impede current cultivation and waste time;

(b) they prevent permanent improvements being undertaken;

(c) they prevent a cultivator from living on his farm;

(d) they prevent the organisation of labour and capital;

(e) they frequently result in second crops not grown;

(f) they sometimes send the land out of cultivation altogether;

(g) they cause enmity amongst neighbors, leading to litigation and permanent feuds;

(h) they produce a generally uneconomic situation.

In view of the fact that a large proportion of the cultivable land has been reduced to these unfavorable conditions, it is almost impossible to expect any substantial economic improvement amongst the majority of the landholders until the fundamental impediment is removed. So long as the existing laws of inheritance continue to operate in such a way as to sub-divide holdings continuously from generation to generation it is impossible either for landowners or for the executive government to take any steps in the direction of consolidation of holdings which would have more than a temporary effect. The object of this bill is to enable such landowners as may wish to do so to check the further sub-division of their lands and to enable them, when it is otherwise possible, to effect a permanent consolidation of their holdings; and also to enable the executive government to secure the same results in respect of unoccupied land. The legislation proposed is purely enabling, and it will be operative in the case of any holding only upon the expressed wish of every person possessing an interest in that holding.

5. The scheme embodied in the proposed bill for securing these objects is briefly as follows. In order to be constituted an economic holding a plot of land must be entered as such in a register prescribed by rules. If the land is occupied, it will rest with some person having an interest in the land to make an application to the collector to have the land registered as an economic holding. (The word interest is here used in the legal sense. Cf. the use of the word in section 58 (a) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882). Unless the collector considers that there are sufficient grounds for rejecting the application, he holds a careful enquiry, in which he follows a procedure similar to that prescribed in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. If the proceedings show that all persons interested agree, the land is registered. Land vesting absolutely in Government may be registered without enquiry. The holding must in any