FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
From 50 Years Ago Commissioner, P S Appu, is a strikingly candid
document. Going through it the only conclusion
that can be reached is that genuine and radical
land reforms are simply not possible within the
Vol VIII, No 20 MAY 19, 1973 established social and political order. Based on
the report of the Task Force, guidelines are re-
Land Reform Is Dead, Long Live ported to have been issued to state governments
Land Reform! for implementation of the land reforms pro-
From Our Correspondents gramme in the Fifth Plan. But if the constraints
The report of the Task Force on Agrarian Relations on implementing the programme so sharply un-
under the Chairmanship of the Land Reforms derlined in the report are taken into account, the
Economic & Political Weekly EPW MAY 20, 2023 vol lViii no 20
guidelines completely lose all operational and
practical value. To be sure, the programme con-
tained in the guidelines has everything to com-
mend it. But where are the instruments and
sanctions to ensure that even a fraction of this
programme is carried out? The guidelines com-
pletely evade this issue […].
Referring in particular to the slogan of
“land to the tiller”, it says quite forthrightly
that this objective will never be achieved in the
prevailing conditions of our society.
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