BHOODAN MOVEMENT

LAND
GIFT MOVEMENT
VOLUNTARY LAND
REFORM MOVEMENT

By-Umesh Kumar Pandey

Vineet Kumar Sharma
 In tro d u ctio n
 Started in April,1951 By Acharya Vinoba Bhave,A faithful Follower of Mt.
Gandhi.
 Why - Telangana Peasant Movement of land.
 First Land Donation – Pochampali village in Telangana District.
 Greatest Voluntary & Non Government Experiment in world.


“ Donation of Surplusland by landlords to landless”

“ Landless means not only a person without any land but also

a small owner and a tenant.”


 Why Bhoodan ???
Two reasons-
A)-Problem Of Production
B)-Land Relationship

Landlessness was Chronic Problem

And Remedy Was Bhhodan
History Of Bhoodan
1st Phase ( 1951 to 1957)


Donation increased from 100 acres to 43,81,871 acres.



For this Acharya did –



ü Visit to Telangana District in 1951.

ü Padyatra in Central & North India ( collected >3lac acres
land) in 1951.
ü Padyatra in Bihar & collected land >8lac Acres in 1952 .

 2nd Phase ( 1957 to onwards)

 Total distribution was declined to 3% from 1958 to 1967

The reason was-


ü Government rejection Of
o Imperfect Title of Donor
o Disput Land
ü Same land is taken back by Donor.s
ü Gramdan –started in 1952 Mangroth (UP)
 Objective
 To inspire the people to develop a
selfless attitude and feelings for the
good of the masses.
 To promote voluntary donations & solve
the basic economic problem.
 Minimizing the difference between Haves
& Have-nots.
Guideline
 Classification Of States according to Area
Donated upto 1954

> 1 lakh acres 50,000 to 99,000 10,000 to 49,000 <10,000 acres

 Landlessacres
People acres

Bihar (21,02,500 Gujarat Andhra Assm

acre)

Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Kerala Bengal

(3,22,310 acre)

Orissa Madhya Bharat Maharashtra Himanchal

Uttar Pradesh Tamilnadu Punjab

 Important Provisions of The
Bhoodan Movement
 1/3rd donated land will be given to Scheduled castes

 Land donated by Scheduled tribes should be distributed to

these Tribes only.

 As for as possible, donated land of a village will be given to

same villagers.

 If in a case donated land is not distributed,donors should

allowed to cultivate the land (earned Income will be given

to Bhoodan Mandal) .
CONT…..

 Attempt should be made to consolidate the scattered

donated land.

 In Case of no landless in a village ,the donated land will

be used for public use (school ,wells, pond etc).

 Donated Land will not be given to Drunkars,Gamblers

etc.

Bhoodan Process Involves…
 Role In Poverty
Elimination
 To Make Self Dependent
 Strengthen The Agricultural Economy &
Allied Agro-industries
 Reduce Unemployment
 Lifetime Livelihood
 Increase Marginal Productivity.
 Evolution study
 A investigation of 258 Bhoodan-holders
was done.

Initial Ineffective Effective

Distributio distribution distribution
n

Bhoodan- Area(acres)Bhoodan- Area(acres)Bhoodan- Area(acres)

holders holders holders

258 1664.59 37 219.22 221 1445.37

Ineffective Distribution
Classified According to
Reason

Reason Bhoodan-holders Area(acres)

Taken back by 33 199.21
Donor by to
Returned force
Donor 1 4.00
by Bhoodan mandal 3
Uncultivable 11.01
Government Land - 5.00
 Classification of Households
according to no. of
Dependents
No. of No. of holders percentage Land received Average Area
dependents received

1-3 41 18.64 270.38 6.59

4-6 128 58.19 813.35 6.35
7-9 40 18.18 265.55 6.64
10-12 10 4.55 78.87 7.89
13 & above 1 0.44 8.22 8.22
Total 220 100.00 1436.37
Findings
 219acres difference between initial
distribution & the effective distribution.
 Bhoodan Holders belongs to different
religions & caste.
 Most Bhoodan-holders depended wholly on
agri. & had 4-6 dependants.
 About 95% Bhoodan-holders did not
possess any land
 Most of Bhoodan Holders(61%)received
land between 5 to 14.9 acres.

 About 8% land was not cultivated after
the holders had received the land &
9% was calculated irregularly.
 Most of the Bhoodan-holders faced
financial Problem & about
24%depended on money lenders.
 The Bhoodan Movement does not seem
to have any role in fostering the co-
operation among the Bhoodan-holders.
