Abstract

The present distribution of land in India is fraught with great economic and social danger. Throughout India the ancient custom and tradition laid down that the cultivator had a right to retain his holding so long as he paid a definite share of the harvest or the tax demandable from him. In Southern India, where most of the land is held by petty occupiers direct from the State, this custom has been respected from the beginning of the British rule. In the ryotwari areas in Madras the registered occupant of each field is entitled to hold the land for ever, so long as he pays his land revenue; and inheritance, transfer, mortga ges, sale and lease are without restriction. Similarly in Bombay, as in Madras, a ryot is secure in possession of his holding, so long as he regularly pays the instalments of his land revenue and the right of occupancy, in the case of the ordinary survey tenure, is transferable by inheritance, sale, gift or mortgage without restriction.

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