Ownership Versus Control: The Changing Dynamics of Land Use in Liberalised Agricultural Context of India

Abstract

This chapter examines the question of ownership versus control of land in the Indian smallholder and significant landlessness context by focusing on the land lease market which facilitates various new interventions in the farm sector like contract farming and implications of such policy and practice on the livelihoods of small and landless farmers. Most of this involves the state in terms of policy and institutions. This chapter examines these aspects with particular reference to the latest land leasing report and proposed land leasing bill by the NITI Aayog and makes inferences about managing land in a sustainable way, including institutional approaches, from a smallholder and farmworker perspective.