AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

HOLDINGS

 Size and number

Holding implies the area of land (may be consisting of scattered fragments located in different areas) registered in the name of holder. Fragment is a single piece of land, located in any place, and forming a holding or part of a holding of a single holder. In 1878-79, there were 1,01,276 holdings (khatas) in Ratnagiri district with a district average (excluding Sawantwadi State) of ten acres. There were 57,194 holdings of not more than five acres; 31,019 were between 5 and 20 acres; 11,396 were between 20 and 100 acres; 902 were between 100 and 500 acres and 45 were over 500 acres. The following table gives statistics about holdings in Government Rayatwari areas in the district in 1947-48 and 1952-53: -

TABLE No. 11.

HOLDINGS IN GOVERNMENT RAYATWARI AREA IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT IN 1947-48.

continued..

TABLE No. 12.

HOLDINGS IN GOVERNMENT RAYATWARI AREA IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT IN 1952-53.

continued..

The information contained in these tables relates to the area of the surveyed Government Rayatwari villages only, including, of course, the alienated area found in such villages. It shows whether the landholders cultivate their lands personally or draw rent only by leasing out their lands to tenants. Holdings have been divided into three classes viz., A, B and C. [In view of the definition of " personal cultivation " given in the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Amendment) Act, 1955, the distinction between classes A and B disappears with the result that in future there will generally be only one class, viz. A.] The class A covered lands cultivated by the holders personally with or without the assistance of labour. In class B were included persons who did not cultivate land personally, but generally got it done with the help of hired labour. The holders in class C leased out their lands to tenants.

Though sufficient data is not available for the intermediate years, there are definite indications to suggest that the size of an average holding, which is indicative of the pressure of population on land has diminished considerably since the publication of last Gazetteer, from 10 acres in 1878-79 to 4.6 acres in 1947-48 and was 5.1 acres in 1952-53. The slight increase in 1952-53, is chiefly due to the inclusion of Sawantwadi State in Ratnagiri district where large areas are held by its jagirdars. The diminution in the average size of holding is primarily due to considerable increase in the number of small holders (whose holdings were less than five acres in area). Then-number increased from 57 per cent. in 1878-79 to 80 per cent. in 1947-48, and together they accounted for just 22 per cent. of the total area held in the later year, the average holding of the group being 1.3 acres. As against this, nearly nine per cent. of the land was held by about 0.3 per cent. of persons whose average holding exceeded 100 acres. In 1952-53 while the proportionate area held by persons falling in this class remained almost the same, the percentage of holders has considerably declined (not even 0.1 per cent.).

Prevention of fragmentation and consolidation of holdings.

In so far as the extent of fragmentation in the district is concerned the, results of the sample survey conducted in 1947 by the Bureau of Economics and. Statistics, Bombay, to study this phenomenon deserve special mention. The percentage of cultivators having  single holding is quite large in the district; but the area so covered is not commensurate with the number of holdings. That is to say, the holdings which are single are not very large. The average size of a fragment was 0.75 acre and the average number of fragments per holding was 6.92, the highest average so far as the Konkan districts are concerned. This shows how a holding is split up into several fragments in Ratnagiri district. Another feature noticed regarding fragmentation was the tendency for the average number of fragments per holding to increase as the size of the holding increased.

In 1947, the Government of Bombay enacted a legislation called the Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act (LXII), with a view to starting the process of consolidation of holdings, which was made applicable in the first instance to the pre-merger territories of Ratnagiri district in 1948.

The first part of the law deals with the prevention of further fragmentation of land. The Government has been empowered to fix the standard area (i.e., the minimum area necessary for profitable cultivation as a separate plot), for any class of land in any local area. On account of the differences in the quality of soil, climate, standard of husbandry and other factors, size of the standard area varies from district to district. The 'standard area' is such as is expected to keep the cultivator fully employed on the field and the yield from it is expected to be sufficient to cover the cost of cultivation and Government revenue assessment and provide for a reasonable profit. The range of acreages of the standard areas applicable to various types of land in the district, was fixed for the first time in 1950 (excluding ex-State villages) as under: -

In 1955, standard areas for ex-State villages were fixed as under: -

In 1956, the Government made these standard areas applicable to the whole of the district and cancelled those that were in vogue since 1950.

Under the law, the provisional figures of the standard areas are published by the Collector in order to invite objections from the public. The standard areas are fixed by him after due consideration of objections and in consultation with the District Advisory Committee set up for the purpose. All existing holdings which are smaller than the standard area are declared as fragments and entered in the Record of Rights and the fact is notified to the fragment holders. The fragment holder and his heir can cultivate and inherit the fragment, but if at any time the holder or his heir wants to sell or lease the fragment, it must be sold or leased to a contiguous holder who can merge it with his field. In case the contiguous holder is unwilling to take it or purposely makes a low bid, the Government purchases the fragment in question at the market value according to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and leases it out to any one of the neighbouring holders. In this process tenants of the fragments are protected but at the same time they cannot be discontinued and creation of fragments in future is prohibited. The transfer or partition contrary to the provisions of this Act, is void and persons guilty of breach are liable to pay a fine up to Rs 250.

Side by side, the Act also provides for a process of consolidation of holdings into compact blocks. This involves valuation of all holdings in a village and their redistribution in such a manner as to secure to each cultivator the same return from land which he had got previous to consolidation. Every effort is made to ensure that exchange is made only of lands of more or less equal fertility and out-turn. Where such exchange is not possible, compensation is paid to the owner who is allotted a holding of less market value than that of his original holding and this compensation is recovered from the owner who is allotted the holding which has greater value than that of his original holding.

The amount of compensation is fixed according to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. After the process of consolidation is over, the tenure of the original holding is transferred from the old holding to the new consolidated holding. Similary, leases, debts and encumbrances, if any, are transferred, adjusted and fixed up. The interests of the tenants are safeguarded, as far as possible, and tenancies are usually transferred to the exchanged land. If there is any difference in value between the original holdings and the exchanged ones, adjustments in rent are made.

In Ratnagiri district, Khed taluka and Lanje mahal were selected for the implementation of the consolidation scheme, which covered all villages in Lanje mahal and seven villages in Khed taluka. The total area available for consolidation was 1,28,441 acres in Lanje mahal and 7,047 acres in Khed taluka. The scheme was complete by November, 1959, when 13,145 acres comprising twelve villages in Lanje mahal and 2,830 acres comprising four villages in Khed taluka were consolidated.

The holdings numbered 12,134 prior to consolidation and 4,575 after consolidation in Lanje mahal, whereas the corresponding figures for Khed taluka were 5,675 and 2,545 respectively. The number of fragments too, declined as a result of the scheme from 11,686 to 3,712 in Lanje mahal and from 5,049 to 1,904 in Khed taluka.

TOP