**Box 3: Extent of land revenue systems in Orissa at Independence**

Bengal revenue system: covered northern part of the state, comprising the undivided districts of Cuttack, Puri, and Baleswar (but _excluding_ the princely states merged in these districts). In these areas, the Bengal Rent Act 1859 was the first legislative attempt to regulate tenancy, replaced by Bengal Tenancy Act 1885. After 1913, the Orissa Tenancy Act was modelled more or less on the Bengal Tenancy Act. Many intermediary forms of tenure subsequently developed in these _zamindari_ areas, and an increase in share-cropping is suggested to date from this period.

Madras revenue system: extended over southern part of the state, comprising the undivided districts of Ganjam, Koraput, and Baliguda sub-division of Boudhkhondmal (now Phulbani) district (i.e. Oriya-speaking areas of the Madras Presidency). Here the first attempt at tenancy legislation was the Madras Estates Land Act 1908, which applied to the _zamindari_ areas of Madras Presidency. There were also _ryotwari_ areas under the state government where the rights of landholders were governed not by law but by executive instructions contained in the Board's Standing Orders which had the force of law. As in _zamindari_ areas, landholders _(ryots)_ could freely sublet to tenants who had no protection under the law.

Central Province system: prevailed across western part of state, comprising the undivided districts of Sambalpur and Nawapada (i.e. the Oriya-speaking areas of former Central Provinces). In these areas the Central Province Land Revenue Acts 1881 and 1917 and the Central Province Tenancy Acts 1898 and 1920 governed land revenue and tenancy.

Princely states: these partially excluded areas had separate land settlement/ revenue regulations under the Government of India Act 1935. There were no written laws designed to protect the interests of tenants in most of the princely states. The Orissa States Order 1948 conferred occupancy rights on tenants, but no rights were recognized for any tenants below occupancy tenants in the hierarchy of rights in land.

_Source: Behuria (1997)_

# **2.3 Review of existing legislation governing access to land in Orissa**

Land legislation in India in the years immediately following Independence sought to reform the exploitative and iniquitous system inherited from the British, and was motivated by the central concern to provide 'land to the tiller'. To **confer ownership right on tenants** it was necessary first to **abolish intermediaries and provide security of tenure.** These measures alone would have been insufficient to realize effective ownership rights and so it was important also to **regulate rent.** These provisions were to be accompanied by the **fixation of a ceiling on land holdings** to prevent excessive concentration of land. While there was a national consensus on these objectives, land was classified as a state subject in the Constitution and the federal states were free to legislate to account for local specificity. During the last 50 years a number of laws have been enacted in Orissa in order to establish the legal framework for land reforms (e.g. Estate Abolition Act 1952, Land Reforms Act 1960, and Survey and Settlement Act 1958) and land administration. The latter includes: the Orissa Consolidation of Holdings and Prevention of Fragmentation of Land (OCH&PFL) Act 1972, and the Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment (OPLE) Act 1972 (to prevent unauthorised occupation of government land). The main provisions and resulting impacts of the key pieces of land legislation are summarised in Table 2.

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