SUMMARY This report presents an exploratory, state-level analysis in Orissa of the factors that constrain access to land by the rural poor and other socially excluded groups. It is the first empirical study of its kind, at least in India, which examines access to land from a transaction costs perspective. It is based on an institutional analysis of land administration in policy and practice, and considers the consequences for particular groups of stakeholders. The intention of this pilot study was to field-test an approach that could be replicated in other states of India, with a view to identifying incremental reforms in lasd administration and policy that could help to improve access to land for the rural poor. The findings should be regarded as preliminary, since the study was intended to scope the broad framework for analysis, rather than to produce systematic results. Nonetheless, the findings do suggest a set of broad policy implications worthy of more detailed consideration, following systematic analysis in other states.

**_Land distribution:_** While land reforms legislation has reduced the share of operational area held under large holdings (> 6 ha) in Orissa since the 1950s, the major gains have been in the share of total area accounted for by medium-sized farms. Over half of all households operate small, marginal or sub-marginal land holdings (< 2 ha). The proportion of total agricultural land they operate has remained substantially unchanged since the 1950s, although substantial gains in area accrued to the largest among them during the 1960s, thereby swelling the ranks of farm households with medium-sized holdings by the 1970s. The proportion of households operating no land, whose livelihoods are based principally on agricultural labor, increased substantially following the widespread eviction of tenants from erstwhile landlord estates, and by the early 1 960s accounted for a third of all households. Since the 1960s, some have gained access to at least some land, but around a quarter of all households in Orissa still operate no land. Overall, in spite of land reforms, socio-economic and demographic change over the last half century, these trends suggest that formidable obstacles continue to prevent the rural poor from improving their access to private arable land.

**_Land revenue systems:_** Historically, different parts of the state inherited different land revenue administration systems from Bengal Province (northern Orissa), Madras Presidency (southern Orissa), Central Provinces (western Orissa), and the former princely states. Some 80 percent of the total area fell under _zamindari_ systems, in which many layers of 'intermediaries' between the landlord and cultivator were responsible for exacting land revenue. _Ryotwari_ (peasant-proprietor) systems prevailed over parts of southern Orissa that had been under Madras Presidency. Some of the complexity of land revenue administration in Orissa today may be attributed to the legacy of these diverse systems, which were brought under a unified legislative structure only following independence. The legacies of these distinct systems also have certain lasting effects on the ground. For example, land records tend to be more complete and accurate in the former _ryotwari_ areas in which, unlike in _zamindari_ areas, there were village accountants. This not-so-distant historical record can be important in resolving land disputes even today, in establishing the basis for contemporary land claims.

**_Main provisions_** _in_ **_land legislation:_** Orissa is one of a few states in India that has attempted legally to abolish tenancy (land-leasing), except in the case of persons of disability (the definition of which includes widows, divorcees, and other unmarried women). Land rights may pass to any cultivator who can demonstrate continuous occupation over a period of at least 12 years ('adverse possession'). While tenancy remains widespread, these restrictions have led to concealed forms (e.g. oral contracts) which give tenants little or no protection in law. A ceiling on individual land holdings also applies, and currently stands at 10 'standard acres' (depending on land quality). In addition to these provisions, which fall under land reforms legislation, three major Acts govern land administration, and respectively provide the basis for land survey and settlement, land consolidation/ prevention of land fragmentation, and prevention of encroachment on government land. The Government of Orissa has recently prepared a draft Revenue Administration Bill, intended to simplify, consolidate and replace these separate laws governing land administration. The clause permitting the liberalization of the land-lease market remains an obstacle to the rapid enactment of-this law.

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