Open AccessSyed Nawab Haider Naqvi, Mahmood Hasan Khan and M. Ghaffu Otaudhry (edt.). LaJld Reforms in Pakistan, A Historical Perspective. Islamabad: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics 1987. viii+216 pp.Price: Rs 220 (USS 35) for hardcover; Rs 140.00 (USS 20) for soft-cover.
Author(s) -
Luther Tweeten
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v27i2pp.217-218
Subject(s) - sharecropping , leasehold estate , security of tenure , land tenure , peasant , economic rent , landlord , position (finance) , land reform , agrarian society , state (computer science) , economics , independence (probability theory) , land titling , ideology , business , agriculture , market economy , law , political science , politics , finance , geography , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , algorithm , computer science
The authors describe how Pakistan has grappled with landreform, surely one of the most intractable and divisive issues facingagriculture anywhere. The land-tenure system at independence in 1947included a high degree of land ownership concentration, absenteelandlordism, insecurity of tenant tenure, and excessive rent. Landreform since 1947 focused on imposition of ceilings on landholding,distribution of land to landless tenants and small owners, andreadjustments of contracts to improve the position of the tenant. Thesereformist measures have removed some but by no means all of theundesirable characteristics of the system. The authors list as well aspresent a critique of the reports of five official committees andcommissions on land reform. The reports highlight the conflicts andideologies of the reformers. The predominant ideal of the land reformersis a system of peasant proprietorship although some reformers favouredother systems such as communal farming and state ownership of land, andstill others favoured cash rents over share rents. More pragmaticreformers recognized that tenancy is likely to be with Pakistan for theforeseeable future and that the batai (sharecropping) arrangement is themost workable system. According to the editors, the batai system canwork to the advantage of landlord and tenant if the ceilings onlandholding can be sufficiently lowered (and enforced), the security ofthe tenant is ensured, and the tenant has recourse to the courts foradjudication of disputes with landlords. Many policy-makers in Pakistanhave come to accept that position but intervention by the State torealize the ideal has been slow. The editors conclude that" ... the endresult of these land reforms is that they have not succeeded insignificantly changing the status quo in rural Pakistan" (p.29).