Open AccessWelfare and Production Efficiency: Two Objectives of Land Reform in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Christoph Beringer
Publication year - 1962
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/v2i2pp.173-188
Subject(s) - leasehold estate , land reform , agrarian society , agrarian reform , distribution (mathematics) , agriculture , production (economics) , government (linguistics) , agrarian structure , agricultural economics , agricultural productivity , land tenure , land law , economics , business , agricultural land , partition (number theory) , economic growth , geography , political science , law , mathematical analysis , combinatorics , macroeconomics , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , archaeology
Among the policy measures used by governments of lessdeveloped countries in their effort to promote economic development,land reform occupies a place of great importance. In West Pakistan, thearea under discussion in this paper, land and tenancy reform laws aimedat changing the existing agrarian structure have been enactedperiodically before as well as after partition by the governments of theformerly individual provinces (Punjab, NWFP, Sind)1. In January 1959,shortly after the present government came to power, a land reform lawcovering the entire province of West Pakistan was passed. It introduceda laige number of reform measures designed to bring about a moreequitable distribution of land ownership rights as well as to providethe basis for a gradual increase in the productive capacity of theagricultural sector through appropriate tenancy reforms2. No systematicstudies are available which show to what extent and how successfully theearlier laws have been implemented. As regards the law presently inforce it might still be too early to try to assess the impact onagricultural production or to determine the number of rural people andagricultural holdings which have been actually affected. Nevertheless,it seems worthwhile to study some of the data on size of holdings andland fragmenta-