How Sher-e-Kashmir chalked out J&K’s path to prosperity
Much has been written on the late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his politics. However little justice has been done on talking about his revolutionary land reforms that shaped the socio-economic framework of J&K and in reality paved the way for upliftment of the downtrodden. Undoubtedly J&K without these reforms would have been a couple of centuries far behind what it is today. In terms of various developmental parameters, primary among them being health and education sectors, J&K ranks among the top states in the country.
Today on his 119th birth anniversary, I feel duty bound to recount his historic contributions that changed our destiny forever. Sher-e-Kashmir’s landmark decisions shaped J&K’s history, particularly through transformative land reforms aimed at redistributing wealth and empowering the peasantry. Among his most revolutionary contributions was the enactment of the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act of 1950, famously known as the "Land to the Tiller" Act.
This groundbreaking legislation dismantled the feudal jagirdari system by abolishing large estates held by landlords and redistributing the land directly to those who tilled it. It was a pioneering effort in South Asia’s history of land reform. Soon after the enactment of this law, 396 jagirs were redistributed among the people who had tilled these lands. In addition 9000 landlords commonly known as Chakdhars who owned large swathes of paddy land were also included in the redistribution act.
And then there were mukararees numbering around 2500. Jagirdars, muafees, and mukararees used to exploit the peasantry living and working in the limits of their landholdings. The kashtkars, over 3 lakh families and 2.5 lakh tenants benefitted thanks to land reforms. Earlier the landlords enjoyed absolute sinecural fiscal powers extending from the rule of Maharaja and erstwhile Mughal era. Thus Sher e Kashmir fulfilled the promise made in the first ever manifesto of J&K National Conference in 1944 - The Naya Kashmir Manifesto.
Not just this, the State Tenancy Act of 1924 was amended to make it illegal to throw out a tenant from a rented land. J&K Agrarian Reforms Act 1976 was another significant land reform introduced under the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act. It curtailed the land holding limit to 100 Kanals. Historical records reveal 192652 acres of land were distributed among 160939 tillers. The state also became more endowed with 93500 acres of land. This land was used later for hundreds of state owned facilities that we see and enjoy today.
The land reforms initiated by Sher e Kashmir were not merely an economic policy but a social revolution that dismantled an oppressive feudal system thereby empowering the peasant class economically and politically. However, there were some setbacks in full implementation of this progressive law. The bureaucracy that implemented the land reforms has been accused of corruption and appeasement of landlords by giving them the right to choose which lands to hold and which to forego.
Moreover, there also were accusations of the officials taking bribes from the tillers while transferring the land. It is a stark reminder that holds true in the current times as well: corruption can take the sheen off from the most revolutionary of measures. The current civilian government headed by Omar Abdullah has to have a zero tolerance attitude towards corruption and have its eyes and ears on the ground to be aware at all times of what the state machinery is upto.
Nevertheless the land reforms transformed the lives of millions of underprivileged in J&K irrespective of their religion or the region they came from. There were accusations that the land reforms were communal in nature. This propaganda continues even today. At that time many tall leaders in India opposed the land reforms calling it ‘anti-Hindu’. However, the fact remains that land was taken from Muslim landlords and redistributed among Hindu peasants as well and vice versa.
During my various interactions with people from Jammu region, non Muslims, I have realised how the land reforms changed their destiny. Many of them are Dalits and had no lands they could call their own. Centuries of exploitation at the hands of the so-called upper class ended with them having lands which they could call their own. For sure this is the only reason why the economic status of Dalits in J&K is much better than their counterparts in the rest of the country.
For Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah making the land reforms was not a cake walk and sowed the seeds of mistrust in the Hindu majority government at the centre. Many view his illegal dismissal as J&K’s PM and subsequent arrest in 1953 as the fall out of the land reforms. This also prevented the ‘No Compensation’ part of Big Estates Abolition Act from being implemented.
Sher e Kashmir economically empowered the common people of J&K. Former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud during one of his observations in the Hon’ble SC acknowledged the contributions of Sher e Kashmir saying, “Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had a vision in 1951 which the world is talking about today”. Although his contributions are not subservient to any endorsement, such statements do demand a deeper introspection. Today J&K is at the crossroads. The land resources that we were endowed with are again slipping out of our hands. In the name of development, agrarian and horticulture land is being snatched from people and converted into railway tracks and roads. Fertile lands are chosen as sites of institutions. The power projects, the mineral rights, the forest rights and rights of all other resources should have belonged first to the people of J&K. This is the principle of natural justice. All of these have gone away from people. The jobs, the admissions, the businesses have all slipped away. People of J&K are being plunged into another era of exploitation and slavery.
Land is the biggest source for any country, for any people. This was recognised by Sher E Kashmir and he moved heaven and earth to improve the access of commoners to the land. People and the civilian government need another awakening. The land and other resources of J&K must be secured. The highways and the railway tracks, the hospitals and the colleges can span out and grow on barren lands, the paddy, the wheat, the apples will not.
The masses need empowerment, not lollipops in their mouth as land compensation.
The author is State Spokesperson JKNC
By: Imran Nabi Dar
