Social Inequality and Land Holding For Dalit in India

Land is the basis of all economic activity. It is the most important asset in an agrarian economy like India where majority of the population in rural areas are dependent on agriculture, labour and animal husbandry. This paper deals with an important form of discrimination in the countryside, the lack of access of Dalit (Scheduled Caste) and Adivasi (Scheduled Tribe) households to ownership and operational holdings of land in rural India. It includes a study of the impact of land reforms in India on land holding among Dalit and Adivasi households. The working paper titled “Social inequality and land holding for dalit in India” discusses the different dimensions that have a bearing on the issue of inequality in land distribution in India . The SCs and STs who have been historically out of the main stream development initiatives, partly due to the still continuing socio cultural barriers and partly due to the inadequacy of the Government programmes in reaching this disadvantage group. However the paper argues that An Overview of land holding for dalit: Past and Present, Status of land for dalit in India , Historical view of Land Distribution Pattern and Economic Conditions of Dalits In this context, an attempt has been made in this paper to examine Dalits‟ access to land in India during pre and post independence periods. And it also an attempt to assess the impact of land reforms on land ownership by Dalits in India.