Context:
A study titled “Land inequality in India: Nature, history, and markets” by the World Inequality Lab shows that land ownership in rural India is highly unequal, with the top 10% owning 44% of land while about 46% of households are landless. The findings highlight deep structural inequality in rural agrarian systems and unequal access to productive assets.
Background:
- Land inequality refers to unequal distribution of land and is a major cause of rural poverty, low productivity, and social hierarchy.
- The Gini Coefficient measures inequality, where 0 indicates perfect equality and higher values indicate greater inequality.
Explanation:
- Land ownership is highly concentrated, with top 10% households owning 44% of total land area.
- Around 46% of rural households are landless, indicating widespread deprivation.
- Large landholders dominate villages, with the biggest landholder controlling about 12% of village land on average. In some villages, particularly in Bihar and Punjab, a single landholder owns more than half of the available land.
- Bihar and Kerala show high land concentration among top 10%, 5%, and 1% households.Landlessness is highest in Punjab (73%), followed by other states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
- Kerala has the highest Gini coefficient (~90), followed by Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal (~80).
- Excluding landless households reduces Gini, showing that landlessness significantly drives inequality.
- Small and marginal farmers dominate, with 28.9% owning 0–1 hectare and 48.6% owning 1–2 hectares.
Conclusion:
The study reveals persistent land inequality, highlighting the need for effective land reforms and inclusive rural development policies.
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