The major elements of land reform policy in India are 1) Abolition of intermediaries 2) tenancy reforms 3) land ceiling and distribution of surplus land and 4) consolidation of land holdings. The implementation of law of land reforms have brought to the surface many weaknesses and deficiencies. The land reform legislations achieved their objects only partially. However due to several factors such as the lack of political will, the apathy of the administrative machinery and the deliberate built-in legal flaws etc., it could not attain the desired objectives. Long before the ceiling was established, there was a chain of clandestine transfer of land. There are wide variations in the ceiling provision in different states. Many state laws deliberately provide loopholes to enable big landowners to evade the law. It is common knowledge that in many states through Benami and clandestine transactions large areas have been slashed away beyond the ceiling limit. What lessons can we learn by a revisit to land reforms in India? What practical steps should be taken to achieve the real objectives of land reforms? These and related problems are examined in depth by a galaxy of academicians administrators, planners and social activists at a three day national seminar on 'Revisiting Land Reforms in India' hosted by C. Achutha Menon study Centre and Library, Thiruvananthapuram in April 2008. The present volume has grown out of the deliberations of this national seminar. The authors by and large acknowledge the centrality of land reforms in the whole process of rural development and poverty alleviation. They also recognize that further deterioration of economic, social and political condition of rural poor can neither be arrested nor reversed without a significant policy shift towards a comprehensive land reform programme avoiding the deficiencies in the earlier legislation. The articles included in this volume shed a flood of light on this vital problem and throw up a member of concrete suggestions for making land reforms the catalyst in changing the face of rural India. The scholarly articles presented in this volume will be very useful not only to the political executives, planners and administrators but also to the common man all of whom are genuinely concerned about the alleviation of poverty and increasing agricultural production in India, besides providing a ready reference material on the crucial question of Land Reforms in India.About the AuthorDr K Raman Pillai is former Professor and Head Department of Political Science, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Director Academic Staff College, University of Kerala and U.G.C. Visiting Professor in the School of International Relations, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He has published six books and more than one hundred papers on International Relations, Indian Politics and Kerala Politics and actively participated in number of International and National Seminars. He has served on various expert committees constituted by the U.G.C including the Expert Panel in political science. He is a life member of several Academic and Professional bodies and editor of many Academic Journals. He is currently secretary of C Achutha Menon Study Centre and Library, Thiruvananthapuram.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Contributors. Introduction. Riding the tiger: China's land reform challenge Land reforms in China: to establish a Chinese-style socialist legal system Land reforms in West Bengal: an overview Readdressing land reforms issues in Karnataka Land to the landless: Andhra Pradesh initiative Revisiting land reforms: Kerala and Tamil Nadu Land reforms in Punjab Land reforms Revisiting land reforms in Kerala Revisiting land reforms in Kerala Looking back on Kerala land reform Land reforms in Kerala -- some observations Revisiting land reforms in Kerala Land relations as the central political question in Kerala Lessons of land reforms and the need for an alternative policy framework Land as an investment outlet of black income: the need for social control Recent debates on reforming land rights in Kerala: some reflections Land reforms legislation -- contribution to the structural change of Kerala -- in retrospect Kerala's land reform - from ambivalence to prevarication The socio-economic impact of land reforms on Kerala society Land reforms in Kerala: socio-economic contribution-a critique A refocus on land reforms in Kerala - some socio-economic aspects in historical retrospect Land reforms in Kerala and the current socio-economic crisis Participation of loser families of land reforms in NREGS: the case of Palakkad District The rhetoric of land reforms in Kerala: a narrative in defence of a socialist pattern of distribution Valedictory address Appendixes: i. Land reforms in Kerala. ii. Land reforms through legislation -- its' problems. iii. Land reforms and economic change: experience and lessons from Kerala. iv. Law of land reforms in Kerala.