Data / Land / Farmland by caste: Scheduled Castes operated 11.8% of farm holdings and 8.5% of the area in 2015-16

Methods and sources

Farmland by caste: Scheduled Castes operated 11.8% of farm holdings and 8.5% of the area in 2015-16

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What this shows

The number and area of farm holdings Scheduled Castes operate, in each Agriculture Census from 1980-81 to 2015-16, by State and size class from 1995-96, and the land rural SC households owned in 2018-19.

What it does not show: Who owns the land SC holders farm, or how many SC households farm no land: the census counts holdings, not owners or the landless.

Sources

  • Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Agriculture Census 1995-96 to 2015-16, “Number & Area of Operational Holdings by Size Group”, State-wise, by social group and size class (114 tables from the census’s online database), Number & Area of Operational Holdings by Size Group. Primary source.
  • Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, All India Report on Agricultural Census 1980-81, Table 3.5, Distribution of holdings by various social groups for each major-size classes, 1980-81; Table 3.6, Distribution of operated area in various social groups by major size classes, 1980-81. Primary source.
  • Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, All India Report on Agricultural Census 1990-91, Table 4.2, Distribution of holdings by All Social Groups and Major Size classes in India, 1985-86 and 1990-91; Table 4.4, Distribution of operated area by All Social Groups in India for Major Size Classes, 1985-86 and 1990-91. Primary source.
  • National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, NSS Report No. 587: Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019 (NSS 77th round), Statement 2.4. Primary source.

Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 28 Oct 2026.

Read these with the numbers

  • The Agriculture Census counts operational holdings, the land a holder farms, owned or leased; it does not count who owns land, or households with no holding. The National Sample Survey counts land owned by rural households, and is a sample.
  • The census database has no Others tables for 1995-96; nothing is worked out in their place.
  • The 1980-81, 1985-86 and 1990-91 figures are India only, in thousands of holdings and of hectares, from tables in the census’s All India Reports; 1985-86 and 1990-91 come from the All India Report on Agricultural Census 1990-91. In these tables all social groups are the sum of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Others, institutional holdings included.
  • States and UTs are as each round gave them: Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand from 2000-01, Jharkhand from 2010-11 and Telangana from 2015-16.

Key terms

Operational holding
All land used wholly or partly for agricultural production and operated as one technical unit by one person alone or with others, whatever its title, legal form, size or location (All India Report on Agriculture Census 2015-16, paragraph 2.1.1).
Individual, joint and institutional holdings
A holding operated by one person or members of one household is individual; by people of two or more households sharing responsibility, joint; government farms, factory farms, cooperative farms and land managed by trusts are institutional (paragraph 2.6.1).
Size classes
Marginal, below 1 hectare; small, 1 to 2; semi-medium, 2 to 4; medium, 4 to 10; large, 10 hectares and above, by area operated (paragraph 2.12.1).
Neg
The census’s mark for a negligible figure.
Scheduled Castes (SCs)
The castes listed, State by State, in the Presidential Order made under Article 341 of the Constitution.

Changelog and corrections

Version 1.1.0: Adds 1980-81, 1985-86 and 1990-91 from the census’s All India Reports. Version 1.0.0, 28 Oct 2026: 5 Agriculture Census rounds, 1995-96 to 2015-16, and NSS Report 587, Statement 2.4.

How corrections work. Every change is listed here.

Cite this

The Dalit Project, “Farmland by caste: Scheduled Castes operated 11.8% of farm holdings and 8.5% of the area in 2015-16”, version 1.1.0, data.dalitproject.org/farmland-by-caste/, as on 28 Oct 2026.