Data / Land / Land reform’s ledger: 5.40 million of 7.34 million acres declared surplus distributed by 2004

Methods and sources

Land reform’s ledger: 5.40 million of 7.34 million acres declared surplus distributed by 2004

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What this shows

How much land the ceiling laws declared surplus, how much the States took over and how much they handed out, by State, from 1998 to 2004, with what was distributed in 2008-09 to 2011-12.

What it does not show: How much of the land went to Scheduled Caste households in each State: no answer gives it.

Sources

  • Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment, Government of India, Answer to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 1227 of 9 December 1998, “Identification of surplus land”, Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No-1227 due for answer on 9-12.98 regarding identification of surplus land, dated 9 Dec 1998. Primary source.
  • Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, Answer to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 1987 of 9 August 2000, “Ceiling limit fixed for surplus land”, Annexure-II referred to in reply to part (b) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1987 due for answer on 9.8.2000 (area in acres): since inception till December 1999, dated 9 Aug 2000. Primary source.
  • Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, Answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 2456 of 13 March 2001, “Report on distribution of surplus land”, Annexure-I: Statement showing statewise distribution of ceiling surplus land, dated 13 Mar 2001. Primary source.
  • Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, Answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3180 of 19 August 2004, “Distribution of surplus land”, Statement showing the distribution of ceiling surplus land as on 31st March, 2004 (since inception), dated 19 Aug 2004. Primary source.
  • Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, Answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3151 of 30 August 2012, “Distribution of surplus land”, Annexure, dated 30 Aug 2012. Primary source.

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

Read these with the numbers

  • The figures are the States’ own, as reported to the Union government. Land is a State subject, and the Union government says it only monitors distribution.
  • No answer found gives land distributed to Scheduled Castes, by acreage or by State. The only caste figure is the share of beneficiaries in 2001.
  • A statement as of 30 June 2012 is held in Parliament’s digital library, but the library could not be reached, so it is not here.
  • Two other answers were not used: Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 2828 of 20 April 1997, whose table runs its figures together so they cannot be split with confidence, and Rajya Sabha Starred Question 366 of 20 March 1997, which gives only a part-year’s distribution.
  • In the 2000 answer, Delhi’s row prints “394394” under area taken possession and nothing under area distributed. It is read as 394 acres taken and 394 distributed: 394,394 acres would be more than the 1,132 acres declared, and the 2001 answer gives Delhi 394 and 394.

Key terms

Land ceiling laws
State laws that cap how much agricultural land one holder may keep. Land above the cap is declared surplus, taken over by the State and given out.
Declared surplus
Land found to be above the ceiling and declared surplus under a State’s law.
Taken possession of
Surplus land the State has taken over.
Distributed
Surplus land given to individual beneficiaries.
Lakh
One hundred thousand; 10 lakh is one million.
Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
The upper and lower houses of India’s Parliament.

Changelog and corrections

Version 1.0.0: First version: 4 State-wise statements from answers to Parliament, 1998 to 2004, and the 2012 answer on land distributed from 2008-09.

How corrections work. Every change is listed here.

Cite this

The Dalit Project, “Land reform’s ledger: 5.40 million of 7.34 million acres declared surplus distributed by 2004”, version 1.0.0, data.dalitproject.org/land-reform-ledger/, as on 28 Oct 2026.