Land

Land is power and labour makes wealth: how dominant castes use land to command Dalit labour, and how Dalits fight back.

Ownership

Story

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

How much of India’s farmland do Scheduled Castes hold, and how has that changed?

Updated 28 Oct 2026

Exhibit 2

Scheduled Castes operated 11.8% of farm holdings in 2015-16 but 8.5% of the area operated; in 1980-81 the shares were 11.3% and 7.0%

Holdings operated by Scheduled Castes as a share of all holdings, and their area as a share of all area operated, %, India, each Agriculture Census from 1980-81 to 2015-16.

Source: Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, All India Report on Agricultural Census 1980-81, Table 3.5 and Table 3.6; All India Report on Agricultural Census 1990-91, Table 4.2 and Table 4.4; and Agriculture Census 1995-96 to 2015-16, “Number & Area of Operational Holdings by Size Group”. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 28 Oct 2026.
8.5%of the area of India’s farm holdings operated by Scheduled Castes, 2015-160.78 haaverage SC holding, against 1.08 ha for all holdings, 2015-16

Story

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

How much land did the land ceiling laws free up, and how much of it reached the landless?

Updated 28 Oct 2026

Exhibit 1

By 31 March 2004, 5.40 million acres of the 7.34 million declared surplus under the land ceiling laws had been distributed, 73.6%

Land declared surplus, taken possession of and distributed to individual beneficiaries, acres, all States and UTs reporting, since the ceiling laws began, to 31 March 2004.

  1. 7,335,937Declared surplus
  2. −839,466Not taken possession of
  3. 6,496,471Taken possession of
  4. −1,094,369Not distributed
  5. 5,402,102Distributed
Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3180, Statement showing the distribution of ceiling surplus land as on 31st March, 2004 (since inception), dated 19 August 2004. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 28 Oct 2026.
73.6%of the land declared surplus had been distributed by 31 March 200436%of beneficiaries were Scheduled Castes, as of 13 March 2001

Story

Land granted, land held: the Tamil Nadu Government has given the Assembly two totals for Panchami land, 112,598.52 acres in 2015 and about 147,296 in 2021

How much Panchami land is there in Tamil Nadu, how much is held by others, and how much has been retrieved?

Updated 10 Oct 2026

Exhibit 2

Of 18,939.69 acres of Panchami land the Minister said in 2015 was encroached, 1,027.29 acres had been retrieved and given to 715 beneficiaries, leaving 17,912.40 acres

Panchami land encroached, retrieved and still to be retrieved, Tamil Nadu, acres, as the Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare gave them on 16 September 2015.

  1. 18,940Encroached
  2. −1,027Retrieved
  3. 17,912Still to be retrieved
Source: Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly debates, 16 September 2015, Demands for Grants 2015-2016: Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, pages 125 and 166. Our translation from Tamil. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 10 Oct 2026.
112,598.52acres of Panchami land, the Government’s figure in 2015~147,296acres, its figure in 2021