Land Inequality in India
Context:
A recently released working paper by the Paris-based World Inequality Lab (WIL), titled "Land Inequality in India: Nature, History, and Markets," has highlighted stark disparities in rural land ownership across the country that nearly half of rural families remain completely landless.
The study reveals that a massive share of land is concentrated among a small percentage of households,
Key Findings of the Study:
The top 10% of rural households own 44% of the total land area in India.
The top 5% and top 1% own 32% and 18% of the total land area, respectively.
While wealth is concentrated at the top, roughly 46% of rural households are completely landless.
When these landless households are included, the average village land Gini coefficient (an index measuring inequality on a scale of 0-100) reaches an exceptionally high 71.
On average, the single largest landholder in a village controls about 12.4% of the village's land.
The states of Bihar and Punjab exhibit some of the highest concentrations, having the largest share of villages where a single landlord owns more than half of the available land.
The Productivity Paradox:
Counterintuitively, the study found that villages with more favourable agro-ecological conditions (better agricultural productivity and fertility) tend to have greater land concentration and inequality.
Historical and Social Drivers:
Colonial Legacy:
Historical land tenure systems have left a strongly persistent impact.
Villages that were directly ruled by the British exhibit higher land inequality today compared to areas formerly governed by indigenous royal households (princely states).
The Zamindari System:
Regions historically subjected to the Zamindari system show significantly higher levels of land inequality, marked by the presence of dominant landlords and a severe reduction in small farmers.
Social Stratification:
Villages with a higher population share of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) have substantially higher levels of overall inequality, driven primarily by systemic landlessness within these groups.