Land Institutions Divided India Economically

Abstract

Many researchers argue that the green revolution brought food grain security and economic reform brought wealth and prosperity to the country, but this increased prosperity is not uniform across regions. They failed to identify the negativity in the economy for divergence across regions. We argue in this paper that inequality between regions in the Indian economy is not a recent phenomenon but an inherent problem in the economy due to weak land institutions, which is diverging across regions. British colonial power was responsible for establishing extractive land institutions and we, the people of India, responsible for the failure to establish inclusive land institutions. The economic reform is the reason for fast divergence across regions due to the high growth rate, and lack of reforms in land institutions is responsible for the economic divide. There is no visible activity in land institutions, except land records computerization, to make land institutions compatible for a market-driven economy.