Consolidation of holdings means the bring together in one compact block all plots of land farmer which are scattered all over the villa.
Under the scheme all land in the village is first pooled into one compact block and it is divided into smaller blocks called chalk and allotted to individual farmer. This is a noble scheme to provide solution to the problem of fragmentation of holdings. The scheme has been launched in 10 states of the country and it has made considerable progress in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Up to 31st January, 1956 only 4.5 million hectares of land was brought under consolidation. The figure rose to 33 million hectares by 1972, 45 million hectares by 1985 and 62.97 million hectares by 1995. Out of this, two states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh accounted for 213 lakh hectares and 179 lakh hectares respectively. Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are other three states which have taken up the work of consolidation of holdings seriously. Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir have kept the scheme in abeyance and in West Bengal and Assam it has not been implemented.
Taking the country as a whole only 44 per cent of the cultivated land has been brought under this scheme. This depicts slow progress of the scheme and various hurdles in its implementation.
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(a) Farmers are generally extremely attached to their ancestral land and, therefore, are not willing to take advantage of the scheme.
(b) Those farmers who own better quality of land do not like the scheme for fear of getting the inferior quality of land after consolidation.
(c) Consolidation is a cumbersome process. The government officials who implement the scheme are generally slow and often corrupt.
(d) In general the scheme did not receive desired support and co-operation from the farmers.
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(e) The scheme has paved way for litigation and court cases many of which are pending in the different court since long time. This vitiates the serene atmosphere of the rural areas.
(f) Since there is no restriction on the existing law of inheritance and partitioning of field-plots, hence, fragmentation process goes on till the entire gain of consolidation is nullified and need for new consolidation is felt.
(g) In every consolidation about 5 to 10 per cent of village land is taken out for providing house sites to weaker sections of the society, approach 0chak) roads and village utility services. Hence, if the process is repeated three or four times a sizeable portion of agricultural land would be lost.
(h) The cost of consolidation is realised from the farmers which has adverse effect on their resources and economy.
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(i) It has also been realised that small farmers are generally allotted inferior quality of land and due to lack of money power they are neither able to bribe the officials nor get proper justice in the court.
It is, therefore, imperative that efforts should be made to remove these pitfalls in the consolidation scheme to make it more fruitful and useful.