The objective of redistribution of land could not be achieved due to the following reasons.
(i) Lack of Political will :
In the power structure of the country, the big landlords have considerable political influence. After independence, these landlords became a part and parcel of the administration in the democratic process and tried to safeguard their own interest. They did not want to lose much due to ceiling and redistribution for which the programme could not succeed.
(ii) Delays and litigation :
ADVERTISEMENTS:
There was a time gap between announcement of policy and enactment of laws and their actual implementation. This enabled the conscious landlords to dispute their surplus land through fictitious transfer and sale. Further, the legal cases filed in the courts also delayed the progress.
(iii) Poor Land Records :
The land records in our country are either non-existent or defective and unclear. This considerably slowed down the progress. Further, in many states, the administrative machinery supported the rich land-owning group. Consequently, there was unnecessary delay in identification, acquisition and distribution of land.
(iv) Legal Loopholes :
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The land ceiling laws have various loopholes. The rich farmers took the advantages of these defects and escaped from the ceiling net spread by the Government. The ceiling law did not make detailed provision for benami transfer of land.
(v) Lack of Peasant awareness:
The peasants were unaware of the land reform laws. They could not create a pressure on the Govt. through an articulate peasant movement due to their ignorance.