Ownership Ceiling of Agricultural Land

[Noor E Alam]

The ownership ceiling of agricultural land per family had been changed many times: from 33.3 acres (100 bighas) in 1950, 125 acres (375 bighas) in 1961, then again 33.3 acres (100bighas) in 1972 and 20 acres (60 bighsa) in 1984[20].

However, a significant quantity of land could not be recovered because local and national land administration and wider legal and political bodies were often tightly under the grip of the landowning classes. Ironically only an insignificant portion of cultivable land (under 1%) could be redistributed through these ownership ceilings. The land ceilings should be further lowered considering the increase of population, the scarcity of land and the need for distributive justice. If the land ceiling is lowered to 30-35 bighas[21] for each family and if there is strong political and administrative will on the part of the Government, the ceiling surplus land can be distributed amongst the landless and poor displaced people[22].

Source:- https://excludedvoices.wordpress.com/category/land-reform-in-bangladesh/