25 January 1971, Himachal Pradesh came into being

On Making of Himachal Pradesh (Extracts)

LAND TENURE SYSTEMS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Pradesh was formed as a separate entity on April, 15, 1948 as a centrally administered territory by the integration of several princely states. In 1954, Bilaspur another part of C state was merged with H.P. In November, 1956, it again became Union Territory having a Territorial Council and Administrator designated Lt. Governor. It was on July1, 1963 that an Assembly was restored. The process took new turn in November, 1966 when the erstwhile areas of Punjab were merged with the Pradesh thereby making it large and compact. On January 25 1971 H.P. became the 18^th state of Indian Union.

            The State of H.P. lies in the north-east corner of the country. Geographically it is located between latitude 30°22’40’’ north to 33°12’ 40’’ north and longitudes 75°45’55’’ to 79°04’20’’ east. The state is bounded by J&K in the north-west, Tibet and U.P. in the east and Haryana in the south. The state is divided into 10 districts namely Simla, Sirmur, Mandi, Mahasu, Kinnaur, Kulu, Kangra, Lahaul & Spiti, Chamba and Bilaspur.

            The land within the boundaries of the Pradesh measures 56,430 sq. km. The state is almost wholly mountainous with altitudes ranging between 460 metres to 6400 metres above the mean sea level. It has a deeply dissected topography. Physiographically, the State can be divided into three regions – outer Himalayan, inner Himalayan and Alpine pasture. The normal rainfall of H.P. is above 152 cm. It varied between 76 cm to 178 cm per annum.

            According to 1971 census the population of the state was 32,24,332 and the density of population per sq. km. was 62 ….According to 1971 census, out of total workers, 75.85 percent depended on agriculture alone for their means of livelihood, while the remaining 24.15 percent followed non-agricultural pursuits.

            ….Area under forest was 21.77 percent. Forests are the back-bone of the Pradesh’s economy in so far as about 37 percent of the state’s revenue is from forests alone.

            The principal crops of kharif in the districts were maize, paddy, smaller millets and potato while wheat and barely were in the rabi season.

            In the field of horticulture, as much as 1,05,050 acres of land* is now under orchards with annual production of fruits in the range of 1.49 lakh tones.

Land Policy

Before 1955

Before the reorganization of Himachal Pradesh, there were two dominating system of land tenure prevailing in erstwhile estates:

i)                    Pattidari

ii)                  Bhaichara System

Present Position

            The following are the main types of land tenure system prevalent in the State:

1.  Zamindari (a) Land Lord (Khalis)

                       (b) Communal (Mushtarqua)

2.  Pattidari    (a) Perfect (Mukamil)

                       (b) Imperfect (Gair-Mukamil)

3.  Bhaichara  (a) Perfect (Mukamil)

                       (b) Imperfect (Gair Mukamil)

In addition to this following types of Tenancy is also prevalent:

(1)   Maurusi (occupancy tenants)

(2)   Gair-Maursi (Non-occupancy)

(3)   Kismi tenants (Non-occupancy)

(4)   Basiku Opahu

*Economic Review of Himachal Pradesh 1971 pp. 2

            Source: Asok Mitra Papers, MSS, NMML