Land development in India and China: Imperatives for institutional change

Abstract

Development of land and water resources through FLCs (Farmland Capital Constructions) has played an important role in raising and sustaining farm productivity, right from the early phase of development in the People's Republic of China. The major driving force for promoting FLCs was utilisation of surplus labour, which formed a major source of capital formation in the rural economy. Compared to this, Soil Water Conservation (SWC) programmes in India had received little importance till the mid-eighties, when the Integrated Watershed Development Programmes (WDPs) were recognised as a critical policy intervention, especially for dry land regions. For long, the SWC programmes were undertaken mainly as relief work or employment generation activities, with little concern for improving farm productivity in a given time frame. While China's collective system, in the post reforms period, has undergone substantial changes, seeking more of private control and incentives to sustain the investment on land, private ownership of land and water resources in India has led to over exploitation, especially of ground water, leading to neglect of some of the important measures for SWC. China is now trying to ‘decollectivise’ the use of land whereas India is striving for a participatory mechanism.

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