Dr B.R Ambedkar: Father of Indian Constitution and His Views on Agriculture

Every year on December 6, India commemorates Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's death anniversary. He is well known as the father of the Indian Constitution and as one who played a key role in the upliftment of the downtrodden communities in India. 

December 6, 2022, marks the 66th death anniversary of the father of the Indian Constitution.  

Although he is primarily accredited for his contribution to the Indian Constitution. He has also contributed a lot to the Indian Agriculture sector. 

He is well known for conducting extensive research on Indian agriculture, publishing research articles, organizing seminars and conferences to address agricultural and farmer issues, and leading the farmer's movements. In his article "Small Holdings in Indian and Their Remedies" (1917), as well as in "Status and Minorities," (1947) he expresses his views on agriculture. 

Dr Ambedkar’s views on Agriculture and Landholding

So listed below are some of Dr Ambedkar’s views on Agriculture and landholding as a whole :

Dr Ambedkar was against low shareholding: 

Dr Ambedkar believed that after independence the average size of holding had a continuous declining trend. The main reason for the decline according to him was the burden of population on land, defective law of inheritance, the decay of cottage industries etc.

India being the second most populated country in the world hence faced many problems related to each sector of the economy, In agriculture, India was facing a low productivity rate and high dependency ratio without any technical improvement, what lies behind this cause are backed by a number of factors, one of them is and was fragmented land with a low share of holding, so there was an urgent need to introduce corporative and collective farming throughout the country.

Dr Ambedker was against this low shareholding and suggested that there was an urgent need for reform in the agriculture sector included with corporative farming and formulation of corporative societies for the development of our agriculture sector with high production rate and low factor inputs.  

Dr Ambedkar stated that the average size of a property has been steadily decreasing since independence. According to him, the primary causes of the collapse were the pressure of people on land, faulty inheritance laws, the loss of cottage businesses, and so on. Because India at that time and even now was the world's second-most populous country, it has many problems in every sector of the economy. In agriculture, at that time India had a low productivity rate and a high dependency ratio without any technical improvement. The causes of this were backed by a number of factors, one of which was fragmented land with a low share of ownership. As a result, there was an urgent need to introduce corporative and collective farming across the country. 

This lead him to believe that State socialism was best for Indian agriculture. 

Dr Ambedkar believed in State Socialism in Agriculture: 

Dr Ambedkar stated that the average size of a property has been steadily decreasing since independence. According to him, the primary causes of the collapse were the pressure of people on land, faulty inheritance laws, the loss of cottage businesses, and so on. Because India is the world's second-most populous country, it has many problems in every sector of the economy.

In agriculture, India has a low productivity rate and a high dependency ratio without any technical improvement. The causes of this are backed by a number of factors, one of which is fragmented land with a low share of ownership. As a result, there was an urgent need to introduce corporative and collective farming across the country. 

Ambedkar was a staunch supporter of land reforms and the government's involvement in economic growth. He was well aware of the injustices that exist in an unrestrained capitalist system. His perspectives on landholding and land revenue schemes are still relevant today. He was certain that the government should implement cooperative agriculture to expand the number of holdings and, as a result, boost production.