Open Access
American Research Journal of History and Culture
ISSN (Online): 2379-2914
DOI: 10.46568/arjhc
The March 1975 “Land to the Tiller” Proclamation: Dream or Reality?
Abstract
The complex and diverse feudal land holding and administration system was regarded as the major
factor for rural poverty and the backwardness of the country in general. Students and progressive intelligentsia
intensified the popular movement in favour of the “land to the tiller” slogan. The March 4, 1975 land reform
was expected to promote rural prosperity and social justice (equity). The proclamation abolished the feudal
institutions and the land tenure systems. But the overthrow of the feudal regime and the subsequent land reform
only brought about the abolition of landlordism and landlessness. The reform did not lead to any significant
agricultural development. As a result, the peasantry could not cope with the severe famine of 1984/85. The
post-reform agrarian policies were unpopular and failed to stimulate productivity and improvement in living
standard of the peasantry. Many socio-economic problems remained unsolved.
