A comparative economy of land tenancy in India empirical evidence from four states

It is enormous pleasure and also a matter of great honour for me to be bestowed with the responsibility of delivering the 15th Parthasarathy Memorial Lecture in this 34th National Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Marketing being held at Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University Lucknow. I feel privileged delivering this lecture for many reasons. The utmost one is that Professor Parthasarathy was the external expert for my PhD thesis and this is the best tribute I can pay to my teacher by delivering a memorial lecture in his memory. I am humbled by the society providing me this responsibility. It is also a pleasure for me delivering this lecture as I also belong to the chain of Agro Economic Research Centre/Units one of which was headed for several years by Professor G Parthasarathy. I am humbled also by the fact that luminaries like Professor S.S. Acharya, Professor Yoginder K. Allagh, Professor R. Maria Saleth and other top academicians in the field of agriculture economics have delivered this memorial lecture in the past. I am no match to such eminent personalities but will try to uphold this tradition to the best of my abilities. In the light of ongoing debate on agricultural reforms, it makes sense speaking on the issue of land reforms, especially on the long pending tenancy reforms. Although, much of literature is available on the issue of land reforms, however, there is dearth of literature on comparative economy of tenancy/leased farming, vis-a-vis owner operated farming. The paper presents findings based on primary survey of 341 land leasing/share cropping farmers and 265 owned land cultivators without leasing/share cropping.