1000+ How to Prepare for Group Discussion for MBA Students

Yes, it should:

Nationalisation of land is a must for the proper utilization of natural and mineral wealth as well which lies underground and belongs to the nation as per the rule of bona vacantia because land does not mean only the surface which is used for growing crops and building houses on.

Moreover Indian agriculture being a ‘gamble on monsoon’ droughts and floods play havoc with agriculture production quite often. If therefore, land is nationalised, this huge loss resulting from non utilization of land and erratic monsoon can be made good through State intervention and production can be multiplied many fold.

With India’s population crossing a billion mark and consequently fragmentation of land holdings taking place apace, there is no justification any longer to leave land in private hands. About 67 percent of our population is dependent on agriculture but the total contribution of agriculture sector to our Gross National Product (GNP) is not even one third of that.

Small landholdings are not economically viable in this age of advanced agricultural technology which, with mechanised farming, needs large tracts of lands to use properly tractors, and other farm equipments. Large scale, mechanisation is possible only if the state steps in after nationalising the land.

Landless labourers and subsistence farmers of today can be grainfully employed and properly housed by the State when agriculture becomes a State enterprise.

We have adopted the socialistic pattern of society and have already nationalised our wholesale trade in food grains. In order to get real benefits for our starving millions, we should collectivise or nationalise agricultural farms as well, and forthwith.

No, it shouldn’t:

The argument in favour of nationalisation that it will lead to large scale mechanisation of agriculture is disproved by Chinese agricultural revolution where even small farms are cultivated intensively manually and they produce enough to sustain their one and a quarter billion population.

The institution of private property is traditional and has served our purposes well. Moreover, it is a legal right in India. Nationalisation of land will not only, therefore, lead to widespread opposition but also make the life of the common man more miserable than it is today.

Private ownership of land gives a sense of belonging to the individual owner. In Indian case, a farmer treats his land as his son and, as such, does all the can to tend it properly. This results in production of huge quantity of agricultural produce. Our food production has increased fourfold since Independence because individual ownership of land has encouraged our farmers to utilize their landholdings properly.

That the State cannot manage large collective farms as efficiently and properly as individual owners can do privately is proved by the experience in China, Russia and elsewhere, Nationalisation is likely to lead to corruption.

Already, we have huge loss making public undertakings and the trend today is towards their privatization through disinvestment. Nationalisation has led to sloth, inefficiency and lack of commitment among the workers in these enterprises which has caused under capacity utilisation and fall in production.