Reading Comprehension (CDS-Solved Paper)

                                                         Passage - 1
Mankind’s experience of various evolutionary changes from primitive times to the present day has been extensive and varied. However, man’s problems were never before as complicated as they seem to be today.

Man’s economic activity centres primarily around production. Labour is said to be the primary factor of production; its role, therefore, has been given a lot of importance.

It should be useful to have an overall view of the economic history of man from the nomadic times to the modern factory system and study its relevance to the various labour problems of today. Initially, man passed through ‘the hunting and fishing stage’.

During this period, his basic needs were adequately met by Nature. Wild animals, birds and fruits satisfied his hunger, and his thirst was quenched by the waters of springs and rivers.

Caves gave him shelter and barks of trees were used as clothing. During this stage of man’s progress, labour problems did not exist because of the absence of any economic, political and social systems.

Then came ‘the pastoral stage’, which was marked by a certain amount of economic activity. The nomadic and migratory nature of man persisted and together with his goats and cattle, he moved on to fresh pastures and meadows.

Some conflicts would sometimes take place among herd-owners, for, during this period, the institution of nominal private property ownership was not known. This stage paves the way for ‘the agricultural stage’, during which the class system began to develop.

There was a small artisan class mostly self-employed; and there were also landed proprietors or Zamindars as well as slaves. During the fourth stage of these developments, the handicrafts stage’, a number of social and economic changes took place which marked the beginning of the labour problem in the world.

The self-sufficient economy of the village underwent a drastic change. The community of traders and merchants emerged.

Humanity’s evolution from primitive stage to the present has been ?

Passage - 2

Ever since independence, land reforms have been a major instrument of state policy to promote both equity and agricultural investment. Unfortunately, progress on land reforms has been slow, reflecting the resilience of structures of power that gave rise to the problem in the first place.

The main instrument for realising more equitable distribution of land is the land ceiling laws. These laws were enacted by several states during the late 1950s and 1960s, and the early 1970s saw more stringent amendments in the laws to plug loopholes in the earlier laws.

But the record of implementation has not been satisfactory. Around 3 million hectares of land has been declared surplus so far, which is hardly 2 percent of net sown area in India.

About 30 percent of this land has not yet been distributed as it is caught up in the litigations. Besides, a number of Benami and clandestine transactions have resulted in illegal possession of significant amounts of land above ceiling limits.

There are widespread reports of allotment of inferior, unproductive, barren and wasteland to landless household, many of whom have been forced to sell it off, in the absence of resources to make it productive.

In many instances, lands allotted to the rural poor under the ceiling laws are not in their possession. In some cases, Pattas were issued to the beneficiaries, but possession of land shown in the Pattas was not given, or corresponding changes were not made in the records of right.

The balance of power in rural India is so heavily weighed against the landless and the poor that implementing land ceiling laws is difficult. It is clear that without massive mobilisation of the rural poor and depending on democratic governance in rural India very little can be achieved in this direction.

Although half of India’s population continues to depend on agriculture as its primary source of livelihood, 83 percent of farmers operate holdings of less than 2 hectares in size and the average holding size is only 1.23 hectares. This is often in fragments and unirrigated.

There are also those who are entirely landless, although agriculture is their main source of livelihood. They have inadequate financial resources to purchase and often depend on leasing in small plots, on insecure terms, for short periods, sometimes only for one season.

Hence, many face insecurity of tenure and the growing threat of land alienation and pressure from urbanisation, industrialisation and powerful interest.

Why does the land reform prove to be slow?

1. Land ceiling laws have proved to be unsatisfactory.
2. The democratic structure of the government cannot provide solution to the problem of land reforms.
3. The owners of land have abundant natural resources.
4. Identified land for distribution has not been distributed due to court cases against it.
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