land tax by Joseph Punnoose
The income from liquor sales will pale into insignificance if a reasonable land tax is levied on land. The land holders are under an illusion that they are crorepatis and need not do any manual work, the land remains barren. If a reasonable tax is levied, say for example Rs. 50 for a cent, the income from the rural area increase exponentially. The landed gentry is a pampered lot. The Agriculture Income Tax is practically abolished in 1992. The Land Tax remains abysmally low. If the annual land tax is raised to Rs. 10 for a cent, the small holders will be happy because they will feel they also are a part of the Govt. machinery and will feel that they are responsible.
The political parties celebrated the golden jubilee of the Land Reforms Act. The reforms should be a continuous process. The exemption from the ceiling for plantations should be removed prospectively i.e from 01/11/2020 so that will not be any serious litigation. The optimum holding for a household is only 15 acres. The restrictions on the usage of the land should be removed. Mono crop cultivations should be discouraged.
Only the leaders of the church can raise these issue for an egalitarian society. Politicos cannot raise it because they are fearfull of the erosion of the vote base. All the bio diversity institutions are to be dismantled.
I am inspired by an article in The Hindu dated 9th June by the renowned economist M.A.Oommen.