LAND REFORMS SINCE INDEPENDENCE 5 at the end of 1960s, more or less at the same levels as before the land reforms. Unfortunately, a proper estimate of the latest situation in respect of concentration of ownership of land cannot be made due to lack of up-to-date information. The latest published data on the distribution of landholdings come from the Seventeenth Round of the National Sample Survey (NSS). These relate to both the household ownership holdings and the agricultural holdings. If tenancy is sought to be abolished by transfer of ownership to the cultivating tenant, the ownership of holdings is redistributed and in due course all tenants .come to own the land under their cultivation. Therefore, the pattern of ownership of agricultural holdings becomes relevant for an objective assessment of the situation. The Seventeenth Round data on the distribution of agricultural holdings relate to the" year 1960-61. These may be compared with the Eighth Round daia relating to the year 1953-54. Table I depicts the all-India distributions of estimated numbers of agricultural holdings and area operated as under the control of Very Small Holders, Small Holders, Middle Holders, and Big Holders.10 The Very Small Holders may be considered as very poor, Small Holders as poor, Middle Holders as semi-rich and Big Holders as rich. This classification is an arbitrary one because mere size-classes of agricultural holdings arc not enough to determine the economic status of the agricultural landholders. In fact this classification cannot be accurately made without adequate information regarding fertility of land, productivity, application of capital, extent of hired labour and so forth. Since this classification does not take into account the regional variations, the jotdars and landlords cannot be treated as a separate class and therefore they are included in the Big Holders cla-^s. For the sake of convenience holdings under the control of Big Holders have been subdivided into size-classes (1) 15.00—24.99 acres, (2) 25.00—49.99 acres and (3) 50 acres and above. It is most likely that the holdings of the last two size-classes were under the control of the jotdars and landlords in various part^ of ^he country. Table I shows that there had been only marginal changes in the distributions of agricultural holdings and area operated between 1953-54 and 1960-61. For example 19.72 per cent of the holdings under the Very Small Holders in 1953-54 accounted for only 1.07 per cent of the total area operated. In 1960-61 the Very Small Holders held 17.13 per cent of the total holdings and 1.27 percent of the total area. The Small Holders held, in 1953-54, 40.28 per cent of the total holdings claiming 14.37 percent of the total area operated and in 1960-61,44.56 per cent of the holdings which accounted for 17.92 per cent of the total area. The Middle Holder^ held 27.48 per cent of the total holdings claiming 31.15 per cent of the total area operated in 1953-54 and 27.75 per cent of the total holdings and 34.89 per cent of the area operated in 1960-61. Again, 12.52 per cent of the holdings belonging to the Big Holders in 1953-54 claimed 53.41 percent of the total area operated. The share of the Big Holders in 1960-61 declined