66 SOCIAL SCIENTIST absentee landlordism and the related one of large-scale landholdings by non-agriculturists. Secondly, by plugging certain well-known loopholes in the law the bargadars status vis-a-vis the landowners is greatly strengthened."88 The Janata and the Congress group in the Assembly staged a walk out when the bill was moved; and the bill is yet to receive the President's assent. Apart from moving this amendment in the assembly the Left Front Government has also started moves for the detection ofroala fide transfers of land and recovery of clandestinely retained surplus land as well as incorporation of names of bargadars, still unrecorded, in the record-of-rights. Even here the policy of involving the peasant organisations and the rural poor in these operations, which was tried earlier is being adopted again. The kanungos have been asked to collect information regarding benami land locally' from the bargadars and small cultivators of the village as well as from local peasants' organizations. As regards incorporation of names of bargadars, still unrecorded, in the record-of-rights, the kanungos are being asked to suspect each case of cultivation-by-hired labour as cuhiv&tion-by'bargadar and to find out the fact by questioning those hired labourers and small cultivators of the contiguous lands. And if it transpires that the so-called hired labourer receives a portion of the produce as wages he should be presumed to be a bargadar and recorded accordingly. Can all these moves by themselves bring about any radical change in our rural economy? Are the landlords who dominate the rural scene economically, politically and socially, going to give up the fight that easily? Certainly not^ As the experience so far has conclusively proved, ^The indisputable condition for the success in implementation (of land reforms) is that the agricultural labourers, poor peasants, share-croppers who are really interested in land reforms must be roused, their initiative and courage will have to be developed so that they can stand up before the mighty power of the landlords, and they must be asked to come forward in an organised way to help the Government to implement (the programme) *... without such active initiative and intervention of peasants it is not possible to really implement land reforms in the interests of the peasantry."89. 1 Report of thf Task Force on Agrarian relations of the Planning Commission: "Two Decades of Land Reform—A Brief Review", (mimeo) » Ibid. a Ibid. 4 Resolution of the C.C, CPI(M) : "Tasks on the Kisan Front" April, 1967. 5 N K Chandra : "Agrarian Transition in India", Frontier, Vol 8, No 28, 29 & 30: November 22, November 29 and December 6, 1975. 6 A Ghosh and K Dutt: ^Development of Capitalist Relations in Agriculture", PPH, New Delhi; July, 1977 p 144. 7 B K Chowdhury: "Land Reform Legislation and Implementation in West Bengal"; Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, January-March 1962; Vo'1 XVII, No. 1.