In order to avoid the provisions of the Land Ceiling Act, which among the following strategies was adopted by the landowners?

The correct option is Benami transfers.

Understanding the Land Ceiling Act:
The Land Ceiling Act was introduced as a key part of land reforms in post-independence India. The primary objective of this legislation was to reduce inequality in land ownership. It did this by fixing the maximum limit (ceiling) of land that an individual or a family could legally own. The surplus land above this limit was supposed to be taken over by the government and redistributed to landless agricultural laborers and marginalized farmers.

Evasion Strategy - Benami Transfers:
To bypass the ceiling limits and prevent the government from acquiring their surplus properties, wealthy landowners devised various methods of evasion. The most widely adopted strategy was Benami transfers.
A "Benami" transaction refers to a transaction where a property is held by or transferred to one person, but has been provided or paid for by another person for their own benefit. Landowners legally registered their surplus lands in the names of family members, relatives, trusted employees, servants, or even fictitious individuals, while retaining actual control and enjoying the profits from the land. Through this loophole, they technically complied with the law on paper while keeping their large estates intact.

Why other options are incorrect:
• Contract farming: This is an agreement between farmers and processing/marketing firms for the production and supply of agricultural products, unrelated to evading land ceiling limits.
• Abolition of zamindari system: This was a government-initiated land reform measure aimed at eliminating intermediaries between the state and the cultivators, rather than a strategy used by landowners to keep their land.
• Pay tax: Paying taxes is a standard statutory compliance and was not a mechanism to circumvent land ceiling provisions.