With reference to land reforms in Independent India, which one of the following statements is correct?

Correct Answer: The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless.

Explanation:

After gaining independence, India inherited an agrarian structure dominated by intermediaries like Zamindars, Jagirdars, and Inamdars, which led to widespread exploitation of actual tillers and concentration of landownership in a few hands.

To establish social justice and promote agricultural efficiency, land reform measures were introduced in independent India. The primary objective of these reforms was to redistribute land to agrarian workers and achieve equitable distribution. Specifically, the major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless peasants and tenant farmers.

Analysis of other options:

1. "The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings." — Initially, ceiling laws applied to individual holdings in many states. Only later (around 1972) were national guidelines issued to fix ceilings based on family units to prevent evasion of law.
2. "It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation." — Land reforms focused primarily on tenure security, abolition of intermediaries, and redistribution of land, rather than pushing cash crop commercialization over food security.
3. "Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits." — In reality, numerous exemptions were granted for plantations (tea, coffee, rubber), sugarcane farms, efficiently managed farms, and religious/charitable trusts, which was one of the key weaknesses of early ceiling legislations.