Land consolidation as land reform, in India

Land consolidation, as a process that requires the preservation of each farmer's wealth in land when fragmented plots are exchanged, is usually not considered land reform. The land consolidation program in Uttar Pradesh, India, from the evidence of observation and the testimony of farmers and officials, as well as before-and-after landholding data, increases the number of “independent” farmers by increasing the economic viability of farms per unit area and helping to loosen the control of some farmers over others. If the “liberation” of farmers from economic and other dependency is what forms the core of the justification of land reform in India, then land consolidation at the very least serves the purposes of land reform.