WEST BENGAL LAND REFORMS BILL-I-Major Move against Semi-Feudal Tenancy

November 26, 1977 WEST BENGAL LAND REFORMS BILL-I Major Move against Semi-Feudal Tenancy THE West Bengal Land Reforms' (Amendment) Bill, 1977, passed by the State Assembly at its last session, marks an important step forward. With consummate skill Benoy Chow- dhury, the veteran peasant leader and now the Minister of Land and Land Revenue, piloted the bill through the Assembly in an astonishingly short period of a couple of days. For once, all the Left parties, including those in opposition like the CPI, the SUC and the CPI(M-L) represented by San tosh Rana backed Benoy Chow- dhury to the hilt against the combined onslaught of Janata and Congress. True to their class character the spokesmen of these two parties expressed vague sentiments in favour of the rural poor, but wanted to kill time by referring the bill to a select committee; once the demand was refected, they walked out of the House, It was not a case of a storm in a tea cup. The issues at stake are rather far-reaching. The three-and-a- half-page bill has three major provisions.