Landownership in Nepal

Contents: Preface. 1. The Kingdom of Nepal. 2. The state and the land. 3. Privileged landownership: Birta tenure. 4. Institutional landownership: Guthi tenure. 5. The land assignment system: fagir tenure. 6. Communal landownership: Kipat tenure. 7. Fimidari landownership. 8. Raikar land taxation. 9. Labor services and landownership. 10. Property rights in land. 11. The impact of land reform. 12. The future pattern of landownership. Glossary. Bibliography and source materials. Index.

In this work Mr. Regmi makes three major contributions. First he describes and analyzes the traditional Nepalese landholding system. This was complex, ever-evolving and variable with respect to the rights and obligations of the state, of the beneficiaries of state land bequests, and of tenants and cultivators. Mr. Regmi delineates his subject in fine detail, and explains how the system contained within itself the seeds of its demise.

Second, he analyzes the present status of land reform, achieved through the 1957 and 1964 Lands Acts, the outstanding features of which involves ceilings on individual landholdings, security of tenancy rights, controls on land rents, and compulsory savings and credit provision.

Finally he offers proposals for future action. Regmi believes that existing reforms have neither converted the agricultural surplus into productive capital nor sufficiently benefited the peasant class. To achieve these goals, he proposes "a new form of landownership under which every local Panchayat is the owner of lands used for agricultural and other productive purposes in the areas under its jurisdiction. (jacket)