This book is a critical study of the laws regulating landownership patterns. Land and land law are woven into the fabric of our society and are therefore integral to the substantive questions of equality and developmental ideologies of the state. This volume uncovers the socio-economic realities that surround land and approaches the law from the standpoint of the marginalized, landless and the dispossessed. This book: Undertakes an extensive survey of existing legislations, both at the union and state level through a range of analytical tables; Discusses the issues of land reform; abolition of intermediaries and tenancy reform; need for redistribution; ceilings on agricultural holdings; law of land acquisition; legal construction of public purpose and displacement, dispossession, compensation, and rehabilitation to construct a case for redistribution; Inquires into the phenomenon of landlessness that widely prevails in India today and lays bare its causes. An invaluable resource, this volume will be an essential read for all students and researchers of law, political studies, sociology, political economy, exclusion studies, development studies, and Asian studies.