Colonial Legacies and Post-independence Transformations in Land Revenue Administration and Agrarian Land Rights in Assam, 1826–1985: A Historical Study of Upper Assam

Land has long underpinned Assam’s society and economy. From 1826, British rule transformed landholding and revenue administration through surveys, settlements and registration designed to consolidate state control. Tea plantation expansion and wasteland grants to European planters disrupted customary rural land relations. The Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, formalised this administrative framework, much of which survived independence in 1947. Subsequent tenancy and land ceiling legislation sought to reform agrarian relations, although the extent of practical change remains a matter of historical debate. This paper examines land administration and cultivators’ rights in Assam between 1826 and 1985, focusing on Sibsagar, Lakhimpur and Jorhat. Drawing on legislation, archival material and historical scholarship, it explores institutional continuity alongside reform. Its central argument is that post-independence measures changed policy objectives while continuing to rely on inherited legal categories, land records and administrative structures. District-level outcomes require careful assessment against implementation evidence.