Abstract In the traditional Hindu hierarchical society Dalits were called Shudras or Harijans or Panchmas and were socially, economically and politically a suppressed people. Placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy they survived by performing functions like scavenging, leatherwork, etc. During colonial period they constituted the bulk of the agricultural labour force and worked as farm servants and casual labourers. Very few (less than 10%) Dalit families possessed agricultural land. They had no right to own land nor were they considered to be peasants or tillers of the soil. The existing social customs did not grant them the status of occupancy tenant, though they might have cultivated lands as tenants and sharecroppers. In the case of untouchables, therefore, there was a clear correspondence/correlation between social and economic status. Land is the basis of all economic activity. It is the most important asset in an agrarian economy like India where majority of the population in rural areas are dependent on agriculture, labour and animal husbandry. Land issues have thus attracted equal attention from policy makers and academicians. After independence, India engaged in a conscious process of nation building with stress on high productivity and equitable distribution of land. In rural societies, ownership of land is coterminous with social status. Its unequal distribution reflects prevailing social stratification and helps maintain the hierarchical structure of the society.