Even as the people below poverty line has gone up by a whopping, 8 per cent in ten years from 48 per cent to 56, the number of poor has increased from 3.37 crore in 1975 to 4.53 crore in comparison to West Bengal where the Barga land reforms model has helped in bringing down the number of poor from 2.57 crore to below 2 crore.

Holding delay in land reforms as encouraging poverty, the report says that While in 1991, 8.16 per cent of families held 47.56 per cent of Bihar's land, the rest was divided between 91.66 per cent of population including marginal peasants.

In contrast in neighbouring West Bengal, 69 per cent of marginal farmers held 18 per cent of the land. With the West Bengal Government providing land to the tillers, the number of marginal landholders went up to 85.88 per cent while in Bihar the marginal peasants had turned landless.

It also points out that Bihar could distribute 307417 acres of land while over 87000 acres held by the government was yet to be distributed.

Of the land distributed, the fate of 159820 acres are stuck in litigation in the Supreme Court.Of the 1664100 acres of land received through Bhoodan, only 72,4462 have been distributed. The lack of Panchayati system had aggravated the problems further.

The Commission now wants the State Government to declare that land should belong to the actual tillers and that five acres should be prescribed ceiling in irrigated areas per person and ten in other areas.