Explanation
The primary objective of land reforms in independent India was to achieve social justice and 'equity' by redistributing land from large landowners to the landless and marginal farmers, thereby reducing the concentration of land ownership.
- Option B is correct: The policy priority was to ensure that those who actually tilled the soil had ownership rights, aiming to provide agricultural land to the landless to reduce rural poverty and inequality. - Option A is incorrect: During the first phase of land reforms (1950s and 60s), ceiling laws were generally applied to individual holdings. It was only after the 1972 national guidelines that the basis for land ceilings shifted to family units. - Option D is incorrect: Land ceiling laws were not absolute and provided numerous exemptions. These typically included land used for plantations (tea, coffee, rubber), orchards, sugarcane farms, and land held by religious, educational, or charitable trusts. - Option C is incorrect: Land reforms were intended to improve productivity and equity; they did not specifically aim for, nor result in, cash crops becoming the predominant form of cultivation across the country.