The correct answer is only (a), (b) and (c). Explanation & Key Takeaways: Small land holdings: • Landholding is defined as the area of land which a person or a family owns. • It could be one piece of land or a number of small scattered pieces of land. • At the time of independence, what prevailed were division, subdivision, and fragmentation of landholdings. • In India, the size of land holdings is too small. • This is due to overpopulation. • Due to the rapid growth of population and the existing law of inheritance, agricultural land is divided equally among the male children of the deceased farmer. Hence, statements (a) and (b) are correct. • However, a joint family system avoids the further fragmentation of the land and small landholdings. Hence, statement (d) is not correct. • Poverty is perhaps a major cause of rural indebtedness. The low level of rural incomes and the uncertain and primitive farming of small landholdings make it. This leads to the selling of portions of entire farms. Hence, statement (c) is correct. • At present, the per capita available land is only about 0.10 hectares. • This is much below the world average of about 4.50 hectares. • Over 75% of the landholding are less than one hectare. • Such small holdings are not economically viable. • In fact, small holdings cannot produce enough to meet the costs of irrigation, improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and farm machinery.