Distribution of land to the landless and rural poor has been an important plank of the strategy for poverty alleviation and rural development. The first phase of land reforms in post Independent India started with abolition of intermediaries. Uttar Pradesh also passed the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act in 1950. In the second phase of land reforms the issue of imposition of land ceilings and redistribution of surplus land to the rural poor was taken up. The U.P. Imposition of Land Ceiling Act was passed in 1960. The Act put the ceiling limit at 40 acres. It defined family in a liberal manner and allowed a large number of exemptions. The provisions of the Act were widely misused and its implementation was lackadaisical with the result that the Act hardly made an impact on the land distribution situation in the State. The shortcomings of the land ceiling acts in different childrenstates led to fresh thinking about the provisions of the land ceiling Acts and need for amendment in the Act itself. As a follow up UP amended its land ceiling act in 1973.