Explanation

Option B is correct: The primary socio-economic objective of land reforms in independent India was institutional equity: abolishing feudal intermediaries (Zamindars and Jagirdars), conferring ownership rights to actual tillers, and acquiring surplus land through land ceiling legislation for redistribution to the landless agricultural labourers and marginal rural households.

– Option A is incorrect: During the initial legislative phase in the 1950s and 1960s, ceiling laws in most states were pegged to individual holdings rather than family units, allowing landowners to evade ceilings through benami transfers to family members.
– Option C is incorrect: The primary goal was agrarian equity and food security (staple grains), not promoting cash crop monoculture.
– Option D is incorrect: State ceiling laws initially granted extensive exemptions (for tea/coffee plantations, sugarcane farms, orchards, and mechanized farms).

Hence, the correct statement is Option B.