Development, Displacement and Industrialization
Development or Developmental Terrorism?
A strategy under which the state allies with corporations to dispossess people of their livelihoods is nothing but developmental terrorism, irrespective of the political label of political parties in the office. We must chart out an alternative path of development; such possibilities, although limited, exist even in the present situation. — Amit Bhaduri in EPW, 7 February 2007. [pdf, 20 KB]
Second Industrialisation in India: Land and the State
Industry today faces an acute shortage of land to set up factories and it has to draw upon farm land. Because the very news of a proposed industrial project site breeds speculation of a boom in land prices, no one wants to sell. While there is no better agency than the government to acquire land for industry, protest is inevitable due to the logic of the situation. This is a classic case of the irresistible (industrialisation) dashing against the immovable (millions of peasants and artisans confined to their station). The knot can be broken by opening a window for the latter. This note shows how. — Ranjit Sau in Economic and Political Weekly, February 17, 2007. [pdf, 52 KB]
Development and Displacement - Land Acquisition in West Bengal
The article is concerned with the process through which agrarian land is acquired to build up infrastructure, industries and various services, in the process displacing people from their traditional occupations and livelihood. In particular, the focus is on the recent strife in West Bengal over such acquisition. The article-frontpage argues that while such acquisition is necessary for industrialisation, which in turn is absolutely essential for the long-run development of West-Bengal, its success depend crucially upon a well thought out compensation and rehabilitation programme, which has so far been seriously lacking in the state. — Abhirup Sarkar in EPW, 21 April 2007. [ pdf, 52 KB]
Alternatives in Industrialisation
A programme of decentralised, employment-intensive, rural industrialisation through participatory democracy at the local level is the only process of industrialisation that is vast and meandering democracy of enormous poverty can sustain. To pretend that this can be achieved through corporate-led growth, no matter how high, is to live in a make-believe world. — Amit Bhaduri in EPW, May 5, 2007. [ pdf, 24 KB]
Beyond Nandigram : Industrialisation in West Bengal
If we are to learn the right lessons from the tragedy of Nandigram, then we must ensure that the government is involved in the land acquisition process and that we correctly deal with the three sets of issues : the size and form of compensation, the eligibility for compensation and the credibility of the process. — Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Pranab Bardhan Kaushik Basu, Mrinal Datta Chaudhury, Maitreesh Ghatak, Ashok Sanjay Guha, Mukul Majumdar, Dilip Mookherjee, Debraj Roy in EPW 28 April, 2007. [pdf, 24KB]
Land Grab and “Development” Fraud in India
Today land grabbing by the private corporate sector, both Indian and of foreign origin, in the name of so called “development” and with the aid of government agencies and state machinery, has become a subject that can not be avoided. The Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP) - whose MOU was signed in 1995 between the Government of Karnataka and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), a consortium consisting of Kalyani Group (Pune), SAB Engineering (Pennsylvania, USA) and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB) (Boston, USA) - is a vast scandal. The Reliance Energy Group plans the world's largest gas based 3,500 MW power plant to be located not on waste or marginal land, but on agricultural land considered to be among the most fertile on the planet - Dadri, Ghaziabad. Reliance is also planning to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in small remote Pen Tehshil in Raigad, Maharashtra. Thousands of farmers of this region are demonstrating against the land acquisition by the state government for the Reliance for a 12,100-hectres SEZ. Even in Left-ruled West Bengal, the state government will soon acquire 43,028 acres of land, mostly agricultural , in different parts of the state.
The use of Land Acquisition Acts to seize agricultural land for the profit of imperial capital is indeed a scandal of the first order. “Development” is here a case of fraud, pure and simple. [ link]
Land Acquisition in a West Bengal District
The process of land acquisition for industrial development initiated since the mid-1990s in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district threatens to undermine the pro-peasant policy of the Left Front government. Moreover, the government continues to rely on the Land Acquisition Act enacted by an earlier colonial regime for such purposes. While agricultural land following acquisition now lies waste, there has been an increase in the number of the landless and small and marginal farmers. — Abhijit Guha, Economic and Political Weekly , October 16, 2004. [pdf, 32KB]
Missing the Woods for the Trees
— Abhijit Guha, Frontier, 27 May, 2007. [pdf , 56 KB]
Resettlement and Rehabilitation : First National Policy
The department of land resources of the ministry of rural development published the National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation on the eve of the 2004 parliamentary elections. Decision-makers produced a policy document without the backing of any legislative or statutory powers. This is apart from other weaknesses in the policy such as the neglect of pragmatic aspects of implementation, and the omission of compensation for common pool resources, sharecroppers and migrant agricultural labourers. — Abhijit Guha, Economic and Political Weekly, November 12, 2005. [pdf, 24 KB]
Political Economy of Land Grab
A new phase of capitalist expansion led by “global capital” is driving governments, including those of the left, to dispossess and displace peasants from agricultural land, even using force to break up peasant resistance. The article-frontpage offers an understanding of this new phase, with a focus on the role and compulsions of governments. The analysis is in the tradition of radical political economy, and is based on a revaluation and expansion of Marx's conceptualisation of rent and the primitive accumulation of capital. — Pranab Kanti Basu in EPW, 7 April, 2007. [ pdf, 436 KB]
Rehabilitation Policy for the Displaced
The policy draft appears to be more concerned with protecting the interests of big business rather than the livelihood security of the displaced. — Walter Fernandes in Economic and Political Weekly, March 20, 2004. [pdf, 24 KB]
Singur and the Displacement Scenario
The controversy over the acquisition of land in Singur in West Bengal for an automobile project raises larger issues. The plight of displaced and project-affected persons across the country shows that it is the development pattern, nature of rehabilitation packages and the ‘public purpose’ declared by the state while acquiring land that need to be debated and redefined. — Walter Fernandes in Economic and Political Weekly, January 20, 2007. [pdf, 28KB]
Industrial Displacement - Looking Beyond Cash Compensation
Cash compensation for the rehabilitation of the displaced persons does not make much more sense if the displaced ought to be reasonably compensated in terms of meeting all the benefits that the land provided. A combination options such as reskilling and facilitation, leasing the land, providing a share in the business and cash compensation accompanied by professional investment advisory services are touched upon. — Shankar Venkateswaran in EPW, 2 June 2007. [ pdf, 20 KB]
Towards a Just Displacement and Rehabilitation Policy
This article-frontpage, based on the author’s personal involvement at different stages in official and non-official capacities in displacement and rehabilitation issues, traces the evolution of thinking in India in this area. It narrates the story of the changing drafts of a policy document under consideration; notes that emerging enlightenment was reversed by the pursuit of ‘growth’ and ‘development’ accompanied by an impatience with other concerns; regrets the loss of a sense of justice and compassion; and outlines an approach to a more humane and equitable policy on displacement and rehabilitation. — Ramaswamy R Iyer in Economic and Political Weekly, July 28, 2007. [pdf, 36 KB]
