In every state, local mutinies (in the form of people’s movements) have broken out against land grabs orchestrated by the
government and by large industrial corporations. Villagers are ready to take up arms to defend their territorial rights and their land. And the reasons are not far to seek – land is of fundamental importance in rural India; and for the large majority of the rural Indian populace, their land is synonymous with their livelihood. To surrender the land would be tantamount to giving up their security and their very survival.
There is another aspect to the problem: the livelihoods of other villagers (daily wage laborers and sharecroppers) are also linked to the productivity of the land, even though they do not own it. Even the so-called wastelands are a means of livelihood for the rural poor - landless farmers, pastoralists, and nomads - as livestock thrives on the wastelands; and the fuelwood is used as fuel for cooking and heating.
On their part, the
government – and the land developers - says that they are offering generous compensation (in the form of down payments and jobs). But the villagers counter that the price offered is not a fair one…
The villager’s major grievance is that the state governments acquire (sometimes forcibly) the land from them and then hand it over to the land developers; in effect playing the role of land grabbers. The villagers want to deal directly with the industrial corporations – they do not want the state governments to negotiate on their behalf. The government’s past record on relief and rehabilitation is very poor indeed; and this is another reason why the villagers do not repose much faith in what the government says.
The process of land acquisition has political, social, and economic costs for the government as well – especially as most of the displaced persons are indigenous people (adivasis and tribals). Discrepancies in the land records available with the various government departments do not help. And, corruption by local officials further compounds the problem.
Last, but not least, common village lands – which used to be the common property of the villagers – have gradually been encroached upon by the
administration. And turned into government property… As a result, the villagers feel alienated from their traditional lands – and they feel that the benefits of development will accrue to the administration or to its contractors and business partners. The author strongly pleads that the villagers must be given legal rights / ownership over their traditional lands.