LAND ACQUISITION WITHOUT TEARS Author - VT Joshi

Acquisition of land of the poor farmers for an avowedly public purpose or grandiose industrial projects has been a perennial problem of development. Invariably it is a violent process, uprooting hundreds of thousands of indigent households. They in turn never get any tangible benefits after being dispossessed of their small holdings on the promise of a miserable amount of compensation that usually takes years to come, whenever it does. They are virtually rendered migrant daily wagers in search of the means of livelihood.

Yet their sentimental attachment to their lands cannot be wished away. As the renowned management guru, Sharu Rangnekar, observed sometime back: The farmer is the biggest capitalist in the world. He is ready to give up his life for his land. His attachment to the miserable acre of his land is far more intense than possibly Ratan Tata's to TISCO. Or else Stalin would not have had to shoot thousands of farmers to introduce collective farming in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the reformist, rather "revisionist", Marxist chief minister of West Bengal, is perhaps finding it the hard way. Notwithstanding the famous (or dubious) land reforms which are supposed to have put the communists on the pedestal of political power in his Sate for close to three decades. He is reported to have promised the "moon"--- "jobs, houses and adequate compensation"--- to farmers who will be ousted to make way for the FDI project, a four-lane carriageway to be built by the Indonesian Salim group.

The West Bengal chief minister's predicament is in no way unique. Over the past few decades there have been hundreds of instances of bitter struggle and violent agitation across the country to press for proper rehabilitation of the vast numbers dispossessed of their meagre holdings for the sake of "development" and "modernization" in various sectors of infrastructure, power generation, industrialization, high-dam irrigation schemes, transport and mining etc.

A classic instance of an aborted project because of the farmers' violent resistance some 14 years ago relates to a proposal for setting up a giant steel plant in adivasi dominated, naxal infected Bastar, now in Chattisgarh. Bastar has one of the world's richest iron ores. A well known steel company of the country was commissioned by the then BJP state government of Madhya Pradesh to set up the plant near the ore site. Investing well over a few crores of rupees, the company prepared a detailed project report after an elaborate survey of its financial and technical feasibility. The foundation stone was laid amidst the usual pomp and ceremony in the august presence of the then chief minister, Sunderlal Patwa, and other bigwigs of the ruling party.

Just three days after the fanfare, a virulent agitation was launched by the local people led by a retired IAS officer, a former district collector of Bastar, to resist the acquisition of land and the foundation stone itself was uprooted by an angry adivasi mob. Before the Patwa government could do anything to use state power to retrieve the project it found itself dismissed following the demolition of the Babri Mosque.

That was the end of the potentially great steel project which, if completed, could have transformed the social and environmental landscape of Bastar. It is however a moot point, indeed the proverbial million dollar question, whether its completion would have been good or ill for the people of the area and benefited them in any way -- apart from the admittedly larger national interests such projects undoubtedly serve.

In this context it is pertinent to note the recent case of certain mining projects in Rayagada district of Orissa. Prakrutik Sampada Surakhsha Parishad is an organization that is resisting the acquisition of land by Utkal Alumina International Limited for bauxite mining. Its convener, Baghban Majhi of Kashipur, says, "Modern society has come about by killing adivasis. It benefits a few and harms many. In 58 years people have only been displaced. They have not got justice. That is why we are against assimilation", as quoted by A. Srinivas in an article in The Times of India of 4 th August 2005. "Mining boom means environmental doom", says a poster.

"This is our land", the advasis assert, showing how powerful and intense their attachment is to their few miserable acres. Far more intense than an industrialist's to his factory, perhaps, as pointed out. The Majhi says "just as tigers need forests and fish need water, advasis need land". Of what use is alumunium to the people of Kashipur when most of it will benefit another population and another life style after its use for making defence weaponry and aircraft, Majhi asks. He deplores that modern economy can render useless all that farmers and adivasis have learnt over generations. "The social intelligence lost is staggering", he bemoans, pointing out that the farmlands and forests are hardly put to any direct benefit of the local people. Neither the capitalists nor the Marxists could see this point, as each believes that the modern must fully supplant the "traditional" wisdom. The planners rarely take this into account in their cost benefit reports, it is felt.

CONSENSUAL REMEDIES

As Mr. Srinivas says, "all this is not to suggest that the feudal systems should be preserved but that the engagement with modernity ought to be consensual rather than violent". Demands for proper rehabilitation of the poor displaced people has been the crux of several social movements like Bahuguna's chipko and the long and arduous agitation launched by various groups like "Narmada bachao" against the Sardar Sarovar, Tehri dam, mining and industrial projects, all resulting in social discontent and strife and strikes. They have been met with the violence of the state power which has rarely been tempered with restraint and understanding of the human problems involved in the process.

Several remedies have been suggested from time to time by thinkers and social activists but the bureaucracy has not been impressed much less been willing to accept and implement. For instance, the leaders of the agitation against the Bastar steel plant (whose foundation stone was uprooted within three days) had urged that the dispossessed and deprived people should be given a stake and a small share in the profits and fortunes of the steel project itself, instead of usual pittance of monetary compensation and promise of a few menial jobs. But it was peremptorily rejected by the then Industries Secretary of the MP government who thought it was impractical.

NETWORK OF LOCAL BENEFICIARIES

Writing in a different context in Hindustan Times on 26th August 2005, the veteran columnist Prem Shankar Jha went a step ahead and suggested that the affected people should be granted a "royalty in perpetuity" for the use of their land (instead of buying it as at present), besides a permanent stake in the prosperity of the infrastructure and industrial projects. He also urged that contributory social insurance schemes should be launched for the organized and unorganized sectors of workers supplemented by cesses and taxes on specific activities.

All these measures will bring millions of deprived people from some of the most remote areas into the "network of beneficiaries from development" and permanently ensure the security of the poor instead of their being given doles under the employment guarantee schemes under which massive resources will go down the drain. "The rural poor need greater security more than an income supplement", says Mr. Prem Shankar Jha, known for his aggressive advocacy of liberalization and market economy.

VT Joshi
24 October 2005

VT JOSHI (1925-2008) worked for more than fifty years as a journalist. He retired from THE TIMES OF INDIA in 1989. During 1985-89 he was the Special Correspondent of THE TIMES OF INDIA in Pakistan. His books "PAKISTAN: ZIA TO BENAZIR" and "INDIA AT CROSS ROADS" (co-author GG Puri) were widely reviewed in both India and Pakistan.

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