11 March,2011 09:59 AM IST | | Arindam Chaudhuri
We are a strange economy. The number of billionaires in our country is increasing by the day, but we hardly have any worthwhile billion dollar global product. One wonders how these billionaires manage to make their money without a supporting product? Well, of all the inexplicable means that are being adopted, one of the most fashionable has been the act of blatant land grabbing! In fact, land acquisition in India has been always the most ignored legislation.
Not even three months have passed and 2011 has already seen its share of illegal transactions of land meant for public purposes.
Tamil Nadu government, in January, attempted to divert a stretch of land reserved for slum redevelopment to private players. In Maharashtra, the state's housing Area Development Authority sold a 3-acre plot worth Rs 300 crore to a private developer; a plot which was originally allotted for developing 900 flats for low and middle-income groups. Similarly, Haryana Urbanu00a0 Development Authority (HUDA) an HSIIDC acquired almost 350 acres of panchayat landu00a0 before selling it to a private player.
From politicians to bureaucrats to industrialists, all eye various developmental projects to grab a share of prime land. And the process is simplified further as the law governing land purchases in India is over 110 years old (the Land Acquisition Act dates back to 1894). In spite of this law having been amended a few times, the government's land grabbing powers have only strengthened.
As per the act, the government,both at the state and at the Centre, is absolutely free to acquire any land anywhere in India for "public purposes" ufffd even without the consent of the land owners. The land owners get token money as compensation, which is far below the market price. Many times, the land acquired by the government is developed under the Public-Private-Partnership model where, eventually, the private component in this partnership corners every benefit!
Further, when it comes to development projects for public usage, unprecedented amounts of money change hands within the unholy nexus of politicians and corporations. As a result, the realty prices change, which defy any economic rationality! And it's the poor people who are at the receiving end. After all, our nation, it is always self before people! Land grabbing and making billions is just one of the means.
