THERE is money on offer, but the farmers of Halligudi, a hamlet of 5,500 people in Karnataka's Gadag district, are hardly happy at the prospect of 3,382 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) of farmland being acquired for a Rs.32,336-crore steel plant south of National Highway 63, which runs between Karwar and Bellary. The plant is to be set up by the Indian subsidiary of the South Korean steel major Posco...

The land problem in Singur was a turning point in the political fortunes of both the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress. The story is far from complete, and the legal twists and turns between Mamata Banerjee and the house of Tata could unfold in surprising ways. The issue of adequate compensation for farmers, who had to part with their land, is still an open question to which many well...

In contrast to the 1990s, when age-old matters of identity drove electoral politics, it appears that development-related issues such as land acquisition and law and order will play a critical role in the contentious campaign for the UP elections due next year. While this can be attributed to the BSP’s “sarvajan” agenda, it also signals the impact of the market economy and the need to attract private investment, which has...

Farmers are caught between Mayawati’s promises, Rahul Gandhi’s idealism and mounting debts Land acquisition policy in Uttar Pradesh has been changed at least five times in the past five years to benefit the farmers. Amidst the raging controversies over what should be the land compensation rate and debates and protests over the various clauses of the land acquisition policy, most farmers have lost more than they could gain from Mayawati’s new...

This is a unique situation. For governments, development authorities, lenders and borrowers alike. On Wednesday, a Supreme Court (SC) Bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi upheld a verdict of the Allahabad High Court that quashed acquisition of 176 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida stating that the authorities were “sub-serving” private builders in the name of public interest. Land purchased from the government was always considered ‘clean’. This verdict,...