Land acquisitions in India are invariably marked by violent protests. Is politics responsible for stirring up passions? Is it loss of a means of livelihood that landowners resent? Or is there a fundamental problem with the way acquisition is done that stirs up a hornet's nest? Look at the last issue first. There are two fundamental problems with the present system of land acquisition: the process of acquisition, and the...

-The Times of India   Farmers agitation against land acquisition in Kolayat in Bikaner district started on a violent note on Tuesday when thousands of protestors clashed with police and smashed a couple of government vehicles. The farmers led by local MLA and former minister Devi Singh Bhati were demanding better compensation for their lands acquired by the state government and a rehabilitation package on the lines of that given by...

An insightful article on “The wheat mountains of the Punjab” by Professor M.S. Swaminathan – one of the world's leading agricultural scientists and food policy experts – and a couple of reports on the Supreme Court of India's observations and directions on the same subject, published in this newspaper have drawn the attention of readers in substantial numbers. The article, published on May 11, 2011, throws new light on the present...

The government's acquisition of land for projects has been facing protests across the country, the violence in Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] being only the latest. As people's power collides with public projects, MR Madhavan explains what land acquisition is all about What is Land Acquisition? Land acquisition is the process by which the government forcibly acquires private property for public purpose without the consent of the land-owner. It is thus...

In Greater Noida, farmers resist fiercely attempts to take over their land for the Yamuna expressway and a hi-tech city. IT is a tale of two worlds, one in the present and the other in the future; one living and breathing and toiling away in parts of the National Capital Region and the other beautifully blueprinted and waiting to be willed into reality by the government and its elites in...