On the road to Liberty

It is legal to invoke eminent domain to acquire private land for industrial projects, even though the investors could afford to buy the land. But why can't a farmer buy a thousand acres. In this article " Free India's land market ", published in the Mint, on 4 February 2008, I look at the problems affecting land market. Small as it is, the Tata Nano has sent the world automobile sector into a big spin. The Nano reflects the potential of the new industrial revolution, which has so far passed India by. However, for the manufacturing to take firm root, the land needs to be prepared. The Nano has been developed in four years. But Tata Motors may not have been able to buy the necessary land from landowners during the same period. Which leads us to the question: Why is it legitimate to acquire land for industrial use, but prohibit farmers from consolidating and expanding their landholding to improve agriculture? Why shouldn’t a farmer be able to legitimately acquire a th...

Prospect of a property rights movement Much has been written about the tragedy of Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal. Yet not much light has been shed on the real significance of the protests by farmers on land acquisition. Brand Buddhadeb has suffered a serious blow much beyond West Bengal. But, more importantly, an undercurrent of awareness is spreading through the grassroots of society on an almost unheralded issue — the protection of property rights. This article was published under the title " Ground Reality " , in the Hindustan Times, on 24 March 2007. Political and social activists have been hurling arguments to score points against rivals. If one side stresses on the need for industrialisation, the other calls for inclusive growth. The self-proclaimed champions of the poor are hobnobbing with big businesses, while the Opposition spectrum, from the fringe Left to the far Right, want to be seen to be siding with the rural poor. And business leaders, who have been enjo...