Is the Farmer for Sale in the Name of ‘Development’? The Truth Behind Land Grabs
N. Singh · ·3 min read
Translated from the original Hindi · मूल हिंदी लेख पढ़ें
In recent years, you must have noticed a vast network of new expressways, industrial corridors, defence corridors, and smart cities being laid across the country.
Advertisements appear in the newspapers—“Now Delhi to Banaras in just 8 hours!” or “Lucknow to Ghazipur in 4 hours!”
Seeing these advertisements, the urban middle class applauds. But did anyone ever pause to think whose land lies buried beneath these expressways?
Those lands were not some barren desert. They were the fertile soil of the doab (alluvial land between two rivers) of the Ganga, Yamuna, Ghaghara, Chambal, and Gomti, where three flourishing crops were harvested a year—wheat, paddy, sugarcane, vegetables, and pulses!
The Illusion of Compensation and the Farmer’s Delusion
In the sixth chapter of their book ‘Ujadti Kheti, Ujadte Gaon’ (Devastated Farming, Ruined Villages), authors N. Singh and Vimla Singh investigate the ground realities of this cruel game of ‘land acquisition’.
When the government acquires land, the farmer is handed compensation at four times the circle rate or a few lakh rupees per bigha. Suddenly seeing ₹20 or ₹50 lakh in their bank account, the farmer’s family is dazzled.
They buy a new vehicle, build a pucca (brick-and-mortar) house, and spend money like water on their daughter’s wedding.
But then what happens?
By the time five years pass, the bank account is empty. The vehicle grows old and turns into scrap. No regular income remains to run the household. And the most terrifying truth is that they no longer even have the fields that brought home sacks of wheat and pulses every year!
The very same farmer, who until yesterday was the master of 10 bighas, now ends up begging for a chance to set up a roadside tea stall along that very expressway, or folds his hands for an ₹8,000-a-month security guard job at a toll plaza!
The Bitter Truth from the Book
“Land is not something that you can sell once and buy again from the market. Fertile agricultural land is finite; it cannot be manufactured in factories. When governments snatch land from farmers for a pittance for the benefit of builders and corporate houses, and that very same land is later divided into plots and sold at a hundredfold profit, this is not development, but state-sponsored robbery. The farmer is not for sale; he is first driven to penury by the policies of the establishment, and then his desperation is bargained away.”
— ‘Ujadti Kheti, Ujadte Gaon’ (Chapter 6)
What is the Real Solution?
- Complete ban on the acquisition of multi-crop fertile land: Only barren, uncultivable, or low-fertility land should be used for development projects. Pouring concrete over food-producing soil is a crime against national food security.
- Permanent equity in lieu of land acquisition: If acquiring land for a project is unavoidable, then instead of a one-time lump-sum compensation, the farmer must receive a lifetime share of dividends (equity/royalty share) in that project.
- Rehabilitation of landless labourers: When land is lost, compensation must not go merely to the landowner; rather, there must be a legal guarantee for the rehabilitation and employment of the bataidars (sharecroppers) and agricultural labourers dependent on those fields.
A Question Worth Pondering (The Book’s Message)
If concrete jungles and highways are built over all the fertile lands of the country, what will 140 crore people eat? Can any country survive by eating dollars, cement, and chips?
To understand this grave warning, every citizen should read the sixth chapter of the book ‘Ujadti Kheti, Ujadte Gaon’.
Evicting a farmer from his land by handing him a bundle of a few lakh rupees in compensation is not development, but severing his roots and casting him out onto the street. Money gets spent in a few years, but land provides bread for generations.