The Hindu Business Line : Ground realities

Novel State-farmer dialogue initiatives in Tamil Nadu and Pune show the way to involving all the important stakeholders in the land transfer process.

Barely a decade ago one of the biggest problems in infrastructure development was the availability of capital. With the state having withdrawn from that space owing to its fiscal constraints and the policy framework ambiguous about private sector participation, the task of adding to the country’s roads or power seemed insurmountable. Today, capital is the least of the problems, given the eagerness of domestic and foreign investors to invest in new areas; the biggest bottleneck appears to be the one factor of production that most policymakers assumed would be in abundance — land.

Over the last two years, as New Delhi examined new ways of boosting investments, the main one being the Special Economic Zones, little attention was paid to land acquisition that has become one of the biggest headaches for both the Centre and the States. Uncertainties, delays and violent protests by farmers whose lands were to be acquired have dogged the expansion of new industrial investments. At the core of the problem has been a fear among the farmers, exacerbated — and in some cases exploited — by political groups, that the acquisition of land for industry threatens their livelihood. At the present juncture policy-makers seem to be on the back-foot as fears of loss of land and paltry rehabilitation lead to mass mobilisation and protests. Yet there are glimmers of hope and New Delhi must pay close attention to novel experiments to get around this obstacle to industrial growth.

One of these is just about to begin in Tamil Nadu, where 10,000 acres of land are to be acquired for Tata Steel’s Rs 2,500-crore titanium dioxide project in Tuticorin. Before taking a final decision on the project, the State government proposes to hold an open public hearing in which senior officials and some ministers will interact with villagers. It is unclear how a stalemate, should it arise, can be avoided if the villagers remain unconvinced. But it is a first step toward a bridge between State plans and grassroots perceptions, through an awareness-creating strategy that involves the most crucial stakeholder in the transfer process. The second is the one near Pune, in which farmers themselves have organised to create an integrated township retaining the ownership of their lands.

Both the Tamil Nadu and Pune experiments — one State-inspired, the other from below — represent attempts to set right the asymmetry of information between the buyer and the seller of rural lands and contribute to a more peaceful transition of land to alternative uses. Both also suggest that policy-makers need to move away from their drawing boards because innovation is alive and kicking on the ground.

Related Stories:
TN wants public approval before clearing Tata project
Tata Steel revives titanium dioxide plant in TN

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