Land Acquisition Disputes in India: The Law & Its Impacts on Those Involved
Many parts of India are affected by a number of land acquisition disputes that stretch over years in courts. In this episode, we examine some of these disputes and the laws around them.
A 2017 study by Daksh shows that over 66.2 percent of the civil cases in India involve land and property disputes, many of which relate directly to land acquisition. Even though land acquisition litigations are expensive, time draining and goes for years without settlement, people are filing cases every day.
Catch the following questions asked by our host at respective timestamps:
– 03.00: Why has the process of land acquisition been so heavily contested in India?
– 07.14: How have the laws governing the process of land acquisition evolved over the last few decades to address some of the issues that have been drivers/causes of land acquisition disputes?
– 11.20: How does the new act determine the compensation?
– 13.00: How does the 2013 Act interact with other legislations that protect the rights of certain communities and environment like the Forest Rights Act and the EIA Notification?
– 15.40: Is Gram Panchayat an effective voice for the inhabitance of scheduled areas?
– 17.05: In your paper titled “Do the meek inherit the Earth?”, you did mention that the Koyambedu project in Chennai was successful in this regard. Could you tell us a little about that project and if there have been more such cases recently?
– 20.50: In your experience, what can help people who have actually vacated their property on a promise for compensation?
– 23.50: What amendments would you suggest to minimize land acquisition?
– 26.30: If you had to pick one core challenge that India needs to focus on to secure land rights for a billion, what would that be?
What should you expect from this podcast series?
‘Land of a Billion’ brings you expert conversations about the most contentious of the holy roti-kapda-makaan trinity – the makaan over our heads, and the larger ecosystem that governs it. From administrative tussles to understanding the conflicts on ground, catch these episodes every alternate Friday for a rundown on the latest charcha around land and property rights in India. In case you missed it, you can also catch up on Season 1 of this series here.
Hosted by Bhargavi Zaveri, a researcher interested in land and access to finance, Land of a Billion is a fortnightly podcast series produced in association with the Property Rights Research Consortium.
Don’t forget to catch the next episode, where we’ll speak to Gautam Chatterjee, former Chairperson of MahaRERA and Sahil Gandhi, a lecturer at the University of Manchester and a researcher associated with the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, to discuss the Model Tenancy Act which was approved by the Union Cabinet on June 2021.