As seen on The Times of India

By Jayashree Nandi

NEW DELHI: Land conflicts are no more limited to forest areas, neither are they confined to mining and infrastructure projects. Agri-business like jatropha, soya and palm; and renewable energy projects like wind power are likely to fuel massive conflicts over acquisition of ‘common land’ predicts a research report on land conflicts released recently.

The report by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD), reveals that 130 districts out of a total of 610 districts are facing land conflicts since 2011, over loss of ‘common land’ to various development projects.

It also estimates that development projects on the anvil will require acquisition of over 11 million hectares of land in the next 15 years and is likely to create civil unrest across the country.

A part of the data for the report is based on land conflict cases in the high court and Supreme Court and media reports. The projections and future scenarios of land acquisition trends made by the report are based on government data on forthcoming development projects.

Researchers defined ‘common land’ to be that which provide services to a community. For instance, grazing lands, water bodies, forests and villages come under common resources that communities share . The report estimates that in the next 15 to 20 years, agri-business will require over 64 lakh hectares; infrastructure projects will require over 70 lakh hectares and mining or extraction activities will require over 23 lakh hectares of land.

“Most of this land constitutes ‘common land’ shared by communities and is not privately owned. Ignoring the rights of the community over land will lead to very serious conflicts in future. The government should at least start recording the extent of land that is shared by communities in each state and then start a democratic process of consulting communities over land acquisition process,” said Shankar Gopalkrishnan, one of the lead researchers of the report.

Researchers found that a major part of land acquisitions in the future will be for agri-business and green energy projects.

“The projections made by the government in bio fuels and green energy are huge. Jatropha, soya, palm and wind energy projects will be a major area of concern. The case studies that we have presented in the report also show how a clean development mechanism (CDM) project by a paper mill in Orissa has completely destroyed the agri-biodiversity of the region. In Bhuj, a company recently acquired 13 villages for a port and special economic zone (SEZ) project but villagers are retaliating now because it is affecting fisherman and has encroached on grazing land. There are many more of such examples,” said Executive Director of SPWD, Viren Lobo.

Lobo also said that in a majority of cases, ‘common land’ is either being declared ‘waste land’ or ‘revenue land’ on paper by the government, so that land acquisition is easily facilitated. “Once it is given the ‘revenue land’ tag, land acquisition is very smooth. The concerns of the villagers or their right over common resources like forests or water is completely ignored,” added Lobo.

The report that presents a map of the 130 conflict-ridden districts demonstrates that conflicts are brewing in almost all states except Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim. Districts in Haryana and Rajasthan bordering Delhi are worst affected.

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