India to allow China to acquire land within the country. Why then deploy army to protect the Indian border?

Manning the hostile Chinese border -- Hindu photo. 

At a time when lakhs of Indian soldiers are deployed on the Chinese borders to protect the Indian soil, and thousands (my uncle was one of them) have already laid down their life fighting over the years to protect any Chinese intrusion into India, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh is inviting China to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial parks within the country. He is expecting Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to boost industrial activity (Chinese FDI to set up SEZs likely post-2014, reports Times of India Oct 23, 2013 http://bit.ly/16uhNjX)

This raises a question in my mind. If Chinese are being offered land within the country to set up shop then why should we sacrifice human life at the Indo-China border to protect even an inch of land going into Chinese hands? What national sovereignty are we protecting if Chinese are allowed to acquire more and more land within the country? Why should we sacrifice a soldier's life in protecting even an inch of soil when we ourselves are offering huge chunks of land to China? Also, with more and more Chinese investment coming into India (and also their labour force, eventually) what will happen whenever (God forbid) India goes to war with China? 

This reminds me of what my journalist friend Zingisha from South Africa had said some years back when I was a Press Fellow at the University of Cambridge. In one of our discussions about globalisation, I vividly recall her words: "They follow the Triple M Approach. First they sent the missionaries, it didn't work; then they sent military, it didn't work; now they are sending money, it will work." 

Oh ! my God !! Isn't that true? #

More reading: Famine as Commerce by Devinder Sharma 
http://indiatogether.org/agriculture/opinions/dsharma/faminecommerce.htm

The Global Land Rush: Land Sharks Now Eyeing India

Women protest land grab in Cambodia. 

While you were sleeping, there has been a spurt in land grabbing.

"Of the 848 deals concluded since 2008, 80 involve Indian companies that have invested in 65 deals to grow foodgrains, sugarcane, oilseeds, tea and flowers," report Hindustan Times (India buys land 9 times Delhi size abroad. http://bit.ly/1b3fsPp).  

While Indian Companies are buying land abroad, foreign companies are buying land in India. As per this news report, in 39 deals Indian Companies have bought abroad an area equal to 9 times the size of Delhi. And foreign Companies from UK, US, Austria and Thailand have concluded 36 deals to buy farm land in India in the States of Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Seven of these deals have already been completed allowing 13,105 hectares to be acquired. This is based on an excellent detailed insight provided on the web site Land Matrix. You can Google and find out more details. Total deals it has details about till date are 23729439, and the total area acquired for agricultural purposes is 23,729,439 hectares. Mind boggling, isn't it? 

As I said somewhere, every second an area equivalent to that of a football ground (0.72 hectares) is being acquired in the majority world. Among those who are investing in such land deals are not only MNCs, big business, hedge funds, venture capitalists, but even universities.    

At this rate the day is not far off when most people will become landless in their own country. Call it neo-colonisation or economic growth (as some may perceive this development to be), the fact remains that land grab has become a major investment over the past few years. As we continue to sleep over, and perhaps think it will not mean uprooting us at least, the land sharks are scanning each and every nook of the world to lay hands upon whatever piece of land they can. To me this is simply frightening. It has grave human rights implications, and would impact global food security to say the least. In other words, it has all the makings of a tremendous people's revolt in the years to come. 

Imagine, wherever you are living you being surrounded by fenced land purchased by foreign companies. Imagine the flag of the country from which the company hails from is fluttering in your neighbourhood. maybe more than one flag. Gradually most of us will find ourselves living in no man's land surrounded by international borders on all sides. As said earlier, the land sharks are now eyeing India. The country seems to be up for grabs. No wonder, soon after passing the new land aquisition law that makes it easier for companies to acquire land, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had said: 'We will not need land acquisition law after 20 years'. So true. Isn't it? After all, there would be no land left to be acquired by then !

I wonder what national anthem would we sing then? 

Rural India on a boil; battling against land acquisition

Indian villagers attack a policeman during a protest by farmers demanding better compensation for their land acquired by the state government for an upcoming expressway project near Agra, 17 Aug 2010 -- AP photo

India is fast becoming landless. Or should I say that majority Indians are being deprived of their ownership over land. I think in the years to come, let us say by the end of 11th Plan period, close to 90 per cent of the land will be owned by about 15 per cent of the population, with bulk of the ownership slipping into the hands of not more than 10 per cent of the population comprising essentially the elite.

At present about 70 per cent of the country's land is owned by close to 26 per cent of the population.

It isn't however coming in easy. For several years now, since the time economists/planners began telling us that land is an economic asset and it is unfortunately in hands of people who are inefficient, there has been literally a scramble by business and industry (driven by real estate) to procure as much as possible. The World Bank is backing this strategy, and if you have read the World Development Report 2008, you would know what I mean. It calls for land rentals, and setting up a network of training centres to train the displaced farmers to become industrial labour.

No wonder, the UPA government has made budgetary provisions for setting up 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Prime Minister himself has been calling for a population shift, moving out 70 per cent of the farming community into urban centres.

Pitched battles are being fought across the country by the poor and deprived, who fear further marginalisation when their land is literally grabbed by the government on behalf of the industry. Over the years agriculture has been deliberately turned into a losing proposition as a result of which farmers, in most places, are keen to move out provided they get a better price for their land.

State governments across the country are facilitating the process of takeover. Whether it is for the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) or IT parks or nuclear reactors or airports or building a new capital or even for biofuel plantations, the battle for land has become fierce.

In fact, it will not be wrong to assume that many Chief Ministers have for all practical purposes become property dealers.

Gone are the days when a worried Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, while addressing the nation on Aug 15, 1955 from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi said: "It is very humiliating for any country to import food. So everything else can wait, but not agriculture." That was in 1955. Fifty-five years later, in 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thinks that food security can be addressed by importing food. Land must be acquired for the industry, because the industrial sector alone will be the vehicle for higher growth.

Successive governments have used the Land Acquisition Act 1894, framed by the British during the days of the Raj, to forcibly evict landowners in the name of public good. It is only lately that landowners have realised the economic worth of their land, and have begun to demand a higher price. But still, government prefer to buy land at a throwaway price, and then sell it to the industry at exorbitant rates. The Real Estate and the industry then sells it to prospective buyers at a phenomenal price.

No one wants to throw away the stale law into the dustbin of history. Political parties are willing to accept it with a few changes. Political pressure is therefore mounting on the government to bring back the Land Acquisition (Amendment) bill 2007, along with the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009 which were introduced in Parliament on Feb 25, 2009, but was allowed to lapse in view of the strong opposition from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

I am not getting into the nitty-gritty of the two bills introduced earlier. I want to draw your attention to another significant Supreme Court judgement which the industry does not like (and therefore the government is not talking about). A bench comprising Justice Mukundakam Sharma and Anil R Dave has held that not only the present market value but also future potential value, and the purpose for which the land is to be used, must be taken into account for arriving at just compensation.

The Hindu (Aug 22, 2010) reports: For providing Adi Dravidas with house sites, the Tamil Nadu government acquired 3.90 acres at Palangudi in Tiruchi district in September 1992. The land Acquisition Officer awarded Rs 1.72 a square foot. At the instance of appellant A Natesan Pillai the reference court fixed the market value of the land at Rs 17 a sq foot. On  the State's appeal, the Madras High Court fixed the value at Rs 9. Hearing this case, the Supreme Court said: It cannot be disputed that the acquired land, being in the heart of the city and having excellent prospects of being used as residential site, definitely has an edge regarding potential value.."

Meanwhile, here is a report from Voice of America on the continuing fight for land In India.

India Witnesses Growing Conflict Over Land

Anjana Pasricha

New Delhi 23 August 2010:

In India, protests by farmers about land acquisition in the country's most populated state have focused attention on the growing conflict about land, as the economy modernizes. The growing resistance by rural communities about giving up their land for industrial expansion is throwing up new challenges for India.

The violent protests in the northern state, Uttar Pradesh, earlier this month were sparked by demands by farmers for higher compensation for land taken from them to build a highway connecting New Delhi with the tourist hub, Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. Three farmers were killed in the demonstration.

The clashes are the latest in a series of protests which have erupted in many parts of the country about efforts to acquire farmland for infrastructure projects or industry.

As India industrializes, businesses are in search of more land to build factories. The government is under pressure to quickly improve rickety infrastructure and build more highways, power stations and railways to meet the needs of an expanding economy.

The only free land available is populated, fertile farm land across rural India. Moving farmers and tribal communities off the land is not always proving to be easy.

Farmers complain

Some farmers complain that compensation given for their land is too low. And, they worry about loss of their livelihood in a country where two thirds of the billion-plus people live off the land.

Devinder Sharma of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security in New Delhi says promises of employment in the new industries do not materialize for the bulk of the farmers whose land is taken away. He says many of them are driven to an uncertain future in cities.

He says the new economy cannot sustain the kind of employment which farming provides in a populous country.

"No industry or group of industries can provide the kind of jobs or the scale of jobs India needs," Sharma said. "In a country which has 600 million farmers including their families, I don't think any industry has the capability or even industrial sector has the capability to provide even jobs to even one-tenth of that population."

Read the full report at: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/India-Witnesses-Growing-Conflict-Over-Land-101293609.html

South America is the new destination for land grab.

It is now the turn of South America. India is among the few countries which are now eyeing the vast tracts of fertile land in South America. After having swallowed quite a significant proportion of Africa, the land grabbers are now moving to spread their tentacles to South America.

The tragedy is that like the African governments, some of the South American countries -- Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- are willing partners in this wave of neo-colonism. As a news report below states Brazil has offered 30 million hectares, Argentina 32 million and Uruguay 10 million with lesser acreage in other countries. This sure is some sort of globalisation where the land grabbers and the land owners join hand in what appears to be an unbridled exploitation.

What is shocking is that the political leadership in South America has so quickly forgotten its sordid and disastrous colonial past. Lure of personal monetary gains is making the political leaders accept a still worse form of neo-colonism. People's struggles to oust the Spaniards (Much of Latin America was under Spanish rule) is all but forgotten. Look at the irony of fate. The same people who fought the colonial masters, are now welcoming the new masters with open arms.

Land grabbing is now becoming a global phenomenon. Please read my earlier post on Africa. Several other analytical pieces can be found on my blog if you search under the label of 'land grab'.

Food pirates are extending their reach. Africa is an easy target
http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-pirates-are-extending-their-reach.html

It is time South America woke up to the emerging threat. It is time the people of South America, in most cases they are as poor, ignorant and marginalised as bulk of the Indian population is, resisted the move of their own governments to sell off their land. Remember, by allowing the food pirates to come and farm in your own countries, you are actually allowing them control over your land. Once your land goes away from your control, it wouldn't take long to push you all in the category of 'land less'.

You will become political refugees in your own country.

Come on Latin America. Say no to these land grabbers. Keep these food pirates, even if they are from India, away from your shores. As Jawaharlal Nehru had said when India was fighting for Independence from the British: "Freedom is in peril. Defend it with all your might."  

Govt wants Indians to buy land in South America

Jayanth Jacob, Hindustan Times

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Govt-wants-Indians-to-buy-land-in-South-America/Article1-545480.aspx

New Delhi, May 18, 2010

The government is encouraging Indians to buy farmland in Latin American countries and grow crops there.

The external affairs ministry is preparing a policy framework to enable Indians to do so, maintaining that if the produce is shipped back home, it could help address the country’s food security problem, specially during years of drought.

In many South American countries there is abundance of fertile land, as well as cutting edge farm technology. There are no restrictions on foreigners owning land. In some places, land prices are lower than in parts of India.

“The cost per hectare is less than half the price of agricultural land in Punjab,” said R. Viswanathan, Indian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Since the land acquisition will be by private parties only, the chances of such purchase becoming a political issue were remote, officials felt. “When government land is being leased or sold to another country, it becomes a political issue. Not in this case,” Viswanathan added.

Officials estimated that Brazil had around 30 million hectares on offer, Argentina, 32 million, and Uruguay 10 million, with lesser amounts in other countries.

Early investors include Sri Renuka Sugars, one of India’s largest sugar producers, which has signed an agreement with a Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Equipav to buy a controlling 50.79 per cent share in it, with which will come control over the company vast sugarcane fields.

As yet however, there is no financing available to buy land in these countries.

Unlike in Africa, there is no competition with China here either. China does have around $ 24 billion invested in South America, but it does not encourage private ownership of land. It prefers that the state itself buy land, as it has done in many African countries, but in Latin America, that is not possible.