Land acquisition or land grab?
“India’s debate on land acquisition is a case of misnomer. When a business purchases another business, it is said to have acquired it through a market transaction. Acquisition is thus a word used to connote a consensual market exchange. But the same word is also often used to describe the forced appropriation of land. A better term for such appropriation, however, is: land grab. Land grab using eminent domain laws is justified citing the need for private interests to be sacrificed to serve the larger public interest. In the absence of coercive state action, it is said holdouts would stall projects that could create much-needed jobs and growth for the economy. Thus, state action is called for to rein in anti-national forces impeding India’s march to industrialization. The problem with this argument is two-fold. First, the problem of holdouts is often exaggerated although it is one that has historically been solved through private means. Unlike the naïve view often held by many about holdouts stalling mega business projects, businesses have found ingenious ways to deal with it—if only governments allowed them the freedom.
Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/7SD8lYU6HctoT9k8nRUGAN/Land-acquisition-or-land-grab.html?utm_source=copy”
Perumal, Pashanth. Live Mint 30 November 2014.