Politicians make a habit of fishing in troubled waters, and so, Rahul Gandhi’s dramatic visit to the troubled villages of Greater Noida was more than a condolence visit. It was a heartfelt attempt to bolster his party’s image in the state elections due in Uttar Pradesh next year. Before his 24 hours were up in the village of Bhatta Parsaul, leaders of every party were tailing him in their common quest to wrest the political advantage in Uttar Pradesh. Toppling Mayawati is the name of an old game in New Delhi but should you speak to estate agents who operate in the greater Delhi region, she is often referred to as north India’s biggest property dealer. Her land-hungry government, in an earlier avatar, was stymied by the Supreme Court from building shopping malls on the river embankment opposite the Taj Mahal.
Farmers’ agitations over land acquisition have emerged not only as a key trigger for toppling governments but also as the defining symbol of corruptible India. It was Mamata Banerjee spearheading the battle against takeover of agricultural land for industrial development in Singur and Nandigram in 2006-07 that led to her storming of Writer’s Building in Kolkata. Numerous other leaders, from the discredited A Raja of the 2G scam to Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar among them, are linked to a network of companies run by land sharks, shady real estate developers and builders’ lobbies. Property is hot, and the nexus between land acquisition and the power elite has never been hotter.
Lawmakers and law enforcers alike are stained by the lust for property and its ill-gotten riches. Former chief justices, high court judges, top bureaucrats, mid-level magistrates and lowly officials, stand accused with their kin for illegally acquiring land and subverting rules for building clearances. It’s the main reason why obstructions persist to amending the Land Acquisition Act five years after being tabled in Parliament.
Defining markers for land are disappearing fast. Step out in any direction from Delhi – to Agra, Jaipur, Panipat, Rohtak and Meerut – and the fields of mustard, wheat, sugarcane and millet are going, going, gone since your last visit. Small nondescript villages are now townships and small towns swamped by chaotic concrete jungles of industrial and high-rise residential developments. Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad count as satellite towns in their own right, and Noida, metamorphosing into Greater Noida (where four died this week and the district magistrate was injured), is the Uttar Pradesh government’s biggest moneymaking enterprise. It wasn’t just politicians flocking there this week. There is so much money sloshing round in Delhi that large numbers of its inhabitants are invested there.
Conversion of agricultural land for industrial use or residential and commercial development remains a thorny unresolved issue. There is neither clarity nor transparency on how, or for what purpose, land is acquired – public or private use or public-private partnerships, though it is assumed that most deals are dirty, in collusion with politicians and officials. Adequate compensation at current prices is made difficult because of fluctuating market rates. Fluctuating is perhaps the wrong word. Escalating, soaring or pole-vaulting prices would be more appropriate.
There is no land available in the national capital, one of the most densely urbanised metros in the country. Every other square yard of built property is continually being developed or redeveloped into Lego-like piles. But some rules are observed here, for example in acquisition of property for public services such as the Metro, green areas or other amenities, protected by vigilantes and adjudicated by the courts.
Beyond the fringes, however, where the National Capital Territory dissolves into the National Capital Region, gnawing its way into Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, the no-holds-barred fight for land is a fierce political contest. Politicians rush in where angels fear to tread. But the land sharks were closely monitoring their movements this week. They hold the purse strings to the next election.
