Land Acquisition: Growth through Disenfranchisement

Land Acquisition (or eminent domain at it's known in the west) is very dangerous for the economy; not to mention everything else. Let's start off with it's basic premise: The government or a business can forcibly take, or legally steal, another person's property, without consent as long as it's for the "greater good." Without even thinking of the financial ramifications, look that the shaky moral ground on which it stands; the idea that confiscating, indeed theft, can be made legitimate if it stands to benefit a large constituency of people. With that kind of morality, even the greatest evils can be justified. Land acquisition is nothing more than theft, veiled under the promises of a better tomorrow. If the Indian people do not see this, what else can be veiled before them? Rape? Vandalism? Even murder? If it's for the greater good, why not?

Instead of Hindutva, I think what we are we're really seeing is Chinutva. I've seen a couple articles now where certain BJP members openly admire what's going on in China. They are so easily impressed by the scale of transformation that China has undergone. How they so easily make way for "infrastructure". I wonder if they see the whole cities that lay empty, the debt crisis and capital flight, that they're economy runs on hot air. China's model is running out of steam so they are looking to take over Africa, Pakistan, the South China sea. But our Indian politician's like how tall buildings look, and how fast they're train's go, how wide their highways are. That's their vision for India. Status envy.

What infrastructure development could mean for any of us

Let's say I don't really care about Indian farmers, nor the poor. This colonial era legislation could affect even middle class and rich Indians. This is a threat to us all, because it undermines the full faith in our own personal property. It's really quite Marxian if you think about it, the idea that there no such thing a private property!

The biggest scam of it all is in the details, without consent, you will be compensated 4 times the market value. Well, what a relief! Let me tell you, that everyone's house is for sale, it's just well above the "market value." You could get anyone to sell their house to you for the right price. So why is 4 times amount to a reprieve. This undermines the very definition of a market economy. There is a lot of land for sale on the market, in India, it's just priced much higher than what cheap industrialist want to buy it for. I wish I had that tool at my disposal; I think vintage cars are priced at prohibitive levels, I'll just "acquire" at 4 times the market rate! Essentially this is the way that politicians can give away some else's land at a discount.

The real way to grow the economy, is to starting titling untitled land. There are so many people whose status is precarious because they do not have any legal title to the land they own. We have so many people outside of the legal framework, just registering their small plots, would add much more to our economy, than the jobs that a handful of corporations could ever provide. It would be the exact opposite of the China model's of growth through disenfranchisement.