Concept Note - Rights and Resources Initiative

also now for instance the coal land for instance. They acquired land from 1089 people. Before
they could continue their first round of issuing orders, there were already 1300 cases that were
filed on compensation. To other things, like on the Sardar Sarovar canals, even today we have
more than 18,000 cases that are there. That is why they want Lok Adalat and they want to find
new forms of setting with people so you are going to have this conflict magnified further and the
more worrisome end where most recently the Odisha Government has come up with a new kind
of a legislation for police protection for industrial areas where they would be even more free to
do many things. Then they have put up restrictions saying researchers from outside cannot come
into these areas without giving information to the local Collector or taking permissions from the
Collector. So what you find is that at one end, you know even simple kind of things where other
people could go and interact, you are finding a kind of constraint. Whereas you are finding that it
is more single window and open door policy is being brought for the investor and at a much
much more larger level and as what is new e.g. Same as in Ethopia. It has become infradig for
the Steel and thermal power plant owner in India not to have coal mines in Indonesia, so we are
getting requests from Indonesia saying that our lands are being taken over by Tatas or GMRs so
what can we do about it. So this kind of economic hegemony, I think this country will try and
perpetuate in other places which will be very sad contribution from this country and I think
unless there is a real shift in this kind of economic thinking, I think we will be as I say we will let
the elephant in and pull it out with its tail, which will be a difficult task.
Thank You.
Thank you, Shreedhar. So friends we have three colleagues who have covered the entire scenario fairly
well and in details. We now look forward to your questions and any clarifications you may need and
brief comments if any.
Rita Brara: My first question is for Shankar, you talked of common and individual lands, I think
what you want to say is common and private lands because individual does not make sense. You
could have private lands which are common.
My second thing is a clarification. I don’t think JohnLocke said what you did. He might have
said it in another context. He said, as long as there are enough commons for everybody. There is
no problem. But once the presence of population increases then it has to be that common are in a
sense parceled out. I have also had a look at John Locke’s two treatises on Government and that
is precisely what he says.
Shankar Gopalkrishnan: I agree that I missed a caveat. In the Indian context, the British were
convinced they has a population that was already too large.
Rita: It is not true, that the British did not recognize commons. Every village in North India has
a pasture tract that is in common. Not only in Rajasthan, it is the characteristic situation in
Punjab and Haryana as well. That land is recognized as common to the gram panchayat always
has been even in the British land records. I had reason to check some of them.
Shankar Goplakrishnan: Yes it is true, but as I said I also quoted the Chotta Uappur Tenancy
Act and other British Acts.
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