CEE April-June 2012

Compiled by Shri Naveen Kumar Sharma, JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd. We know that business cannot be established without land (L} and cannot be operated without Environmental (E) resources, Forest (F) concerns and Tribal (T) issues that come into picture. To exploit the natural resources, industry has to approach the government, or the local tribal populace controlling forest land for earning their livelihood. Development is being carried out since long and the business community has never faced such adverse situation as it is facing today. The problem started with globalization resulting in mega projects that requires huge area of land and natural resources. For example, the proposed POSCO project in Odisha requires more than 1621 hectares of land, out of which more than 77% i.e. 1253 hectares fall under forest land. Such projects drive the local tribal population out of their natural den to the world of homeless. The project proponents generally propose lucrative offer of employment to the local population but as a matter of fact that is never fulfilled because large scale projects with full automation do not have employment opportunities for unskilled labour. Further with the shrinking of land, astronomical rise in the real state sector and involvement of politicians in land issues have further worsened the situation. 1111 date, it remains a fact that the actual land owners never get right compensation for their land, and it is the mediators, who without any legal right of the land make huge profits. Land, Forest, Environment and Tribal (LEFT) are inter-related issues and effect on either one affects the remaining all. The state of affairs has worsened since independence, not because of Industrial Growth but due to ineffective implementation of policies on LEFT by the Government. Now the LEFT has become a challenge to the business to be handled favourably. land EFT As the basis of all economic activity, land can either serve as an essential asset for a country to achieve economic growth and social equity, or it can be used as a tool in the hands of a few to hijack a country's economic independence and subvert its social processes. During the two centuries of British colonization, India experienced the latter reality. During colonialism, India's traditional land-use and landownership patterns were changed to ease the acquisition of land at low prices by British entrepreneurs for mines, plantations, and other activities. In the years immediately following India's independence, a conscious process of nation building considered the problems of land with a pressing urgency. Accordingly, land reforms were visualized as an important pillar of a strong and prosperous country. India's first several five-year plans allocated substantial budgetary amounts for the implementation of land reforms. A degree of success was even registered in certain regions and states, especially with regard to issues such as the abolition of intermediaries, protection to tenants, rationalization of different tenure systems, and the imposition of ceilings on landholdings. Sixty-four years down the line, however, a number of problems remain far from being resolved. Most studies indicate that inequalities have increased, rather than decreased. The number of landless labourers has risen, while the wealthiest 10 percent of the population monopolizes more land now than in 1951 . Vested interests of the landed elite and their powerful connection with the political-bureaucratic system have blocked meaningful land reforms and/or their earnest implementation. The oppressed have either been co-opted with some benefits, or further subjugated as the new focus on liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG) has altered government priorities and public perceptions. As a result, we are today at a juncture where land-mostly for the urban, educated elite, who are