23 February | JNU CSLG Seminar on Land Conflicts in India

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

SEMINAR BY

Ankur Paliwal, Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava & Geetanjoy Sahu

 

LAND CONFLICTS IN INDIA

 

Land and resource conflicts in India have deep implications for the wellbeing of India's  people, institutions, investments, and long-term development. These conflicts reveal deep structural flaws in the country's social, agrarian, and institutional structures, including ambiguities in property rights regimes and institutions. An analysis of 289 conflicts for which data were collected between January and September 2016 reveals that together these conflicts affect close to 32 lakhs people and span over 12 lakhs hectares of land. These 289 conflicts are located in 185 districts. The total investments (indicative) tied to these conflicts are around Rs. 12 lakhs crore. The above estimates seek to provide an indication of the magnitude of the problem. In this presentation, we address how, why and where these conflicts are emerging and what are the implications of these conflicts for local community and investment policies of India. We find that in contrast to accepted wisdom, the majority of land conflicts in India are revolving around common lands rather than private lands. We argue that in order to sustain and expand India's socioeconomic development, it is imperative that the government respect its communities' land rights, including Forest Rights Act 2006 and ensure that their formal as well as customary jurisdiction over commons is recognised and respected.   

 

4.30 PM, Thursday, 23 February 2017

Conference Room, CSLG, JNU

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: 

Ankur Paliwal

Ankur Paliwal is an independent journalist. He divides his time between coordinating Land Conflict Watch (a collaborative data journalism project that maps land related conflicts in India), and exploring stories about science, global health, gender and the environment. In the seven years of his journalism career, Paliwal has reported from India, New York, Germany and Ethiopia. His writings have appeared in Down To Earth, Scroll.in and DNA newspaper in India, and Nautilus, Global Post and Nova Next (online magazines) in the USA. Paliwal won Next Generation of Science Journalists Award 2016 at World Health Summit in Berlin. He has an MA degree in science writing from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York. He currently lives in New Delhi.  

Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava

A journalist for eight years, Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava writes on issues at the intersection of human rights, environment, industry and politics. He has received National Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Press Council of India, the Young Journalist from the Developing World Award from the Foreign Press Association of London and the Young Asian Environment Journalist from Asia Award by the Singapore Environment Council, Singapore. In the past, Shrivastava has worked for Hindustan Times, Down To Earth, Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar. Apart from reporting and writing, he is currently co-coordinating Land Conflict Watch, a data-journalism project that maps and tracks land conflicts in India.

Geetanjoy Sahu

Geetanjoy Sahu has a broad research and teaching interest in environmental policy and governance, which began while he was doing MPhil in Political Science in Hyderabad Central University (HCU). He moved to the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, where he completed his PhD in Political Science on Environmental Governance and Role of the Indian Judiciary. He then completed his postdoctoral research programme at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), Bangalore. He is the author of Environmental Jurisprudence and the Indian Supreme Court: Litigation, Interpretation and Implementation. Currently, he is with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

DIRECTIONS: From the JNU main gate, proceed straight until you get to a T-junction. Turn left. Continue until you reach a second T-junction. Turn right. Follow the road for just 0.7 km until you see a bus stop labelled 'Paschimmabad'. About 50 m past the bus stop turn right at a sign that reads: 'Centre for the Study of Law and Governance'. The CSLG building is on the right. The conference room is on the first floor. A lift is being installed at CSLG and we hope the conference room will be more accessible in some time.

Faculty Coordinator: Nupur Chowdhury (nupur@jnu.ac.in, cslg_seminars@jnu.ac.in)