The Land issue in India

A fundamental problem in India is the lack of clarity on property rights in India. Its highly probable that a random parcel of land in India has unclear ownership, multiple ownership, unclear demarcation, mismatch of chain deed with recorded position, litigation, and a host of other issues which makes it a hotbed of messy headache that every sane person wants to avoid except those that need it as a necessary means of survival, or those who benefit from the mess ! Now land is the basic resource for building any business, enterprise, house or public good. How can you make good burgers when good bread is difficult to get? How would you feel if it takes hours to connect to the internet everyday? When getting the basic things get vexatious, demotivation sets in: and that’s a poison for creative progress.

When land title is murky, its transfer is cumbersome. When transfer of land is cumbersome, it’s difficult to get it under efficient and deserving ownership. With that, the utilisation of land is poor, and all associated natural resources are inefficiently used. Inefficiency gives a huge playing field for compromise, discretion and corruption. Poor transfer of land also results in low average landholdings. That stifles large projects and extensive farming. Urban and rural design suffer. There is unplanned growth creating unsustainable cities, pollution, traffic, artificial inflation of real estate, low quality neighbourhoods, crimes and low quality of life. Anyone who tries to change this system will be seen as the enemy of the poor and will be ruthlessly punished by the state. In short, the wise and capable ones will try to leave the country in search of a better life.

Again when land title is murky, it arms the state with unreasonably vast discretionary powers to decide who owns how much of the land. The state does not bless the one who is right or deserving, but the one who is strong, dangerous or beneficial. Socrates would rise from his grave and drink the cursed hemlock again if he witnesses the banality of the painful injustice around !

When certain tribals and farmers are on the losing side of this discretion, they protest. Lack of proper legal framework makes land acquisition and speedy development a cumbrous dilemma. When the state deprives the weaker sections of the society from creating enterprises on their own land, and instead cools their anger with freebies, the weaker sections become addicted to the freebies ! Within two generations those same people, who were robbed and exploited, now become loyal hooligans of the party. Justice leaves the chat !