Supreme Court expressed concern at the Land Acquisition

On 19 July2010, Supreme Court expressed concern on government acquiring land by depriving landowners of their land. According to the Supreme Court this results into political extremism and insurgency which along with terrorism poses the biggest threat to the unity and sovereignty of the nation.

The Supreme Court Bench which included Justices Aftab Alam and BS Chauhan in its judgment asked why India is placed at lowly rank in HDI (Human Development Index) despite its high GDP growth. Despite the second fastest growing economy and twelfth largest economy in US dollar terms India is placed at the 134th place among 182 nations according to the HDI.

The Bench further added whatever government promises of development in terms of assurance of schools, hospitals, roads and employment during the land acquisition, most of the promises remain illusory. Moreover, the government takes away the land which sometimes is only means of livelihood for the landowner. It makes him outlaw against the government.

Recently, there have been several instances where government forcibly took land away from the landowners. For instance, West Bengal government took over Singur land which resulted into mass protest against the government. The same happened in case of PSCO project.