IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v51y2020i6p1511-1532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Land as a Transactional Asset: Moral Economy and Market Logic in Contested Land Acquisition in India

Author

Listed:
  • Manjusha Nair

Abstract

The state seizure of land from farmers for development projects has triggered numerous protests in India. How far can these protests be characterized as a Polanyian countermovement to reclaim rights on land, resisting the encroachment of neoliberal market forces on society? Based on field research conducted in 2013–17 in two villages in prosperous western Uttar Pradesh that were host to a series of dramatic and violent protests in 2011, this article argues that rather than reclaiming land from commodification, the farmers were using the land as a market instrument, a transactional asset, in negotiating for a better deal within a dominant market‐driven template. The author suggests that valuing land as a transactional asset to be deployed in the market symbolizes a new moral economy in this region, prompted by increasing risk in farming, improved economic standing and aspirations, and a lack of faith in the neoliberalizing state and political institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Manjusha Nair, 2020. "Land as a Transactional Asset: Moral Economy and Market Logic in Contested Land Acquisition in India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(6), pages 1511-1532, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:51:y:2020:i:6:p:1511-1532
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12494
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12494
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12494?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Mookherjee, Dilip, 2014. "Land acquisition for industrialization and compensation of displaced farmers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 303-312.
    2. Michael Levien, 2013. "The Politics of Dispossession," Politics & Society, , vol. 41(3), pages 351-394, September.
    3. Marc Edelman & Carlos Oya & Saturnino M Borras, 2013. "Global Land Grabs: historical processes, theoretical and methodological implications and current trajectories," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(9), pages 1517-1531, October.
    4. Craig Jeffrey & Jens Lerche, 2000. "Stating the Difference: State, Discourse and Class Reproduction in Uttar Pradesh, India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 857-878, September.
    5. Vamsi Vakulabharanam, 2005. "Growth and Distress in a South Indian Peasant Economy During the Era of Economic Liberalisation," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 971-997.
    6. Chakravorty, Sanjoy, 2013. "The Price of Land: Acquisition, Conflict, Consequence," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198089544.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Levien, Michael, 2015. "Social Capital as Obstacle to Development: Brokering Land, Norms, and Trust in Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 77-92.
    2. Nikita Sud, 2017. "State, scale and networks in the liberalisation of India’s land," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(1), pages 76-93, February.
    3. Xuefei Ren, 2017. "Land acquisition, rural protests, and the local state in China and India," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(1), pages 25-41, February.
    4. Michael Levien, 2014. "Social Capital as Obstacle to Development: Brokering Land,Norms, and Trust in Rural India," IEG Working Papers 341, Institute of Economic Growth.
    5. Sreeparna Saha & Prabal Roy Chowdhury & Jaideep Roy & Grazyna Wiejak-Roy, 2021. "Institutional Imperfections and Buyer-Induced Holdout in Land Acquisition," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 177(3), pages 261-298.
    6. Patil, Vikram & Ghosh, Ranjan & Kathuria, Vinish & Farrell, Katharine N., 2020. "Money, Land or self-employment? Understanding preference heterogeneity in landowners’ choices for compensation under land acquisition in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    7. Sonia Bhalotra & Abhishek Chakravarty & Dilip Mookherjee & Francisco J. Pino, 2019. "Property Rights and Gender Bias: Evidence from Land Reform in West Bengal," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 205-237, April.
    8. Bennett, Nathan James & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 61-68.
      • Wehner, Nicholas & Bennett, Nathan & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," MarXiv bm6pf, Center for Open Science.
    9. Sergii Borodin, 2021. "Responsible Land-Based Investment in Ukraine: International Regulatory Practice," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 4, pages 62-70, December.
    10. Sattwick Dey Biswas, 2021. "Smith’s paradox of price and negotiation: Empirical evidence from India," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 68(4), pages 465-484, December.
    11. Rao, Smriti, 2008. "Reforms with a Female Face: Gender, Liberalization, and Economic Policy in Andhra Pradesh, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1213-1232, July.
    12. Kleemann, Linda & Thiele, Rainer, 2015. "Rural welfare implications of large-scale land acquisitions in Africa: A theoretical framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 269-279.
    13. Sreeparna Saha & Prabal Roy Chowdhury & Jaideep Roy & Prasad Bhattarcharya, 2016. "Political Economy of Land Acquisition and Holdout," Discussion Papers 16-07, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    14. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2015. "Land Acquisition and Compensation Policy for Development Activity," MPRA Paper 72849, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 18 Sep 2015.
    15. Jain, Sanjay & Majumdar, Sumon & Mukand, Sharun W, 2014. "Walk the line: Conflict, state capacity and the political dynamics of reform," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 150-166.
    16. Soumendu Sarkar, 2022. "Optimal mechanism for land acquisition," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 26(1), pages 87-116, March.
    17. Chowdhury, Prabal Roy, 2013. "Land acquisition: Political intervention, fragmentation and voice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 63-78.
    18. Rulli, Maria Cristina & Casirati, Stefano & Dell’Angelo, Jampel & Davis, Kyle Frankel & Passera, Corrado & D’Odorico, Paolo, 2019. "Interdependencies and telecoupling of oil palm expansion at the expense of Indonesian rainforest," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 499-512.
    19. Roy, Sandeepan & Maji, Avijit, 2019. "Optimization of High-Speed Railway Station Location Selection Based on Accessibility and Environmental Impact," ADBI Working Papers 953, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    20. Lei Yan & Xubin Lei & Kairong Hong & Hui Li & Mengyuan Chen, 2022. "Improving Farmer Willingness to Participate in the Transfer of Land Rights in Rural China: A Preference-Based Income Distribution Scheme," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:51:y:2020:i:6:p:1511-1532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.