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Rethinking “development”: Land dispossession for the Rampal power plant in Bangladesh

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  • Mahmud, Muhammad Shifuddin
  • Roth, Dik
  • Warner, Jeroen

Abstract

In this article, we critically review the developmental claims made for the construction of the Rampal power plant in southwestern Bangladesh, in the light of evidence about transformations of land control related to this construction project. Land has become a heavily contested resource in the salinity-intruded southwestern coastal area of Bangladesh. Changes in land control for the construction of the Rampal power plant and similar projects have intensified decades of struggles over rights and access to land. The Rampal project is labelled as “development” and claims to contribute to the elimination of poverty. However, we find that, in reality, this project leads to a reorganization of land control, rights and access in ways that perpetuate and intensify waves of eviction and exclusion of small landholders and landless laborers, thus threatening agriculture-based rural livelihoods. We analyze how four actor groups involved in land control are differently affected by the project interventions, embedded in the context of historical land tenure developments. We find that the benefits of this “development”, primarily favoring rich and powerful social groups and investors, necessitates a critical rethinking of Bangladesh's development and its claims of poverty elimination in the light of related land control practices.

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  • Mahmud, Muhammad Shifuddin & Roth, Dik & Warner, Jeroen, 2020. "Rethinking “development”: Land dispossession for the Rampal power plant in Bangladesh," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:94:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719309585
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104492
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Karim, M. R., 2006. "Brackish-water shrimp cultivation threatens permanent damage to coastal agriculture in Bangladesh," IWMI Books, Reports H039106, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Manoj Misra, 2018. "Moving away from technocratic framing: agroecology and food sovereignty as possible alternatives to alleviate rural malnutrition in Bangladesh," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 473-487, June.
    6. Islam, M. R., 2006. "Managing diverse land uses in coastal Bangladesh: institutional approaches," IWMI Books, Reports H039119, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Bert Suykens, 2015. "The Land that Disappeared: Forceful Occupation, Disputes and the Negotiation of Landlord Power in a Bangladeshi Bastee," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 486-507, May.
    8. David Lewis & David Mosse, 2006. "Encountering Order and Disjuncture: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives on the Organization of Development," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-13.
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    Cited by:

    1. Saleh Shahriar, 2021. "Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Numbers and Narratives in Bangladesh’s Economic Development," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 22(2), pages 250-253, September.

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