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Land Acquisition and Compensation in Singur: What Really Happened?

Author

Listed:
  • Ghatak, Maitreesh

    (London School of Economics)

  • Mitra, Sandip

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Mookherjee, Dilip

    (Boston University)

  • Nath, Anusha

    (Boston University)

Abstract

This paper reports results of a household survey in Singur, West Bengal concerning compensation offered by the state government to owners of land acquired to make way for a car factory. While on average compensations o.ered were close to the reported market valuations of land, owners of high grade multi-cropped (Sona) lands were undercompensated, which balanced over-compensation of low grade mono-cropped (Sali) lands. This occurred owing to misclassification of most Sona land as Sali land in the official land records. Under-compensation relative to market values significantly raised the chance of compensation offers being rejected by owners. There is considerable evidence of the role of financial considerations in rejection decisions. Land acquisition significantly reduced incomes of owner cultivator and tenant households, despite their efforts to increase incomes from other sources. Agricultural workers were more adversely affected relative to non-agricultural workers, while the average impact on workers as a whole was insignificant. Adverse wealth effects associated with under-compensation significantly lowered household accumulation of consumer durables, while effects on other assets were not perceptible. Most households expressed preferences for non-cash forms of compensation, with diverse preferences across different forms of non-cash compensation depending on occupation and time preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghatak, Maitreesh & Mitra, Sandip & Mookherjee, Dilip & Nath, Anusha, 2013. "Land Acquisition and Compensation in Singur: What Really Happened?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 121, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:121
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    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. Maitreesh Ghatak & Parikshit Ghosh, 2011. "The Land Acquisition Bill-- A Critique and a Proposal," Working papers 204, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kien Le & My Nguyen, 2020. "The impacts of farmland expropriation on Vietnam’s rural households," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1560-1582, November.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Hilhorst, Thea & Songwe, Vera, 2014. "Identifying and addressing land governance constraints to support intensification and land market operation: Evidence from 10 African countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 76-87.
    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. 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.
    5. Paul, Saumik & Sarma, Vengadeshvaran, 2014. "Are special economic zones a curse on those "chosen" to be evicted? : evidence form West Bengal, India," IDE Discussion Papers 472, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    6. Tran Tuan NGUYEN & Gábor HEGEDŰS & Tien Long NGUYEN, 2019. "Effect of Land Acquisition and Compensation on the Livelihoods of People in Quang Ninh District, Quang Binh Province: Labor and Income," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-10, June.
    7. Jyoti Shukla & Piyush Tiwari, 2022. "Measuring Inadequacy in Compensation for the Compulsory Acquisition of Land: Evidence from Bengaluru, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-16, April.
    8. Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2019. "The Impacts of Farmland Expropriation on Vietnam's Rural Households," MPRA Paper 101397, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Rao, Jyoti, 2019. "A ‘capability approach’ to understanding loses arising out of the compulsory acquisition of land in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 70-84.
    10. Pal, Sarmistha & Chowdhury, Prabal Roy & Saher, Zoya, 2021. "Land Ceiling Legislations, Land Acquisition and De-industrialisation: Theory and Evidence from the Indian States," IZA Discussion Papers 14624, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Saumik Paul & Vengadeshvaran Sarma, 2013. "The Livelihood Effects of Industrialization on Displaced Households: Evidence from Falta Special Economic Zone," Discussion Papers 13/09, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    12. Gupta, Ashish & Tiwari, Piyush, 2022. "An analysis of land and property development models, and stakeholders: A case of National Capital Region, India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    13. Paul, Saumik & Sarma, Vengadeshvaran, 2013. "The livelihood effects of industrialization on displaced households: Evidence from falta special economic zone, West Bengal," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-083, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. World Bank, 2015. "India Land Governance Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 24420, The World Bank Group.

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