Dangers of Indian Reform of the Colonial Land Acquisition Law

Abstract

Taking over possession of private land by the Government through the use of power of the eminent domain of the state for economic development has become one of the most burning issues all over the world. While the international development agencies are largely in favour of participatory methods of development and governance, the national Governments are found to fight with their own citizens over the issue of land takings, most often, with archaic laws. India is the country where the acquisition of land by the Government still takes place by a more than hundred year old British colonial law, while its law makers have also created democratic and participatory forms of Local Self-Governments, which has no place in the colonial legislation. Ironically, the recent move of the Indian Government to enact a democratic law for the acquisition of land for development downplayed the Local Self-Government by disregarding one of the basic tenets of the Indian Constitution and the various international charters.