Land Grabs in the Name of Development this year

Infrastructure Finance Update I 22nd September, 2025

Across India, land is being diverted in the name of infrastructure and growth. Fertile farms, forests and community commons are routinely handed over to corporations and private projects. The people most affected are farmers, Adivasis, forest dwellers and the urban poor who are displaced without consent or fair compensation. What is projected as progress is too often the stripping away of livelihoods, cultures and rights. Behind the rhetoric of jobs and investment lies a steady pattern of dispossession where the state acts as facilitator for private gain at public cost.

Assam’s Tribal Land Handed to Cement Company, Court Flags Dispossession

In Assam, the state government has allocated nearly 3,000 bighas of tribal land in Dima Hasao to Mahabal Cements for mining. The Gauhati High Court has questioned the allocation, noting that legal safeguards for tribal land and public interest may have been ignored. The company claims the land is barren and required for its cement plant. Opposition party has raised concerns that the government plans to transfer up to 9,000 bighas in the district to corporate groups with links to the ruling party. The case remains under judicial review, but the allocations have brought to light how the law makers are bypassing statutory protections and undermining the rights of tribal communities. What is presented as development is in fact dispossession, a familiar story across the country where farmland, forests and community commons are steadily taken over by corporations. The cost is borne by the most vulnerable who face eviction, loss of livelihood and the breaking of cultural ties to their land. This case is another reminder that behind the rhetoric of infrastructure and growth lies a systematic pattern of state-backed land grabs that privilege private interests over people.

Power and Land Deals in Bihar

In Bhagalpur’s Pirpainti, the Bihar government has cleared a 2,400 MW power project that gives a private company access to 1,050 acres of farmland and 10 lakh trees at a lease of just one rupee a year for 33 years. The Congress has called this a pre-election giveaway and farmers say they were pressured into parting with their land. Vast stretches of orchards and green cover now face destruction in the name of investment and jobs. The government insists the deal was transparent, pointing to the tariff bid and the promise of 26,000 crore investment and there are claims that farmers will not lose ownership but only lease their land. Mainstream media has stayed silent and it only came into public light after a ground reporter dared to report on it. The deal is flawed for two reasons. Local communities were coerced into giving up land and the project requires cutting down 10 lakh trees. Added to this is the reality that 73 percent of Bhagalpur’s geographical area is flood-prone and faces annual flooding. In the end, the cost of development is only borne by the poor.

Bidadi Land Grab: How Urban Expansion is Displacing Farmers

In Bidadi, Bengaluru South, the government is moving ahead with the acquisition of 9,600 acres for the Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township project. Of this, 6,500 acres are fertile farmland, including over 10 lakh coconut and mango trees, producing 6 lakh litres of milk daily for KMF and sustaining more than 3,000 farmers and labourers. The acquisition threatens livelihoods, destroys orchards and pastures, and displaces entire communities. Despite protests, the government has begun allotting sites, even as existing layouts like Kempegowda and Shivaram Karanth remain vacant which were acquired by the housing board. Protests turned tense when two farmers attempted suicide by ingesting poison but were stopped and treated. Police presence has been increased and barricades set up around disputed land. The case underscores how urban development projects often override consent, livelihoods, and the rights of farming communities, reflecting a broader pattern of dispossession across India.