Char Bigha Zamin

Priyanka Vadera's four-bigha plus agriculture plot in downtown Shimla fills the void that makes the surroundings a VIP Enclave in the real sense of the term. [..]

"It was the best available land that we have got for the daughter of our leader Sonia Gandhi," KS Khacchi, a local Congress worker, said. "The best possible efforts would be made to ensure that the structure that comes up is unique and scenic in more ways than one," he added.

Khacchi played a key role in buying the land for around Rs 46 lakh at the Government rate. Otherwise the land would have cost much more, given the proximity of the plot to Kalyani Helipad, Kufri village [..] [link]

Given that we have a surplus of social justice wallahs, farmers and locals are regularly getting the short end of the stick as far as land deals are concerned. Farmers have received abysmally low prices for their lands starting from Singur to Gurgaon. This farce continues, as Reality Check reports here.

Meanwhile, influential people continue to get land wherever they want at throwaway prices. This is a double whammy for the economy. First, the real land owners get zilch. Second, land is grabbed by people with political power who may not be the best users of the land. This land grab scam is the classic problem in socialistic economies. It is a combination of hold-up and rent seeking behavior.

The solution of course is to modify the laws to allow farmers to sell land at a price they want. The excuse that those laws protect farmers' interests is clearly no longer valid. Land is getting grabbed anyway, at least let the farmers enjoy some solid dough.

Recently, the Punjab Government took an admirable stand on land acquisition issues:

Badal said, "A company that wants to come to Punjab must buy land at market rates. The Congress government has given village and commercial land, like in Mohali. This is worth Rs 100 crore but it's been promised at Rs 2 crore. [..] We won't acquire land for anyone. Whoever needs to purchase land should do so at market prices."

"The SEZ policy is the decision of the Indian government and we are going to support it. We welcome SEZ in Punjab," Sukhbir Singh Badal said. Badal says his government has no problem with Reliance retail outlets. But he insists that the party buying the land must pay market prices. [link]

This Government claims to be the protector of poor farmers. In reality, they are running a brokerage service for land grabbers and scammers.