Small farmers big losers in state’s land acquisition story

“We got compensation for our two bighas and an additional Rs 2 lakh for each shareholder in the land. It was divided among my father,Nirmal Singh,and his two brothers. What me and my brother finally got was not enough for buying land elsewhere and has already been spent for meeting family expenses,” said Swarna Singh,sitting in his two-room dispensary. The occupant of the other room is his cow,which incidentally fetches him more income than his dispensary.

Nand Singh,whose two sons have been left with one bigha each in the village,is at least still counted among the village’s “landed” farmers. “The land is not enough for meeting the expenses of two families. I cannot demand more compensation,as my landholding was small. But at least the state should give jobs to my children or some land to us,” he said.

The plight of small farmers with large families is the same even when the compensation was a staggering Rs 1.5 crore an acre,as in the case of Bakarpur village in nearby Mohali district. “My father and his four brothers together had 12 acres of land here. The five brothers later divided it between their 13 sons. Since we are three brothers,we got Rs 35 lakh each out of the Rs 1.5-crore an acre compensation for the international airport road. While the bigger farmers bought SUVs and made bunglows,for us it was barely enough to buy some land at a village in Ludhiana district,which has been given on contract and fetches Rs 30,000 an acre annually. We earn much more through farming and dairy business here,as we are close to Chandigarh and Mohali,” said a farmer,Swarna Singh,of Bakarpur village in Mohali.

The last five acres of Swarna Singh’s family have also come under acquisition notice of the Punjab government — this time for the IT City project. “Our houses too have come under the acquisition notice. My two daughters are studying in Mohali. We will be totally uprooted from our homes and ancestral land. Education and job prospects of our children will suffer as well. We used to consider ourselves fortunate for being near the city (Mohali),it is now become the reason we have been uprooted,” he added.

Notably,out of the over 10 lakh operational landholdings in Punjab,32 per cent belong to farmers who own less than five acres of land. And these get even smaller when divided among the large number of family members. Dr R S Sidhu,dean of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)’s College of Basic Sciences and Humanities in Ludhiana,calls it the ripple effect of acquisition on land prices in Punjab.

“In the last four to five years,land prices have shot up manifold in Punjab. What was earlier for Rs 4 lakh an acre is now Rs 20 lakh and above. Wherever land is acquired by the government,land prices in nearby areas too go up,making it all the more impossible for small farmers to buy land elsewhere. A big farmer in Mohali can encash his Rs 1.5 crore an acre compensation to buy a larger tract of land in Sangrur or Barnala district while also retaining some land in his village. However,a small farmer,who has one-third share in one acre land and gets Rs 30 lakh,may not have enough to buy land elsewhere.”

“The cycle continues with land prices shooting up in areas displaced farmers buy land. Also,usually the land acquired by the state has a locational advantage,so there is also loss of income to some extent. For instance,milk prices fetched by a diary farmer in bigger cities is much higher than smaller cities. Not apt at financial management,they also indulge in unproductive expenditure. But the most serious impact comes from uprootment. A farmer from Malwa belt finds it difficult to assimilate in Doaba and Majha belts,as the culture difference is striking,” said Sidhu.

Congress MLA Sunil Jakhar,who has been vociferously opposing “forcible” acquisition of land at Mansa district for Indiabulls,asks why should a small farmer bear the cost of the state’s development.

“Agriculture in Punjab is no more a profitable option. If small and marginal farmers are even deprived of the piece of land they are hanging to,they will be forced to become refugees. The compensation has to take care of loss of livelihood. Punjab’s infrastructure is lagging far behind other states. So,we cannot rule out land acquisition. To give them alternative means of livelihood,we need to industrialise the state,which again needs infrastructure. So,the small farmer needs to be more than compensated for his land. Which is why I feel that they should be made an offer they cannot refuse,” he said.