CPC213 | Land: Politics and Policies 2024-25

Students of law and public policy will encounter land conflicts of various complexities during their work lives. For example, land displays multiple characteristics when it meets human agents – of commodity, property, security, spirituality, identity, dignity and memory. To explain and formulate responses to these complexities, students will need a firm conceptual hold over what land is. They will also need a thorough comprehension of how land is governed in India, how people respond to land laws and policies, how land politics is shaped by the intersectional identities of caste, class, gender and indigeneity, among others, and how to handle land data. ‘Land: Politics and Policies’seeks to fulfil the need for a course in the NLSIU curriculum that deliberates these issues.

The course employs anthropological, historical and political economy approaches to explain a spectrum of land issues such as land acquisition, women and transgender persons’ land rights, the role of middlemen in land deals and land struggles, among others. It also prepares students for critical writing on land through a written assignment. Further, land will also serve as the anchor through which students unpack complex theories of the state, capitalist markets, property relations and identities.

Summary:

Students start following a land conflict in the country at the beginning of the course. They will be introduced to databases of land conflicts to pursue this. As they pick up conceptual tools from the course, they will apply these to analyse the conflict of their choice, culminating in a critical essay. Student begin their encounter with land by asking the foundational question

‘What is land?’. They arrive at an answer by perusing land as found in mainstream policy imaginaries and in critical social sciences. The multiple meanings of land – as territory, property, access, memory, history – are then introduced. Students then deepen this perspective by exploring how social identities of gender, caste and indigeneity shape the social life of land.

With this firm footing on the complexities of land, they try to ‘read’ land through land data and changes in the land acquisition law. They then embark on a close scrutiny of land reform experiments of the past and draw lessons for the present, taking into account the scenario of ‘land grabs’ underway globally. This knowledge is sharpened with an examination of how land is governed in India, particularly through land classification and land documents. The state is brought to further scrutiny next, exploring its changing role as a land broker. The spectrum of intermediaries that make global land deals possible are then examined. Students then survey how people respond to land policies through their struggles and end the course by trying to imagine land alternatives using examples from around the world.

Pedagogy:

The classes will be a combination of lectures and discussions. Each week has a discussion question that students should keep in mind while doing the readings. The question will provide an overarching direction to each week’s discussions. The discussions will employ various methods such as the fishbowl (students sit in two concentric circles; the inner circle deliberates a topic and the outer circles provides peer review), debates and role play. The class would welcome the use of Indian languages, for example, in bringing out the diversity of land-use types and land titles in the country. Each week will end with an overview of the next week’s readings to give pointers on upcoming topics.

While discussions will be rooted in India, students will be taken to Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to draw insights relevant to South Asia from the land scholarship of these regions. Through this, students will develop a historically grounded, politically conscious approach towards understanding land as multidimensional.

An extended list of recommended readings has been appended. The appendix is integral to the course – the instructor would point students to the readings as their relevance comes up during the classroom discussions. Students are urged to use the list to further their knowledge as well as frame their arguments in the written assignment persuasively.