A struggle has started in the state against the land pooling policy of the Punjab government, which aims to hand over the lands of farmers to corporate houses. The discussion of farmers owning fertile land to be acquired under this policy, raising their voices against this policy and refusing to give the land, has also started. And the farmers’ organisations of the state have started a struggle against the forced loss of fertile lands of farmers. The organisations included in the United Kisan Morcha have announced a struggle action, and farmers and other rural organisations at the local levels have also started protest activities. In this, the Akali Dal has also announced a front from September 1. The AAP government appears to be getting stuck on this issue. Political claims and reactions. The government has decided to acquire 24,311 acres of land from 32 villages of Ludhiana city and develop it into an urban estate. The government propaganda machine has announced that more urban estates are to be established near 19 different cities in Punjab. The plan for residential colonies has been given. Thousands of acres of land of different cities are to be acquired for these urban estates, which amounts to 12341 acres. Similarly, land is to be acquired for further expansion of the sectors of Mohali. This also includes use for industrial projects. Approximately 65,533 acres of land from 164 villages across Punjab are planned to be included under the land pooling policy. While announcing this policy, the government has claimed that these colonies are being established to meet the growing need for houses. The government claims that they have made major pro-people changes in the first land pooling policy. The government itself is to establish colonies by excluding property traders, and farmers will also get a good income by giving them land. The government is also talking about giving 400 times the profit to the farmers. The government has offered to give a residential plot of 1000 square yards and a commercial plot of 200 square yards for every acre of land acquired. An allowance of Rs 30,000 per acre is to be given for three years after the acquisition. The government claims that the rates of these plots will go up very high and the farmers will earn big money, while it is being said that cheap houses will be provided to the urban people. The conflict between the government claims is so obvious that the question naturally arises that who will buy such high-priced houses??? After the farmers expressed strong protest, some more concessions have been added to this policy, such as the annual amount has been increased from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per acre. And along with this, it has been said that this amount should be given till the development work starts. It has also been said that till the development work starts, the farmers concerned will be given the concession to continue farming. Another concession is being given that the letter of status will be issued within 21 days after getting the consent of the farmers. As the Chief Minister, he himself has made many other announcements by holding a press conference, which is nothing more than a threat to the farmers.
These claims of ours are not enough to make the farmers believe. The reactions that are coming so far and the questions being raised by the affected farmers are reasonable. There is a layer of farmers who have lands near the cities, these lands are already at very high rates, who are looking to get a lot of money through their sale. Therefore, there is no hope of achieving anything from such projects that are pending for years, nor can one live on 30 thousand or 50 thousand per year, while the land lease has increased by three times this. These arguments are also reasonable. What will be the meaning of the plots that are developed after decades, because the process of regular development and settlement of colonies has been dragging on for decades. During this long period, how will the farmers displaced from their lands survive? Where will they settle? The farmers are struggling to survive on small plots of land. They have no other option but to engage in agriculture. This land is to be completely destroyed by giving it and what will happen to him after years of living on such a plot? This farmer is completely refusing to sell the land and is only working to protect the land from the destruction and worries of his agricultural profession. These claims of the government that the land of the farmers should be taken with their consent are not worthy of the trust of the farmers, because so far the governments have not stood by their big promises. The government has banned the use of the land for any other purpose instead of agriculture, therefore, written instructions have been given regularly. This has happened many times before, no work has been done as per the announced project and the land has been lying idle. When the right to sell the lands under the urban authorities is to be taken away from the farmers, then how will the land remain with the farmers? The incident that happened to the farmers of Mohali justifies the suffering of the farmers. However, in this policy, a huge difference has been kept in the share of plots given to farmers with large lands and small farmers, which is blatant discrimination against the rich farmers compared to the poor farmers. Insidious violation of the Act 2013, land acquisition is to be done under this law to acquire land from the farmers, but this government is adopting a cunning method to avoid some pro-farmer provisions of this law. An attempt is being made to get consent by making such misleading offers to deceive the farmers. The offers being made under the land pooling policy are not in line with this consent.
Devious violation of the Land Acquisition Act 2013 to acquire land from farmers. Land acquisition is to be done under this Act, but this government is adopting a cunning method to avoid some pro-farmer provisions of this Act. An attempt is being made to get consent by making such misleading offers to deceive the farmers. The offers being made under the Land Pulling Policy are a clever way to get this consent. The attempt to acquire such fertile lands of Punjab as per the terms of Land Acquisition Act 2013 becomes quite complicated for the government, in which there are some scopes for hearing for the farmers. This law is not limited to the compensation price alone but according to that law, the need for projects to be implemented for the purpose of land acquisition, the impact of displacement of the growing population, the crisis of displacement of the community directly dependent on that land, the assessment of resettlement arrangements, the impact of environment and other natural factors, etc. are taken as the basis. The conditions of this law are not easily fulfilled in terms of acquiring land with high fertility potential and producing three crops in a year. It is also interesting that there is no specific purpose of the land to be acquired to be told to the government because it is being acquired for any purpose. The government is planning to acquire land by bypassing this law in a way. There is a lot of misleading in this question, such as whether it is really to be used for developing urban estates, but it is being saved for the use of big businessmen as per their wishes. The infrastructure is being built for the expansion of the market by many national companies of the world. As a part of it, the Bharat Mala project has been started, under which the entire network of major roads in the state has been laid. These roads are a very big link in the expansion of such businesses whose first requirement is land. Be it real estate business, building warehouses for finished goods, or any shopping mall, when the government policy document released on 14 June 2025 talks about the intention to save (pool) land, it has been said to use it in all kinds. This means that after the land goes to the government, it can be handed over to anyone and for any purpose. It is clear that the government is pooling land to attract the businesses of companies, whichever it considers necessary for investment. When it can be provided to the companies as per the requirement, there should be no problem in acquiring it on the spot. This policy of land pooling is under the guidelines and guidelines of world imperialist institutions, according to which the governments have been instructed to create banks from which the companies can obtain land at any time of need. This is the practice of creating such land banks. Therefore, whether colonies have to be developed or any industrial project has to be set up, all that can be done by handing over land to private companies.
Urbanization for how many people, even if it is accepted that it is really being done to settle urban colonies, then the way the government is claiming to implement a policy to pool land for urbanization, this urbanization is not the result of the natural development process. The result of the natural development process is the process of industrialization where the peasantry, who have been released from agriculture, are drawn to urban industrial centers as workers and they need houses. As happened in Europe during a certain period as a result of capitalist development, but under this current development model, this imposed urbanization is broken from the path of industrial development. Due to the corruption of the country’s economy and socialist exploitation, the industry itself is already being pushed to the brink of destruction.
There is a claim to build luxurious houses for the upper strata of society in which there is no place for the working classes, as is the case with the current homeless urban workers, let alone establishing any urban estate for them, there is no plan to provide them with a livable roof. The plan to develop these colonies for the sake of the society’s fast-growing housing is becoming difficult to digest. Even in the colonies built outside the cities, plots of land are lying vacant and there is no settlement there either. Nor has the government conducted any survey under which it can estimate how many houses are needed in which city and how many plots are lying vacant. These circumstances also make the claims of the government scheme doubtful. The picture that emerges is that everything is being done for real estate businessmen. Who have invested huge capital in this sector and want to earn huge profits and the government itself is buying land for those businessmen. These lands should be handed over to real estate owners directly. Land is bought from farmers to make money by making the upper strata of the society sell properties. Agricultural production should be stopped. These real estate businesses are businesses based on speculation for profit. The prices of which are not determined according to the actual usage requirements. They have been determined through speculation. Plans have been made to use fertile land, such fertile land is a basic requirement for the security of food grains and other food items and long-term plans need to be made for its conservation.
While the government is taking the opposite path, the use of such fertile land for the profit of the companies’ business cannot be justified in any way. Such fertile lands are a natural gift and have been laid down by the flow of rivers over thousands of years, and their use for non-agricultural purposes should be done only in very limited and unfavourable conditions. Earlier, about one lakh acres of fertile land has been used in the road network laid down on Bharat Mala projects, and now it is to be increased to one lakh acres under the land pulling scheme.
Dr. Davinder Kaur Khush Dhaliwal, Research Associate