Development, Land Acquisition and Changing Facets of Rural Livelihoods : A Case Study from West Bengal

This paper has been written on the basis of quantitative and qualitative data collected from a needful household survey carried out in four villages of Rajarhat Block, where the Government of West Bengal acquired 6933.72 acres of land under Part-II of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 with the aim of developing a new business centre (IT Hub) and dwelling units in the name of public purposes in recent past. The study, however, finds that acquisition of agricultural land has not only bowdlerised the agriculture based economic activities by dispossessing farmers from their land but also forced them to diversify their livelihood activities. Interestingly, this change in livelihood activities has appeared in the scene with two major characteristics: first, there has been a sudden increase in the share of non-farm workers to total labour force and second, the bulk of this increase in nonfarm activities has been mainly casual and inferior in nature. The temporary job opportunities provided by the government to dispossessed households are not inclusive, and unable to absorb majority of the working population of land loser households. Comparatively well-off households with their well tie-up with the local authority and political leaders have achieved greater extent in gaining these opportunities. There has been a substantial change of lifestyle of these native people in rapidly transforming social milieu. The study further identifies that the disparity in terms of estimated per capita monthly consumption expenditure within the project affected households is greater than the farming households unaffected by acquisition.