Land, People and Power : an Anthropological Study of Emerging Mega City of New Town, Rajarhat

In the last couple of years India witnessed strong peasant unrest over the issue of land acquisition. West Bengal also came in the news headlines over the issue. Acquisition of land, particularly of wet land including fertile cultivable land for various projects often ousted the poor peasants from their livelihood. Rajarhat is one such area where thousands of hectares of wet land and agricultural land have been acquisitioned to develop a mega city. People protested but their voice was ruthlessly shattered. Against the State power they could not succeed. Anthropological Survey of India probed into the situation from purely academic point of view and came out with untold truth, the saga of land losers. Rajarhat also witnessed the violation of environmental policy. The vast wet land, which was the oxygen producer for the city of Kolkata, has been filled up for the realty development. The book certainly adds some important dimensions related to the study of development.