Collectively, the authors of these diverse case studies provide thoughtful perspectives, incisive insights and empirical analyses of perhaps the most vital single dimension of development processes and policies in the contemporary Indian neo-liberal accumulation regime: control over land. The studies convincingly triangulate the modus operandi of the logic and forms of dispossession and predation by capital, rightly emphasising the crucial catalyzing framework provided by instrumental legal and political interventions by the state acting as a de facto proxy for capital at various levels of the economy and polity. The editors are to be thanked for bringing together this significant intellectual intervention which will be welcomed both by the specialist researcher as well as the engaged lay reader.
Professor Emeritus Ashwani Saith, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands
The distribution of landownership, tenancy arrangements, and the marketable surplus of agricultural products have long been considered key elements in understanding the trajectory of development in low-income countries. This view is challenged, however, in this important new book. The contributors argue that land is central to economic and political change and the distribution of income and wealth in India, but it is no longer central to agricultural development. The book thus raises important issues about structural change and economic transition in India. It deserves to be widely read.
Professor Emeritus Keith Griffin, Department of Economics, University of California, Riverside, USA
This book offers a rich fare for all students of social change not only in India but also for the majority of developing countries in the world. It provides theoretical perspectives on Marx's idea of primary accumulation, which is another name for acquisition by dispossessionwhich is an ongoing process. The authors provide theoretical insights into why in most developing countries, including India, this process does not lead to a transition to a dynamic capitalist development. All the chapters are based on hard empirical data on the means of coercion, including legal sleights of hand, used by the state in favour of capital.
Professor Emeritus Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, India