Masters of mankind: Negotiations, local powers and assessments for land acquisition for industrialisation in West Bengal

Abstract

In the 18th century, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, observed the power of existing capitalists (landlords/merchants) on economy and land issues. While describing the feudal relationships between lord and serf, Smith observed, “All for ourselves and nothing for other people seems ... have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” Even though centuries have passed and in India, the relationship between the landlords, caste and sharecroppers does not follow the typical exploitative condition of 18th-century serfdom, the power of legal ownership encourages the landlords to imitate “the vile maxim of the masters of mankind”. We investigate the role of “power” in manipulating land acquisition-related impact assessments in practice as an imitation of the vile maxim. We empirically examine this assumption with the two land acquisition cases, i.e. Salboni and Singur, West Bengal, India. The empirical study suggests how the vile maxim reproduces the existing injustices during land acquisitions in India.