Land acquisition, livelihood and income: the case of JSW Bengal Steel Plant at Salboni Block, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India

摘要

The paper analyses the land use changes and subsequent impacts on local livelihoods due to land acquisition for JSW Bengal Steel plant at Salboni block of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, which was unproportionately delayed and ultimately suspended in 2014. The industrial plant acquired 4225 acres of land to set up a 10.0 mtpa (million ton per annum) integrated steel plant in the year of 2012. A stratified random sampling survey of both within and outside of project affected household (HH) was done before (2007) and after land acquisition (2012). Almost 700 HH lost their farm land, fodder farm and grazing land due to land acquisition. They spent the compensation money for unproductive purposes. The total monthly income of the family is reduced by 50%, only a selective few could manage to increase non-farm income. After losing, their farm land farmers were temporarily engaged as construction labours within the project area. Following suspension of the project perhaps, due to global recession and insufficiency of raw materials, most of these families become jobless.