The political economy of land grabbing in Bangladesh

Human beings undertake economic activities mainly for their own material gains, but corruption, morality and ethics are often intricately intertwined with these. All economic pursuits, including production, distribution, consumption and investment, are supposed to be conducted under the framework of laws, rules and ethics. But there is a huge difference between the ideal situation and the real picture prevailing in Bangladesh. At the 20th biennial conference of the Bangladesh Economic Association, eminent researcher Shapan Adnan presented a highly insightful paper relating ethics with the political economy of land grabbing in Bangladesh. The paper was in Bengali. The following is a summary of his findings:

Changes take place in overall distribution of land due to land transfers as well as grabbing of land. This land grabbing process works counter to the redistributive land reforms initiatives, where efforts are made to bring equality in land entitlements and land rights. The weaker and poorer classes or segments of society are adversely affected as a result, because land can be grabbed by only powerful individuals or groups. It leads to discrimination in asset distribution, as a result of which the rate of poverty may increase. Based on this criterion, land grabbing can generally be considered as unethical and immoral.

The processes and techniques of land grabbing need to be observed for evaluating this phenomenon. Discussions on the application of force and violence in the land grabbing process, and influence of corruption and fraud in it would make clear the linkages of ethics with it. The role of the state is also crucial in the process. The right to grant entitlement and redistribution lies with the state machineries, which are subject to influence-peddling by various vested quarters. As a consequence, the state measures may be directed in a discriminatory and unjust manner favouring certain classes, communities or groups.

Multifarious interests may be at work in grabbing lands. Different types of accumulation processes are involved in it that uphold the interests of various classes, communities and groups in society. Therefore, the theoretical framework of political economy is very important in analysing land grabbing in contemporary Bangladesh.

Historically, land grabbing and transfers have been an ongoing process for many decades in Bangladesh. The capture of shoals by sending stick-fighters or Lathials is part and parcel of land-related conflicts and history in this country. Government-sponsored land acquisitions by deploying state power at different times and usurpation of the poor peasants' mortgaged land by private entities have also been common phenomena. Qualitative changes have however occurred in the prices and uses of land, especially since the neo-liberal globalisation of the 1970s. These changes have also added some new and novel methods in the process and techniques of land grabbing.

Karl Marx considered land grabbing to be a primitive accumulation. But Harvey (2003) brought in the concept of accumulation by dispossession or ABD.

FORCES ENGAGED IN LAND GRABBING: At the present juncture, many local and foreign, public and private forces are engaged in land grabbing. The official grabbers include various government departments and agencies, the security forces, organisations engaged in development projects, etc. On the other hand, private or non-state entities involved in it include local and foreign companies, private organisations, business NGOs, so called 'development' institutions, the elites and powerful people belonging to different classes, religious and ethnic communities.

The process of land grabbing is now all-pervasive in Bangladesh. Apart from the powerful organisations at all levels of society, powerful neighbours in villages and towns routinely grab the lands of poorer classes, ethnic and religious minorities. This phenomenon has been termed by Feldman (2016) as 'everyday land grabs'.

According to Shapan Adnan (2016), land grabbing can be categorised into four types. These are: (1) Land grabbing by applying direct force; (2) Indirect land grabbing by applying force; (3) Direct land grabbing without applying force; and (4) Indirect land grabbing without applying force. State land acquisitions, grabbing by the state for securitisation and land grabbing by private organisations fall in the first category. The perpetrators of the second category include commercial firms engaged in agribusiness and agro-fisheries like shrimp farms; creating a sense of insecurity and alarm among the socially weak communities and classes as well as religious or ethnic minorities through conflicts, violence and riots also give rise to this type of land grabbing. The third category includes taking possession of land without the knowledge of the owner, or through reaching settlements; examples include taking lease or the right of possession as well through fraudulent registration. The fourth category emanates from various natural and man-made disasters, where crises erupt due to damages caused as well as the acute problem of livelihood; the affected people are forced to sell off their homesteads and land for the sake of their survival.

THE ETHICAL ISSUE: All parties engaged in land-related conflicts view and pronounce their stance to be the correct one and try to establish their rights in this fashion. The struggle for establishing legitimacy of land rights also continues among the contending parties. Due to these reasons, the social and ideological dimensions are also important side by side with the political and economic ones in analysing land-related conflicts. It appeared from the discourses of Shapan Adnan that the state hasbeen playing a diverse and multi-pronged role in the land grabbing process. The organs of the state viz. the executive, legislature and judiciary can also take contradictory stances in these matters. Besides, the influence of power structures in state, society and classes also act as a powerful determinant in the process (Adnan, 2013). In simple parlance, the more powerful one is politically or socially, the more likelihood there is of his emerging successful in land grabbing.

Unethical behaviour is observed in many of the processes and techniques employed in land grabbing. The question of morality and ethics comes into play especially in those instances where grabbing takes place through fraud, corruption or deceit.

Lack of ethics is also observed in the role of the state. Land acquisition is resorted to for 'public interest', but when that land is handed over to private profit-seeking groups, then contradictions in its behaviour becomes apparent. The land grabbed on the pretext of securitisation also occasionally show discriminatory treatment against particular ethnic or religious communities, which is unethical and goes against the country's constitution. The state does not discern between right and wrong when land is forcibly acquired by deploying party cadres and goons alongside the security forces. Different private groups and companies are also grabbing lands by giving false assurances and enticements.

Consequently, it is quite apparent that many of the processes and techniques of land grabbing in contemporary Bangladesh crosses ethical and moral boundaries. Instead, the interests of vested organisations, individuals, communities and classes play a dominant role behind these, which is unjust and discriminatory. Even the state organisations and officials deployed for upholding laws and ethics are often found to be behaving in contrary manners.

Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly; [email protected]