Drawing on two cases of large-scale land grabs destined successively for a planned neoliberal city-making and a steel special economic zone (now a stalemated project), this article delves into how the local political economy of land dispossession leads to the tearing of social solidarity, neighbourhood cohesion and family kinship of the dispossessed farming community in a process of development and economic change, and how the undercurrents of variegated socio-economic and political–administrative forces involved in the orchestration of land expropriation play a central part in thinning out the dispossessed farming community’s collective social capital. It, however, argues that in a process of development and economic change through dispossession where development-driven newfangled livelihood opportunities are trammelled and unevenly dispensed, the components of social capital fail to work together for the collective benefits of the dispossessed communities. Instead, the dispossessed individuals utilise their social networks and political connections to maximise individual gains.
AdnanS. (2013). Land grabs and primitive accumulation in deltaic Bangladesh: Interactions between neoliberal globalization, state interventions, power relations and peasant resistance. Journal of Peasant Studies, 40(1), 87–128.
2.
ArneilB. (2006). Diverse communities: The problem with social capital. Cambridge University Press.
3.
Balaton-ChrimesS., & PattnaikS. K. (2021). The rightful share: Land and effective claim making in Odisha, India. Development and Change, 53(3), 623–646.
4.
Banerjee-GuhaS. (2010). Accumulation by dispossession: transformative cities into new global order. Sage Publications.
5.
BoseP. (2013). Bourgeoisie environmentalism, leftist development and neoliberal urbanism in the city of joy. In SamaraT. R., HeS., & ChenG. (Eds.), Locating right to the city in the Global South (pp 127–151). Routledge.
6.
BourdieuP. (1984). Distinction: A Social critique of the judgment of taste. Harvard University Press.
7.
CAG. (2007). Audit report (commercial) on West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. CAG, GOI.
8.
CerneaM. M. (1997). The risk and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations. World Development, 25(10), 1569–1587.
9.
ColemanJ. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(Supplement), S95–S120.
10.
DasR. J. (2004). Social capital and poverty of the wage-labour class: Problems with the social capital theory. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers New Series, 29(1), 27–45.
11.
DeyI., SamaddarR., & SenS. K. (2013). Beyond Kolkata: Rajarhat and the dystopia of urban imagination. Routledge.
12.
DubeS. C. (2017). Indian village. Routledge.
13.
FergusonJ., & LiT. M. (2018). Beyond the ‘proper job’: Political-economic analysis after the century of labouring man. PLAAS Working Paper 51. Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape.
14.
FernandesW. (2007). Singur and the displacement scenario. Economic and Political Weekly, 42(3), 203–205.
15.
GrootaertC. (1997). Social capital: ‘The missing link’ in expanding the measure of wealth. World Bank.
16.
HallD. (2013). Primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession and the global land grab. Third World Quarterly, 34(9), 1582–1604.
17.
HarrissJ. (2002). De-politicizing development: The World Bank and social capital. Anthem Press.
18.
HarrissJ., & RenzioP. (1997). ‘Missing link’ or analytically missing? The concept of social capital. Journal of International Development, 9(7), 919–937.
19.
HarveyD. (2003). The new imperialism. Oxford University Press.
20.
HuiE. C. M., & BaoH. (2013). The logic behind conflicts in land acquisition in contemporary China: A framework based upon game theory. Land Use Policy, 30, 373–380.
21.
JacobsJ. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. Vintage Books.
22.
JohnsonC., & ChakravartyA. (2013). Re-thinking the role of compensation in urban land acquisition: Empirical evidence from South Asia. Land, 2, 278–303.
23.
KearnsA., & ForrestR. (2000). Social cohesion and multilevel urban governance. Urban Studies, 37(5–6), 995–1017.
24.
KunduR. (2016). Making sense of place in Rajarhat Newtown: The village in the urban and urban in the village. Economic and Political Weekly, 51(17), 93–101.
25.
LevienM. (2012). The land question: Special economic zones and the political economy of dispossession in India. Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(3–4), 933–969.
26.
LevienM. (2013). Regimes of dispossession: From steel towns to special economic zones. Development and Change, 44(2), 381–407.
27.
LevienM. (2015). Social capital as obstacle to development: Brokering land, norms, and trust in rural India. World Development, 74, 77–92.
28.
LiuY., WuF., LiuY., & LiZ. (2017). Changing neighbourhood cohesion under the impact of urban redevelopment: A case study of Guangzhou, China. Urban Geography, 38(2), 266–290.
29.
MahapatraL. K. (1999). Resettlement, impoverishment, and reconstruction in India: Development for the deprived. Vikas Publishing House.
30.
MallikC. (2016). Sociology of dispossession: Social capital and livelihoods in transition in peri-urban Kolkata, India. World Development Perspectives, 4(2), 38–47.
31.
MarxK. (1976). Capital: A critique of political economy, volume-I. Penguin Books.
32.
MillarG. (2016). Knowledge and control in the contemporary land rush: Making local land legible and corporate power applicable in rural Sierra Leone. Journal of Agrarian Change, 16(2), 206–224.
33.
Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. (2015). The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015. The Gazette of India (Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-1), 1–12.
34.
MishraB., & NayakB. K. (2011). Paan or POSCO?Economic and Political Weekly, 46(26),12–13.
35.
PadhiR., & NigamP. (2017). POSCO exit: Pyrrhic victory for the people’s movement. Economic and Political Weekly, 52(41), 33–35.
PantojaE. (2000). Exploring the concept of social capital and its relevance for community-based development: The case of coal mining areas in Orissa, India. Social Capital Initiative Working Paper No. 18. The World Bank.
38.
ParasuramanS. (1999). The development dilemma: Displacement in India. Palgrave Macmillan.
39.
ParryJ., & StruempellC. (2008). On the desecration of Nehru’s ‘temples’: Bhilai and Rourkela compared. Economic and Political Weekly, 43(19), 47–57.
40.
PawarM. (2006). Social capital?The Social Science Journal, 43(2), 211–226.
PenzP., DrydykJ., & BoseP. S. (2011). Displacement by development: Ethics, rights and responsibilities. Cambridge University Press.
43.
PortesA. (1998). Social capital: Its origin and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–24.
44.
PutnamR. D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.
45.
Registrar General of India. (2001 & 2011). Primary census abstract. Ministry of Home Affairs.
46.
RobinsonD. (2005). The search for community cohesion: Key themes and dominant concepts of the public policy agenda. Urban Studies, 42(8), 1411–1427.
47.
RoyA. (2014). In pursuit of development: Land acquisition and dilution of legal provisions. Journal of Land and Rural Studies, 2(1), 149–170.
48.
RoyA. (2016). Land acquisition and rural transformation: A case study from West Bengal. Chinese Sociological Dialogue, 1(1), 32–47.
49.
RoyA. (2022). Political economy of dispossession and economic change: A case of Rajarhat in West Bengal, India. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 4(1), 10–38.
50.
RoyA. (2023). From colonial to neoliberal regime: Understanding the paradigms of land dispossession in India. Journal of Land and Rural Studies, 11(1), 28–51.
51.
SassenS. (2001). The global city: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press.
52.
SauR. (2008). A ballad of Singur: Progress with human dignity. Economic and Political Weekly, 43(43), 10–13.
53.
VenkatesanJ. (7July2011). Land acquisition act as an engine of oppression: Supreme Court. The Hindu, 134(161), 2.
54.
WangL., KunduR., & ChenX. (2010). Building for what and whom? New town development as planned suburbanization in China and India. Research in Urban Sociology, 10, 319–345.
55.
WoolcockM., & NarayanD. (2000). Social capital: Implications for development theory, research, and policy. The World Bank Research Observer, 15(2), 225–249.
