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Land Grab, Media Discourse, and Taken-for-granted Assumptions

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/india-land-idUSL3E7IN05N20110727

Here's example of another news story in mainstream media that does not question the neoliberal logic of land grab in the context of development. Questions worth raising in this backdrop are questions such as: Who should have the ownership of the lands? What are the implications of the displacement of the poor to force top-down housing projects under the name of development and growth? What are the ethical principles that underlie the urbanization projects which are accompanied by the large scale displacements of the poor?

Once again, absent in the media story are questions of neoliberal greed that privilege the "rights" of Indian yuppies in the large metros to own property by paying Lakhs and Crores of Rupees. Absent in Indian public discourses are fundamental questions that interrogate the uneven nature of development? Absent are the difficult questions of displacement that are intrinsically tied to the projects of development and urbanization.

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