CESS MONOGRAPH 35 Land Laws, Administration and Forced Displacement in Andhra Pradesh, India C. Ramachandraiah A. Venkateswarlu CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES Begumpet, Hyderabad-500016 October, 2014 CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES MONOGRAPH SERIES Number - 35 October, 2014 Series Editor : M. Gopinath Reddy © 2014, Copyright Reserved Centre for Economic and Social Studies Hyderabad Note: The views expressed in this document are solely those of the individual author(s). Rs. 200/- Published by : Centre for Economic and Social Studies Begumpet, Hyderabad-500 016 Ph : 040-23402789, 23416780, Fax : 040-23406808 Email :
[email protected], www.cess.ac.in Printed by : Vidya Graphics 1-8-724/33, Padma Colony, Nallakunta, Hyderabad - 44 Foreword This study by Dr C. Ramachandraiah and Dr A. Venkateswarlu has been taken up in the context of large scale acquisition of agricultural lands for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and other projects which has become an issue of serious contestation in recent years. The study is very timely as land administration and land rights of vulnerable groups of people have become major issues of public concern in recent years. The authors have made a sincere attempt to analyse the land laws and administration, assignment of lands, land acquisition, resettlement & rehabilitation policies etc., in Andhra Pradesh. They have examined two case studies - Kakinada SEZ and Polavaram project - to examine the issues of forced land acquisition and resistance. At the outset, it should be noted that the state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states with effect from 2 June 2014. This study was taken up before bifurcation.