In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries 80 There are laws enacted in India that are meant to protect the rights of the indigenous groups and farmers. These laws include the Forest Rights Act of 1927, Land Acquisition Act of 2013, the Nazool Land (Transfer) Rules of 1956, and the Punjab Village Common Land Act of 1961. However, poor implementation of these laws seems to be the major complaint of the affected parties and land reform advocates. Weak implementation results in land rights violations. The most common violations are encroachment on tribal lands, land grabbing, and illegal acquisition of private and community-owned lands. These result in the evacuation and displacement of farmers and forest dwellers, denying them of their habitat and source of livelihood. In some cases, physical and psychological human rights violations are also committed, such as harassment, damage to property, and even killings. THE ECONOMICS OF LAND CONFLICT AND CONCLUSION According to a 2016 study by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), around 12 trillion rupees (approximately US$ 170M) worth investment was tied-up in various land conflicts in India. According to another study by RRI and Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), 14 percent of almost 40,000 projects initiated between January 2000 and October 2016 were stalled due to land acquisition conflicts. This study notes that projects most likely to be stalled are power projects (including dams), followed by various industrial projects and mining activities (RRI and ISB, 2016). While most of the conflicts analyzed in this study have been going on for up to ten years, there are also many conflicts that have been festering for decades. Such long delays usually lead to the huge increases in the costs incurred by the companies making the investment. Further, out of the entire initial cost of a project, proper land acquisition should not cost more than two to five percent. However, this aspect is often overlooked, and new methods are devised to get around with the rights of the people under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. ANGOC Also, whenever a development project is being undertaken by ignoring the rights of people, a new class of landless poor population is created in the country. Landlessness pushes people into poverty and most of the time, they remain as targets for displacement again and again. Although land investment projects lead to higher GDP, the real situation in terms of per capita income remains very bleak. This is one of the most important factors behind the widening economic inequality in the country. The government is trying to attract as much foreign investment as possible, and for this reason it is always trying to circumvent policies that defend the