73 Land Conflict Monitoring Report1 By Sajal Babu, Paritosh Bisen, Ayushi Narayan, Ridhi Soni, and Achyut Tewari, Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy (CLRA) and Ekta Parishad (EP) INTRODUCTION I ndia is a very large country in terms of land and population. The composition of its land is varied – including fertile plains, dense forest, mountainous areas, and some barren land. This vast and varied land has enabled the population to sustain and live. However, recent years have seen the country skewing towards development in a highly unsustainable form. This has taken a toll on people and environment in many ways. It is evident from the way people protest and resist such violations on their habitat. For the most part, these conflicts pit communities against the government, or against corporate entities and other private parties. As it is mostly a struggle between the powerless against the powerful, it is the former who have the history of losing and of being subjected to brutality. Once the land is taken away, landlessness leads to a whole other set of violations. When it comes to forest and other common land, it is the rights of the traditional forest dwellers that hold the most significance. It was only recently that their right to the place they depend on was recognized. It 1 This is an abridged version of the paper “Land Conflict Monitoring Report in India” prepared by the Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy (CLRA) for Ekta Parishad, for the project “Defending Land Rights and Human Rights Defenders.” For more details and information, contact: ektaaneesh@ gmail.com and vinudirect@gmail.com Citation: Babu, S., Bisen, P., Narayan, A., Soni, R., and Tewari, A. (2019). India Land Conflict Monitoring Report. In ANGOC (Ed.) In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries (pp. 73-82). Quezon City: ANGOC. India Land Conflict Monitoring Report India