Just 8.2% projects stalled due to land acquisition, 4.2% for environmental reasons

By Rajiv Shah
A Union finance ministry reply to a right to information (RTI) plea has revealed that, as of February 2015, as many as 804 projects were stalled due to variety of reasons, but just about eight per cent of the projects (66) were stalled because of land acquisition problems. Based on the reply, Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative says, this suggests, "the argument that the slowdown in the economy is due to land acquisition projects is a myth."
The data, from 25 states and two union territories, suggest that Maharashtra tops the list with 125 stalled projects, followed by Gujarat (63 projects), West Bengal (55 projects), Karnataka (52 projects) and Telangana (52). The private sector projects account for 78 per cent of projects, outnumbering the public sector projects planned by the Central or state governments, or public sector enterprises or local municipal boards and autonomous authorities.
"Of the 66 projects stalled due to land acquisition issues, only 11 (1.36 per cent of 804 projects) directly relate to the well being of the disadvantaged or less affluent segments of society such as slum rehabilitation projects or construction of budget housing projects or a bus stand (which few affluent people use)", Nayak says in his analysis. forwarded to Counterview.
He comments, "So the proposal to amend the Land Acquisition Act to waive the requirement for taking consent of the village assembly in the areas where land is to be acquired for providing affordable housing for the poor will affect a minuscule number of projects." Therefore, he adds, the justification tom-tommed for the amendment becomes "untenable."
On the other hand, 145 of the stalled projects (18 per cent) are for the "affluent and the rich as they are projects involving the construction of shopping malls or elite hotels and resorts (4 and 5 star), multiplexes, elite residences and villas, golf courses and a racing track", says Nayak, adding, "Another 25 stalled projects are about setting up townships", yet "nothing in the list provided by Finance Ministry indicates which segment of society they are intended to benefit."
Further, Nayak says, "Lack of environmental clearances account for a mere 4.2 per cent of the stalled projects, whereas lack of clearance from the state governments amount to 11.8 per cent of the total." He comments, "It looks like the regulatory regimes have contributed to only 16 per cent of the stalled projects. So the license inspector raj also does not appear to be a major contributor to the stalling of the 804 projects, if the latest data are accurate."
"The largest proportion of projects that have stalled (38.8 per cent) are due to unfavourable market conditions or lack of funds or promoter interest or raw material or fuel supply problems", Nayak says, adding, "Several of these projects are owned or promoted by some of the biggest industrial houses in India and a handful of foreign ownership."
Then there are projects listed as "Others" as the reason for the stalling of 19 per cent of the projects (153). "Reasons for stalling are simply not available for 15 per cent of the projects (121). Taken together the projects for which reasons for stalling are either unspecified or simply not available amount to more than a third of the total number of projects (34 per cent).
While projects like those related with power generation, airport construction or expansion, road and railway expansion, pharmaceutical, textile, software and SEZ projects, mining projects for coal and uranium, are part of the stalled projects list, there is no answer to "What is the total value of all 804 projects?" In fact, the RTI reply refuses to divulge the detail despite the fact that a recent Finance Department meet revealed that 300 projects valuing Rs 18.13 lakh crore had remained stalled.

Comments

Beyond India-China borders: Economic links expand, political gaps persist

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Despite growing trade between India and China, a persistent trust deficit continues to shape their bilateral relationship. Expanding economic engagement has not fully resolved political differences, many of which stem from historical legacies as well as contemporary geopolitical concerns. Border disputes—often traced to colonial-era arrangements—remain a significant obstacle to deeper cooperation, while differing strategic alignments in global affairs add further complexity.

GreenTech Summit claims NCR as key green building hub, without pan-India comparison

By A Representative The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), under the Confederation of Indian Industry, held its GreenTech Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where industry representatives, policymakers and sustainability professionals discussed the adoption of climate technologies in India’s built environment.

Gujarat cadre to HDFC: When bureaucratic style hits corporate walls

By Rajiv Shah I was a little amused by the abrupt March 17, 2026 resignation of Atanu Chakraborty —a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch who retired from the government in 2020—as chairman of HDFC Bank . Much of what may have led to his decision to quit this ostensibly high post—actually a non-executive, part-time role—is by now well known. I followed most of it online with considerable interest, partly because I had interacted with him umpteen times during my stint as The Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar from 1997 to 2012.

Operation Epic Fury: Making America great at the world’s expense?

By N.S. Venkataraman* The decades-long enmity between Iran and Israel is well-documented, but historically, their direct confrontations have been brief, constrained by the logistical and economic limitations of sustained warfare. The current conflict in the Middle East, however, marks a radical and dangerous departure from this pattern.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India has been getting its economic growth wrong for two decades, say top economists

By Jag Jivan* India's official GDP figures have misrepresented the trajectory of the world's fifth-largest economy for the better part of two decades, according to a major new working paper published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). It finds that India overstated annual growth by up to two percentage points after 2011 — and understated it during the boom years of the 2000s.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

'Tax the top': Nationwide protests demand action as 1% control 40% of India’s wealth

By A Representative Civil rights groups across the country observed the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh on March 23, as people from diverse backgrounds united to raise their voices against growing economic inequality. The mobilisations marked the launch of a nationwide campaign against inequality, running from March 23 to April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti), under the banner of the “Tax The Top” campaign.

Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque under siege: A test of Muslim solidarity and Palestine’s future

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* In the cacophony of Israel’s and the United States’ attack on Iran, one piece of news has been buried under the debris of war: Israel has closed the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to Palestinian worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan. The closure, announced as indefinite, affects the third most revered mosque in the Islamic world.

Search This Blog