Gujarat's 417 villages oppose urbanization, fearing loss of 40% of land under town planning law: Experts

By A Representative
Gujarat may claim to have become one of the fastest urbanizing states in India allegedly with people's support, with the percentage of those living in urban areas increasing from 37 per cent in 2001 to 43 per cent 2011, but, according to an expert revelation, the number of villages resisting merger with urban development authorities (UDAs) has been on the rise, reaching 417 this year.
In a yet-to-be published paper by Persis Ginwalla, development sector professional with Jameen Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG), and Sagar Rabari, associated with the land rights struggle and is Secretary, Khedut Samaj – Gujarat, has said that opposition to including their villages into UDAs was a mere 92 villages till 2014. In 2016 alone, there were 283 villages which resisted urbanization in Gujarat.
Titled "Resisting Urbanisation, Rejecting Urbanisation: Ground report from Gujarat", the paper says that while urbanization, according to the official view, is "supposed to be a positive indicator, growth, development and growing prosperity", in actual reality things are not quite different from what is being claimed.
Giving details of the protests, the paper points to how the first Greenfield smart city in Gujarat, Dholera, is being resisted by the people of 22 villages in and around Dholera. "Proposed in an area of 92,000 ha. (920 sq. kms.), which is an entirely agricultural area, this project is being vehemently opposed by the people of the area for whom this is an unacceptable proposition, one that is certain to destroy them", the paper says.
Meanwhile, the paper says, "34 villages around Morbi-Vankaner, under the aegis of the Morbi-Vankaner Sheheri Vikas Sattamandal Sarpanch Association, undertook a series of protests – fasts, demonstrations – against the proposal to include 42 villages into the Morbi-Vankaner Urban Development Authority (MVUDA)."
In September 2015, the papers says, "42 villages around Junagadh city (part of Junagadh and Vanthali blocks), which were to be included in the Junagadh Urban Development Authority (JUDA), protested against this move and agitated to get them removed from the JUDA".

Villages opposing merger into urban authority: Area wise

"This came on the heels of villages in Surat rejecting their inclusion in Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA) twice and in Himmatnagar against inclusion in Himmatnagar Urban Development Authority (HUDA)", the paper points out, adding, "All these agitations are being led by local protest groups."
The paper informs, "Following the protests, the first notification for Surat and the one for Himmatnagar were cancelled; the rest are pending" (see the table).
The main reason behind the resistance, the paper says, is that people "want to continue with their occupation as agriculturalists and inclusion in Urban Development Authority (UDA) will automatically mean a deduction of nearly 40 per cent of their land (a provision under the Town Planning Act), making agriculture next to impossible and leaving them with the only option of selling their land."
"At the very least this means that ‘one of the fastest urbanising states in India’ is doing so against the wishes of its people", the paper alleges, adding, "This is revealing an apparently new trend of popular resistance to urbanisation in Gujarat, whose people, it was believed, were eager to urbanise."
Saying that "urbanisation, all along, has happened without people’s participation", the paper notes, "But more importantly, it should be borne in mind that the urbanisation that happened earlier was nothing more than a change in nomenclature and category."
"A notification for merging villages with the existing UDA would automatically transform those rural populations to urban populations without, in any way, changing their economics, social setup or mode of life and living", the paper says.
"The other aspect to this was the non-resistance to the change in nomenclature since it was accompanied by the assumption, now broken, that merger with the Municipal Corporations would bring them the much needed basic amenities without which they had been struggling for long", it adds.
In fact, it says, "People have learnt that merger with urban authorities does not bring them the basic amenities – education, healthcare, transportation, drinking water, sanitation and sewerage -- and they have to remain at the same level and in the same situation as they were when they were ‘rural’."

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Health Day ads spark row as NAPi targets Britannia campaign, criticizes celebrity endorsement

By A Representative The advocacy group Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) has raised concerns over what it describes as misleading advertising of ultra-processed food products (UPFs), particularly those high in sugar, fat and salt, calling for stricter regulations and an end to such promotions across media platforms.

Search This Blog