114 | ILDC

This session brings together five critical perspectives that collectively examine the consequences of rapid land transitions and conflicting regulatory frameworks in India's urban development. The central argument is that the pursuit of economic growth and planned development often operates at a cost to secure property rights, exacerbates social inequity (displacement, homelessness, unaffordable housing), and intensifies climate vulnerability (urban heat).

The papers integrate the technical-legal world of land records and zoning with the lived realities of urban residents, demonstrating a complex "Land-Governance Trilemma" where securing one goal (e.g., development/growth) often undermines the others (equity and environmental sustainability).

2. Core Discussion Points

A. The Crisis of Property Rights, SEZ Denotification, and the State as Litigant

The session will open by analyzing the fundamental challenge of securing land rights in India.

The research by Pradeep Nayak highlights the failure of India’s complicated land records system to provide finality in property rights, noting that records are merely presumptive and dynamic.
The study on Bhubaneswar demonstrates how a fast-expanding city, driven by real estate demand and compounded by historical legacy tenures, gives rise to complex land disputes. Crucially, the paper argues that the State has emerged as the biggest litigant against its own citizens, underscoring the government's role in creating, not just solving, tenure insecurity.
This insecurity is directly linked to the state’s exercise of dominant power (eminent domain) to implement development projects, which Dr. Atanu Bose argues is a primary driver of forced displacement and homelessness. This displacement, in turn, exacerbates the national affordable housing shortage.
Denotification, which involves abruptly halting projects after land has been formally acquired, households displaced, and infrastructure developed, is bound to have significant implications for local communities. The study by Dr Malini L Tantri on the Khed SEZ in Pune, which was mostly denotified following resistance over fertile land acquisition, aims to investigate the impact on livelihoods across caste and class.

B. The Regulatory Paradox and Equitable Housing Outcomes

The presenters challenge the efficacy of current urban planning tools, linking formal regulations to housing affordability and incremental development.

Shwetha H. Pai introduces the concept of a "regulatory paradox," where Indian cities are simultaneously trying to liberalize regulations for growth while adopting rules (measured by the Residential Land Use Regulatory Index - RLURI) that are "averse to density". This stringency negatively impacts floor space consumption and limits the supply of affordable housing.
The papers by Dr. Atanu Bose and Sagar Jayaramulu provide the human context for these regulatory failures. Bose emphasizes that achieving national goals like "Amrit Kaal" requires project-based and area-based rehabilitation to provide affordable housing to the marginalized.
Jayaramulu's work shows that even without formal title deeds (patta), a "perceived tenure security"—anchored by allotment letters or informal documentation—is the critical factor that motivates residents to invest in incremental housing upgradations. This finding offers a key insight for enhancing schemes like the Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) component of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

C. Land Use Transitions and the Climate Cost of Urban Growth

The session integrates environmental sustainability, showing that land change is now a matter of public health and resilience.

Prasad Pathak et al. focus on the spatial and environmental effects of development, demonstrating how the conversion of land (from agricultural/wasteland to built-up) is the "morphological driver" of microclimatic changes and intensified heat wave vulnerability.
The abstract highlights the utility of the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) framework to systematically analyze how urban form and land cover interact with climate. This research is a direct call for planning institutions to embed thermal considerations into land allocation and master planning, particularly in rapidly transitioning peri-urban areas where migrant and lower-income groups often settle.

3. Conclusion and Way Forward

The abstracts collectively demand a paradigm shift from land governance focused on economic transaction and administrative ease to one centered on equity and sustainability.