1. Context and Rationale
Land remains one of the most contested yet foundational assets in determining ecological sustainability, livelihood security, and social equity. Across diverse contexts from urban industrial clusters to remote tribal hills, the question of who owns, who decides, and who benefits continues to define the political economy of land and natural resources.
This session examines land tenure and governance mechanisms as evolving systems of power and participation, investigating how ownership, access, and control are negotiated across scales. The four papers presented here bring together global and regional experiences to unpack land as both a physical and institutional terrain shaped by law, crime, culture, and market forces.
From the shadow networks of “land and water mafias” that manipulate access and exclude citizens, to the informal leasing arrangements shaping rural livelihoods in Maharashtra and Punjab, the session reveals the many forms of invisibility that define land relations today. It also brings forward cases of reform and innovation; and Rwanda’s SMEs navigating institutional voids.
Together, these studies highlight that tenure security is not merely a legal category but a lived condition, produced through everyday negotiations between state, market, and community actors. Understanding these dynamics is key to designing governance systems that ensure equitable access, ecological resilience, and social justice.
2. Objectives of the Panel
To analyze how tenure security and governance arrangements influence access, productivity, and sustainability across agricultural, urban, and communal contexts.
To critically examine the informal, criminal, and institutional mechanisms shaping land allocation and control.
To explore innovative and tenure-sensitive models that promote inclusion, equity, and ecological balance.
To identify gaps in land governance frameworks and propose pathways for reform and participatory decision-making.
3. Expected Outcomes
Spanning diverse geographies from the hills of Northeast India to the plains of Punjab and the urban corridors of Africa, the six papers in this session explore a shared question: how can land governance ensure equity, accountability, and ecological resilience amid competing pressures of development, policy reform, and community rights?
The papers together reveal how formal law, local custom, and lived experience shape control over land and its benefits. Akbikesh Mukhtarova’s study on land and water mafias exposes how corruption distorts governance and deepens exclusion, while Meine Pieter van Dijk’s research on land access for SMEs in Rwanda highlights how tenure uncertainty hampers equitable growth. In Punjab and Maharashtra, studies on tenancy and rent systems underscore how insecure land rights discourage sustainable investment and marginalize cultivators.
Collectively, these insights reposition land as both a livelihood base and an ecological commons. The session calls for participatory, rights-based, and climate-responsive governance frameworks that integrate traditional stewardship with policy innovation to foster just, inclusive, and sustainable land systems.
About the session speakers
Prof Meine Pieter van Dijk
Maastricht University, Netherlands
Panelist
Meine Pieter van Dijk is economist, em. professor of Water Services Management at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, visiting professor at the Beijing University for Civil Engineering and architecture, and em. professor of Urban management at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and the Institute of Housing and Urban development Studies (IHS) of Erasmus University and currently works at the Maastricht School of Management (MSM) of Maastricht university in the Netherlands. He published 50 books and more than 300 professional articles and worked on and in developing countries since 1973 as a researcher, or consultant for NGOs, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, different bilateral donors and UN agencies.
Dr Girija Godbole
Individual Consultant and Researcher, Jeevan Sanstha
Panelist
Girija Godbole is an independent researcher. Trained in anthropology and geography, she has been extensively working in the environment and development sectors. Her research focuses on participatory forest management, gender, sanitation and political ecology of land use. She was awarded the Research Innovation Grant of The Nudge for study of agricultural tenancy. She was the lead for water security program of The Nature Conservancy India. Girija also worked at the Centre for Policy Studies at IIT Bombay. She volunteers with a Pune based grassroots organization working with Katkari- a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in Maharashtra. She also serves as an Executive Committee member of AFRAM- a network of NGOs in Maharashtra. Girija is a LEAD (Leadership for Environment & Development- inetrnational network) Fellow.
Prof Prashant Das
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Panelist
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Ms Deepika Yadav
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Panelist
My name is Deepika Yadav, and I’m pursuing a PhD in Food and Agribusiness Management at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. For my thesis, I’m working on property rights in land and their impact on sustainable agriculture. My research interest lies in informal property rights, contracts in agriculture, and sustainable agriculture. Before pursuing my PhD, I worked for over four years in the development sector with grassroots organisations, including Seva Mandir and Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India, in domains such as Natural Resource Management, Agricultural Sustainability, Agribusiness, Farmer-Producer Organisations, and WASH.
Ms Akbikesh Mukhtarova
Independent Scholar, Kazakhstan
Panelist
Dr. Akbikesh Mukhtarova is a Kazakhstani scholar whose research interests include good land governance, civil society participation in land governance, land education, and the issues of land and water corruption. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan. Additionally, she has a MUNDUS Master of Public Policy (MUNDUS MAPP) from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) The Hague, the Netherlands and IBEI, Barcelona, Spain as well a Master's of Peace and Security Studies (M.P.S.) from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her articles have been published in various academic journals, including the Central Asian journal of water research ( CAJWR), POLITIKON, and the Current Research Journal of Social Studies and Humanities.
Prof Ranjan Ghosh
Faculty, Center for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad
Moderator
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