The Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in southern Sumatra (Indonesia) has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 2004. Home to tigers, elephants, and rare Sumatran rhinos, the Park is also home to numerous squatters since the early 1970s. Part of the Park was restored after forcible evictions in the 1980s. However, since the end of General Suharto's authoritarian rule in 1998, the number of squatters has been on the increase.

A cross-sectional study based on women benefi ciaries under the Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefi t Scheme in fi ve districts of Tamil Nadu shows that scheduled caste and landless women in the sample were disadvantaged in receiving benefi ts. Overall, only one-fourth of the women who delivered fi rst or second order births in the sample received monetary assistance under the scheme.

This article examines the implementation of the Forest Rights Act of 2006 in the historical context of Wayanad’s adivasi land struggles. The left-wing Government of Kerala (2006-11) aimed to interpret the FRA as a legal opportunity to obtain forest (department) land and to fulfil decade-old promises to redistribute land to landless adivasis. However, the provisions of the Act were not the right means to bring them redistributive justice. The well-intentioned FRA failed to make an impact in the specifi c historical and legal environment of the region.

This article highlights the changes that have taken place in the political economy of Ranikhera village between 1953 and 2008. Urbanisation is the key factor in transforming the village life. Agriculture has lost its traditional importance as a major source of livelihood. The social relations of production between the landowning Jajmans and landless servicing castes have been affected by opening up of new employment opportunities in the metropolitan city of Delhi. Many Dalits have ‘emancipated’ themselves from their earlier dependence on their Jajmans.

This article looks into the instances of growing waterlogging, which is a negative externality of the developmental process (canal irrigation) that has affected the marginalised sections to a greater extent, who mostly depend on land for livelihood and self-sustenance. Land-use pattern has undergone a tremendous transformation due to irrigation development in terms of increase in fallow and culturable waste lands.

A study of the socio-economic situations of three villages in north-eastern Andhra Pradesh shows that while times and values have vastly changed, not much has been transformed in terms of privileges and opportunities. Those belonging to landowning families have managed to get a good education and secure good jobs or set up businesses. But those from the landless or marginal landowning families and communities have been left far behind. The government’s schemes and promises have more often than not yielded very little.

Land is more than a production resource. In the rural areas of countries like Nepal it determines an individual’s socio-economic status, and is therefore strongly related to power issues. Landlessness and insecure land ownership are the major causes of poverty, social injustice and food insecurity. Tackling these issues therefore means influencing policies in favour of more land rights.

Innovative policies in Brazil, such as the Zero Hunger Programme, have significantly reduced poverty in the past decade. Yet, land distribution remains a serious challenge: 46% of all land is controlled by 1% of the population. In Araponga, farmers have not only been able to acquire land: they have increased their options in a sustainable manner.