The Right to Property and Economic Development in India

The Sawyer Law and Politics Program will host Dr. Namita Wahi, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, and founding director of the Land Rights Initiative, a pioneering initiative in the land policy space in India. She is also global fellow at the Centre for Law and Social Transformation, at the University of Bergen. 

“The Right to Property and Economic Development: How Property Saved Democracy in India.” As Indians grapple with what it means to live again under some form of authoritarianism, scholars are distinguishing present times from the last time India was under authoritarian rule during the declared emergency of 1975-1977.

According to conventional scholarly accounts, Parliament abolished the Fundamental Right to Property in 1978 in order to counter the jurisprudence of a reactionary and “pro-property” rights Supreme Court that had used it to protect rich zamindars or landowners, thereby impeding Parliament’s “progressive” land reform agenda.

Through a historical review of all property cases decided by the Supreme Court from 1950 to 1978, Wahi shows that the Supreme Court’s deliberative enforcement of a constitutional right to property played a crucial role in establishing a new social and economic order that facilitated India’s economic development, while ensuring the continued success of the democratic republic.

This event is sponsored by the Sawyer Law and Politics Program and co-sponsored by South Asia Center, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs