Pieces of Earth : The Politics of Land-Grabbing in Kashmir

Based on extensive field research on the India-Pakistan border, this book is about the corporate land grabs in Kashmir which explores how capital is at play in a conflict zone. Using the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project, as a case study, this work focuses on the dispossession and displacement caused by such projects. It also discusses the meanings, relations, and connections of the indigeneous peasants with their natural resources.

This book is about the politics surrounding land grabbing for developmental projects by corporate led establishments such as the Indian National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in Kashmir. Kashmir, the author argues, has had a long past of political conflict with the Indian state, therefore the question of land grabbing gains immense importance for the future of resource and territorial conflicts in South Asia. The book traces the history of land tenure changes with changing political regimes in Kashmir to assess its impact on the peasant population. It focuses on the narratives of the state, the corporates, the elites, and absentee landlords which help facilitate land and resource grabbing in the state. The work also documents and analyses the multiple motivations of different actors that either support or resist such development related land grabbing. Combining the literature in violence and development and dispossession studies, the author addresses the socio-political conflict in land and resource grabbing in conflict zones.