Perspectives

An analysis of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and its interpretation by the courts shows that the holder or tenant of the land has suffered in major ways. It gives the government complete power to acquire land for any "public purpose" while the courts have virtually adopted a handsoff attitude and allowed all kinds of land acquisitions for private companies. The proposed Land Acquisition Amendment Bill makes it much easier for the government to acquire land for any private company, is nonparticipatory in nature and has escape clauses as far as giving jobs to the displaced or the provision of "land for land" is concerned. The rehabilitation and resettlement bills which are also on the anvil may provide solace to the displaced but history has shown that such schemes do not work.

The most complete and plausible explanation of the demise of the Soviet Union would combine the best insights of prevailing non-Marxist accounts within a more comprehensive Marxist account that gives prominence to the rise of the nomenklatura, a capitalist class-in-formation that would eventually do much of the shovelling to bury the Soviet order. Long before Yeltsin hauled the red flag down, this class-in-formation had already occupied positions of control over major productive assets; however, legally sanctioned property relations constrained it, and thus it could not systematically appropriate the surplus product. Convinced that Soviet relations of ownership stood in the way of economic development, leaders of the nomenklatura and their allies overwhelmed the demoralised and disorganised remnants of workers' power.

The creation of new states has generally been seen as an accident of political timing. Local leaders, arguing for or against separate states, are often seen as acting without intent and merely playing politics. This article argues that this is so because of a federal division of responsibility which facilitates state-level politicians to discount responsibility for their stance and encourages them to focus solely on short-term goals. The central government intervention in the debate about Telangana has meant that regional politicians have become less able to discount the future and have instead begun to engage with somewhat greater intent.

This article identifies the spatial conditions of peasant revolutionary uprisings principally by comparing the Indian Maoist movement with the Chinese peasant revolution that established the People's Republic of China in 1949. The spatial factors were by no means suffi cient to grasp the revolution, but they represent necessary initial conditions.

Autonomy is crucial for the growth and development of higher education. Considering how different commissions and committees set up by the Government of India from time to time have looked at autonomy and accountability, this essay makes the point that there is an interesting interplay between the two and that without them it is virtually impossible to achieve excellence. It argues that the governance structure in all institutions of higher learning should be conducive for consensus making, resulting in both autonomy and accountability. Besides focusing on factors which can signifi cantly contribute to enhancing autonomy, the article argues that effective autonomy cannot descend as a "gift" from above, it has to be earned.