Satyam?s skeletons would have tumbled out of the cupboard eventually. But the immediate trigger was land. There are suggestions that Ramalinga Raju and his family bought land and property (perhaps benami) using Satyam money and perhaps even transferred Satyam?s land to personal assets. These personal land-holdings are allegedly greater than land bought through Maytas, again using Satyam money. Both Matyas Infra and Maytas Properties were involved in land deals. Over and above the opacity in awarding infrastructure projects, there is no transparency in land deals either, including valuations. The discourse should factor this in too, apart from auditor negligence, the role of independent directors and fraud perpetrated by Satyam?s founder. Corporate mis-governance is only one part of the story. Indian land markets (urban and rural) are distorted because of a variety of reasons, all emanating from government policy that lead to shortages, especially in urban areas. Simultaneously, urbanisation and economic development have led to a growing demand for acquisition and conversion of agricultural land to commercial use, raising questions of appropriate compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, typified in SEZ (read: Nandigram) and non-SEZ (read: Singur) controversies. There is no overall land shortage in India, not even of agricultural land, since if the necessary reforms are introduced, rural productivity can easily be doubled.
The point instead is about procedures. For years, the misuse of discretion permitted under the 1976 Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act (ULCRA) ensured funding of elections. ULCRA may have been scrapped, but discretion remains. There is indeed a broader agenda of electoral reform, including funding. However, if one is looking for a politician-business nexus, and even criminalisation, that?s much more in land deals, surpassing award of licences or infrastructure contracts. That explains why reforms are so difficult, since vested interests are strong. Perversely, 40% of metro India lives in slums not because there is a land shortage, but because policies create shortages and these benefit the political system. Such land policies are compounded by building and tenancy laws/regulations, creating real estate shortages, too. The recent DDA allotment scam is entirely to be expected. Instead of being obsessed with corporate mis-governance, it is time focus shifts to this public mis-governance. India never witnessed the free land market movement witnessed in pre-Industrial Revolution England. Even before Satyam, controversies have established that liberalisation of land markets is required. Will the political classes listen?
