Parking Their Own Money in Agriculture land, Politicians, Through Associates..

Politicians, who created a market out of matching buyers & sellers, opened a third flank.

In the last 10 years, the cost of fighting elections has shot up, and politicians are using the agri land boom to subsidise their campaigns.

Mr. Anil Patil, the Shiv Sena MLA in Madha constituency of Maharashtra, explains the arithmetic, which makes a mockery of election-spending rules.

"In 2009, an MLA spent Rs. 10 crore on campaigning," he says. "In 2014, they will probably spend Rs. 20 crore. This means an MLA needs to raise at least Rs. 30 crore during his five-year stint.

" Political parties face a similar arithmetic. They need to, says Mr. Patil, "fund at least half the campaign expenses of their MLAs and MPs so that they stay loyal to the party."

Besides parking their own money in agri land, politicians, through associates, are making a killing by positioning themselves in between real estate companies & the state. What unlocks the value of farmland is change of land use, clearing it for non-agricultural use such as commercial or residential.

According to Mr. Patil, the region between Pune, Nashik, Mumbai, Thane and Raigad is seeing a real estate boom. Here, he says, politicians either buy the agri land - through middlemen - from farmers and sell it to builders.

Or, they charge a commission for land-use change. This money is then used to buy land elsewhere. Agri land in Madha that used to cost Rs. 50,000 an acre in 2005-06, adds Patil, now costs Rs. 15 lakh.

Many  moves by the state government have given such forces a larger market to play in. For instance, Haryana has relaxed land ceiling laws for non-agricultural owners.

Others have made it easier for outsiders to acquire tribal or /  Dalit land. They are also expanding urban limits. Haryana, for instance, says Jain, has added 30,000 acres to the urban area of Gurgaon.

Src: ET

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