In 2010, over 100 farmers cutting across castes and political affiliations in the five villages of Karibandehosahalli, Akkasandra, Yendrakaipura, Achatnahalli and Karinayakanahalli gave up land that had belonged to their families from several generations for an industrial zone proposed by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.The man who initiated the process was an opposition Congress MLA in the then BJP-ruled state. But as Pranesh Rao from Karibandehosahalli put it: “The politics did not matter. The sincerity with which the concerned officials, the state government and the Congress leader approached the issue made the difference. We all gave up our land because we were convinced by those involved that it would benefit our region.”Rao gave up 20 of his 28 acres in Karibandehosahalli for the first phase of the Narasapura Industrial Area, which has since become an auto hub; Honda and Volvo amongst others have set up factories in this zone, some 20 km from Kolar town in the southern region of Karnataka and 65 km from state capital Bengaluru.Rao set the trend by trusting both the political class and the administration. The other villagers followed. Land was acquired without any hassles and, in an amazing turnaround for any industrial project, industries like Scania Commercial Vehicles and Exedy Clutch India began functioning within two years of starting the land acquisition process.Honda is in the final stages of setting up its largest two-wheeler manufacturing plant in the world, on this land given up by these villagers. “We are stunned by the change that has come about to our region.When we gave up land, we were really scared about what will happen to us. We never imagined that international companies will set up shop at our doorstep and generate so much business here,” Chennakeshava Reddy of Achatnahalli village, which collectively gave up 175 acres to the industrial zone, told ET Magazine.The region is mostly arid, with almost all sources of water drying up. Despite this, farmers were growing ragi, jowar, avarekai (hyacinth bean), peanuts, mango, mulberry, tomato, potato, capsicum, radish, cabbage, carrot, greens and other vegetables, on their land. All land adjoining tank bunds and local ponds — they have not got filled for nearly 15 years — would grow paddy, but now this is largely reduced.The “miracle” of seamless land acquisition in this area came about because of a winwin formula hammered out by local politicians, villagers, the industry and commerce department and the district administration.And everything went off like clockwork, including documentation and compensation payment to the farmers.Local leaders went from village to village explaining what was envisaged for the region and how it would affect them.The land price was fixed at nearly 15 times the going rate per acre at that time. Each farmer was asked how much of his land he would sell at that rate and was allowed to keep whatever part of it he wanted to retain for his progeny. Land with mango groves and good soil fertility was identified and retained, while acres more prone to aridity were given up for the zone, except for some minor areas where contiguous land needed to be given up.Once the land to be acquired was marked out, industry department officials and the district administration visited each village and handed out cheques at the doorstep to each farmer. The district administration also made land transfer documents on the spot for farmers who did not have them, with the result that there are very few cases of dispute where the land compensation is still pending in courts.Interim HarmonyThe region became an example of agriculture and industry in harmony. Right next to fenced factory buildings lining roads tarred to international standards and shining streetlights, mango groves and eucalyptus fields are visible.Villagers go about their business, unconcerned about the SUVs and factory buses zipping by, ferrying people in suits and ties.Real estate developers have made a beeline for the region and have bought acres of land at rates ranging from `1 crore to `4 crore per acre. Land value has gone up by 300% in a 20 km radius around the zone over the last five years, according to the district administration.Villagers have built multi-storied houses on their tarred roads, which they rent out to people working in the factories that have come up. Other villagers have purchased and hired out cars, lorries, buses and other vehicles to the factories. Many have set up smallscale automobile ancillary industries, grocery shops, tea shops, vehicle repair shops, fancy stores, mobile shops advertising 3G.Local shops of the town, after which the zone is named, have prospered enormously, with everything from hardware stores selling nails and rods to vegetable vendors doing “roaring business.” A total of 10 new cement shops have come up in the town to support the constant construction.C Venkatesh of Achatnahalli pointed out that the industrial growth had increased local wealth and provided employment to the local youth. The estimated jobs generated at the Narasapura industrial area is 20,000.“The factories promised to hire one person from each land-losing family. Many of them have not kept their word on this and that has to be tackled by the government. But the local economy has boomed and we are happy that industry has come to our region,” youngster H Lokesh of the same village added.With this, however, the happy part of the story ends. The Congress MLA, who instilled confidence in the people and worked out the whole project, shifted his home to his new constituency in Bengaluru after the first phase of land acquisition in 2010. The industry department officials including then principal secretary V P Baligar, who worked with the people, took quick decisions to help them and resolve issues in the first phase, were transferred and promoted, routinely.The new lot of elected representatives in the region and the new officials were not of the same mindset. In 2013, when the state decided that Narasapura needed to be expanded even more, notifications were issued out of the blue for 43 acres, most of which was the earlier negotiated land that farmers had retained for their progeny.To add insult to the injury, despite protestations, letters and pleas by the locals, the district administration and the state notified another 13 acres and nobody bothered to even talk to, let alone enthuse, the villagers. Some officials did visit them, others tried to help, but the driving enthusiasm of the first phase has been missing, villagers pointed out.Besides this, the companies that set up shop in the industrial area have not fulfilled the corporate social responsibility commitments they made, according to villagers. Locals say that they have not tried to blend with or help them and, except for some photo-ops, they have not interacted with them. Instead, the villagers claim, they have snubbed them.So Narasapura, like every other land acquisition story, has become a simmering cauldron of anger and resentment, with some villages in the additional areas threatening litigation. The main grouse, however, is land costs, which have boomed due to the industria l ised development.Against `28 lakh per acre that the state paid to the farmers in 2010, the land value now is `1.23 crore an acre. Local villagers have a signed document on this sale amount paid by a company to buy their land and are pointing to this as the benchmark of land value.“We just want the market value, nothing more,” said C Venkatesh. Ironically, the now Congress-ruled state is willing to pay only `60 lakh an acre and there is no one on the ground to negotiate a settlement with the farmers.“ State government officials are not even willing to talk. They don’t come to us and when we go all the way to Bengaluru, we are stopped at the ir office doors and sent away, as though we have no dignity or honour. Why should we give up our land for less than market rate? My soul is in my land, how can they try to grab it like this,” asked the same Rao who had initiated the entire land acquisition movement five years ago.Unfulfilled PromisesVillagers are also unhappy that the factories shoo them away from their gates. “It is our land that the factory has come up on. If I want to show my wife and children what we did give it up for, I am not allowed in, I am not treated with any respect. The companies promised good roads, schools and hospitals, overall village development, in return for our land.None of this has happened,” Chennakeshava Reddy said.Kannada litterateur, social activist and critic KY Narayanaswamy, who hails from the village of Kuppur in Kolar district, is skeptical about the whole industrial developmental model. “They have created jobs by taking away land that has been with the farmers for generations. This generation gets jobs and payment, but what happens to the self-sustainability model that has worked for these farmer families for centuries? Where will their children or grandchildren go?” he asked.N Srinivas, a former taluk panchayat member from Narasapura, said: “Even at 1,200 feet, we are not getting water. Yes, the government needs to work out methods to bring water to the region and help farmers, but industry can exist simultaneously with our agriculture tradition and provide multiple avenues for our future generations.”Deputy commissioner of Kolar district, KV Thrilok Chandra, said there was no need to worry about loss of agricultural land. “Sowing has taken place over two and a half lakh hectares in the district. The land acquired for industry is just 2,000 hectares, most of it uncultivable,” he explained.Krishna Byre Gowda, the Congress MLA who convinced this region to give up its land and worked out this industry-cum-agriculture model, is currently Karnataka’s minister of state for agriculture, and a protege of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Villagers stated that he has been working behind the scenes trying to help them and resolve the current distress situation by working out a formula that would keep the state, industry and the villagers happy.Gowda, however, is not visible on the ground this time, or at the forefront of the acquisition process, as was the case in 2010. “He is in the government now, not in the opposition, so he can’t fight for us,” is the defence professed by a villager, who declined to be named.Gowda, when contacted by ET Magazine, merely said, “All that farmers want is good and timely compensation for their land. If those criteria are met, there is no problem in acquiring land. We are also working out methods to bring water to the region and support agriculture, industry is just to provide alternative employment to the youth there.”The state’s newly anointed industries minister, RV Deshpande, makes no bones about his conviction that industrial investment is necessary for the state’s progress. However, he holds out a ray of hope for farmers and echoes the national Congress line on the issue of land acquisition. “Agriculture is important to the state and we will ensure farmers’ welfare while acquiring their land for industries,” he said.