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Comment by thunkshift1 | Hacker News Reader

This is not an honest take on ‘ease of doing business in india’. What the author is trying to do is re-purpose his agricultural land for non agricultural use. For various socio-political reasons this is big no-no in many states in India and is known to be a very long winding and drawn out process because the govt does not want agricultural land to be re-purposed. I expected something along the lines of ‘I tried to setup a unit on land that I already have which allows this’. Note that agricultural land goes for a pittance compared to non na one. Author probably tried to pull a fast one onthe govt.

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> Author probably tried to pull a fast one onthe govt.

In what sense is the author trying to pull a fast one? They own agricultural land. It is legal to convert agricultural-use land to non-agricultural-use land. There is a legal procedure for doing so. The author is trying to follow the procedure. The procedure turns out to be very difficult, and they publicize this fact. Where is the 'fast one' being pulled and who is it being pulled on?

Why dont you try building a residential property or factory on a land zoned for public parks and tell me how that goes in your country?

...the author owns the land he is trying to build on, which is very different than trying to build something in the middle of a public park.

Most US cities as they exist today would not exist if you could not convert agricultural land to other uses. Where does suburbia come from? Former farms.

Fair point.. but most (almost all) US cities do not exist only because their owners wanted to go from farm-land —> city. They could not have existed with a local body of authority/government wanting that to happen and planning for it. The point I am trying to make is, yes the author owns the land and no one is taking away his ownership. However, owner is not the only party who gets a say in what happens with his land which is earmarked for agriculture. I know there are cities in the west where you cant even repaint your own houses without getting the permission from cities.There are local laws and zoning regulations as well you have to abide by which author seems to have conveniently left out.

Thanks for the context. I remember this when this blog made the rounds originally. Didn't realize it's the same one that made HN front page again. Interesting that this is being floated around when India is trying hard to make a good foray into manufacturing. On a related note, a former central bank (RBI) governor is trying to sabotage India's manufacturing aspirations. Inimical forces that aspirational Indians will face while they dig out of the current mess is unimaginably powerful.

That caught my eye as well. If I wanted to buy some agricultural land in my state and convert it to industrial manufacturing, I would be mired in red tape for years.

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