Government is the country's biggest landowner

With holdings estimated to be worth Rs 1,14,771 crore, the government is the country's largest landowner. There are many who see the government as a usurper of prime land, which could be better utilised in private hands.
They ought to realise that the state is not an abstraction, it requires a physical embodiment. In olden times, all the land belonged to the king.
We are not a monarchy, true, but the state does need land at its disposal to discharge its governmental obligations. Developmental activity or infrastructural and public uti-lity projects cannot be undertaken by government without sufficient land at its disposal.
Can you imagine government having to buy land at market prices for the schools it runs, or the hospitals it provides for the public? In case we are attacked by an external enemy, the country needs an army. Armed forces need to be put up in barracks.
If government didn't have real estate assets where would it house the army, or the country's nuclear installations? They can't very well function out of rented accommodation.
It's just as well that much of the urban land is still with the government. There is public accountability about its utilisation, and an attempt to provide low-cost housing for the weaker sections.
Left in private hands land would be largely unaffordable for ordinary citizens. There are any number of NGOs and public service agencies who have got government land at subsidised rates ��� they could not have afforded to buy office space at market prices.
Had the land mafia been allowed a free run of our cities, every inch of space would have been converted into concrete. Without public parks and green belts, we would be choking to death.
Quality of life and aesthetics are better served with land being with government rather than those for whom commercial return is all that matters.