India, May 19 -- I was 45 when the government acquired my village in 2002 to build Nava Raipur. To this day, my family has not received proper rehabilitation or compensation. Over the past 25 years, we have gone from being farmers to daily-wage labourers, and struggle to secure two square meals a day," says Ghasiaram, now 70.

Ghasiaram is a resident of Jhanjh, a village displaced to make way for Chhattisgarh's new capital Nava Raipur Atal Nagar. In 2002, the Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) decided to acquire 23,742 hectares (ha) across 41 villages, about 17 km southeast of the state's current capital Raipur, to facilitate this project. By 2022, NRDA acquired about 13,000 ha, says Kamta Prasad Ratre, secretary of Capital-Affected...