More than 114 years ago in 1911, the British colonial administration decided to shift the imperial capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi. This came at a significant human and cultural cost and led to displacement of more than 150 villages spread over nearly 17,000 acres.
The decision to construct the new capital in Lutyens’ Delhi led to displacement of over 150 villages, including Malcha, Raisina, Kushak, Pelanjee, Dasgarah, Talkatora, and Motibagh primarily inhabited by Jat farmers and other agrarian groups many of whom continue to seek justice for their losses.
The British authorities procured nearly 17,000 acres of land from the villages by offering about Rs. 15 per acre for non-irrigated land and Rs. 20 per acre for irrigated land. In addition to this the displaced residents of Lutyens’ Delhi were paid a disturbance allowance of Rs. 5 per household. These amounts were significantly below the market rates even at that time.
However when the landowners refused to accept the inadequate compensation the British pointed cannons and gave the villagers a 48-hour notice to vacate their homes exercising the Land Acquisition Act of 1894
The Fate of the Displaced Villagers
The displaced families were resettled in areas like Harsana Malcha near Sonepat in Haryana. Many of the descendants of the original inhabitants of New Delhi continue to live in poverty without adequate compensation for their ancestral lands.
Many of them are fighting legal battle seeking compensation on the basis of historical documents to substantiate their claims. But their journey toward justice has been fraught with bureaucratic hurdles and legal complexities.
The ‘great-great’ grandchildren of people evicted from Delhi’s villages, like Raisina and Malcha, are still awaiting justice and compensation 114 years after their forefathers were driven out by the British forces to build a new capital in Delhi in 1911-12.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament complex, the Supreme Court and India Gate are some of the prominent landmarks on the lands their forefathers which was raised to the ground to make way for Lutyens’ Delhi or New Delhi spread over an area of approximately 26 square kilometers (or about 10 square miles).
What it includes:
- Rashtrapati Bhavan (Viceroy’s House)
- 7 Race Course Road (Now known as 7 Lok Kalyan Marg)- the official residence of the Prime Minister of India since 1980. It is spreads across 12 acres of land and is one of the highest security zones in India
- 10, Janpath: Former residence of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
- Hyderabad House: Used for state functions and diplomatic meetings.
- Jodhpur House, Bikaner House, Baroda House: Former princely residences now used for hosting various official governmental functions.
- India Gate and Rajpath (now Kartavya Path)
- Parliament House
- South Avenue & North Avenue – bungalow-style government flats allotted to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs,
- North Block and South Block (Secretariat Buildings)
- Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan and Udyog Bhawan – central government offices.
- Teen Murti Bhavan, which used to be the residence of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It has now been converted into Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya (Prime Ministers’ Museum).
- Janpath, Ashoka Road, Aurangzeb Road (now APJ Abdul Kalam Road), and other key avenues lined with government offices and cultural institutions.
- Bungalow Zone (VIP residences — ministers, MPs, judges, service chiefs, diplomats)
Lutyens’ Delhi extends from the Connaught Place area in the north, southwards to Safdarjung’s Tomb, and from the Lodhi Gardens in the east across to the Ridge in the west, with Kartavya Path (Rajpath) running centrally through it.
This includes the Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ) which stretches from Connaught Place in the north to Lodi Road in the south, and from the Delhi Ridge in the west to the Yamuna River in the east. The LBZ includes several prestigious colonies like Jor Bagh, Golf Links, Sunder Nagar, Chanakyapuri, Bengali Market, Panchsheel Marg, Sardar Patel Marg and Mandir Marg.
The LBZ also includes major roads like Amrita Shergill Marg, APJ Abdul Kalam Road (formerly Aurangzeb Road), Bhagwan Das Road, Feroz Shah Road, Safdarjung Road, Ashok Road, Akbar Road, and Prithviraj Road which are characterized by low-density housing, expansive green spaces, and are among the most sought-after residential zones in Delhi.
Construction of New Delhi: the human cost
The British wanted to develop New Delhi as a symbol of their imperial might so they commissioned two well-known architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker to design the city, with massive structures like the Viceroy’s House, Parliament House, and the Supreme Court.
It took them nearly two decades and the city was officially inaugurated in 1931.
The project required massive resources, both in terms of finances and human labour. Thousands of workers were employed for the construction which involved massive alterations in the landscape, from levelling hills to redirecting water sources.
Seeking Justice
Even today the descendants of the displaced villagers are seeking compensation for their land. Their plea is that the compensation offered during the colonial era was inadequate and many families didn’t receive anything at all.
The residents of Raisina and Malcha villages were among those who resisted the British Raj order to acquire their lands. But they were forcibly driven out by the British forces who raided their villages on horseback at night to forcibly evict them.
As a result somme of the residents of Raisina went away to a village near Palwal while the residents of Malcha settled down near Sonepat. Some of them were paid the compensation fixed by the colonial rulers while some did not even get that. This is borne out by the official records that still exist.
More than a 100 years later, in 2013, the fifth-sixth generation of the evicted villagers of New Delhi hoped to get justice when the UPA government passed The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
They tried to invoke the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013, which gives petitioners either fair compensation at current market rates or the return of their ancestral lands but it didn’t work.
They knocked at the door of the courts and pleaded that they had not been adequately compensated for the lands on which the British built their new capital in Delhi. But the Supreme Court dismissed their appeal and ruled that Section 24 of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act would not apply in this case, as the land acquisition proceedings had been completed before the Act’s commencement.
After protracted legal proceedings the Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that old compensation claims could not be revived based on the plea that this could lead to unending litigations that could jeopardise the ongoing current projects.
Conclusion: Bridging the forgotten past
The residents of Raisina, Malcha, Jaisinghpura, and Madhoganj are not seeking the moon— only dignity, respect and fair play. Still as Delhi rose in glory, their voices faded into silence.
As we admire the Rashtrapati Bhavan and stroll through the India Gate, we should not forget the original custodians of this land who have been paid little or no compensation for their ancestral land.
True justice lies in acknowledgment. A simple gesture — a memorial plaque, oral history projects, or even naming spaces after lost villages — can breathe life into forgotten names and restore them to their rightful place in the city’s soul.
Delhi must embrace the rulers and builders, but also those whose invisible sacrifices laid the foundations of a new and modern India with New Delhi as its heart.
