Peasants' revolt: Rural India marches on Delhi for rights to live off the land

They marched in lines – noisy yet disciplined, footsore but determined. At one point, the marchers and their green and white banners stretched for more than two miles.

Across the developing world, clashes between the landless and the authorities are increasingly common. From Indonesia to Brazil, to Burma and Thailand, land-rights activists have been harassed, jailed and murdered. 

Almost every week, a new confrontation takes place as more people are displaced from their land for industrial projects, mining or else slum "rehabilitation".

There are fewer places where the plight of the landless is more pressing than in India, where more than 70 per cent of the population still relies on agriculture.