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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Sighting land

Sighting land

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published Published on Aug 1, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 1, 2011

-The Times of India

 

The unveiling of the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is better late than never. All over India, industrialisation and infrastructure are hobbled by land-related strife. Whether it's Singur in Bengal or anti-Posco protests in Orissa, such stirs are impeding development and spooking investors. Bringing in a set of predictable rules - any rules - is welcome in such a context. The Bill goes a fair way towards providing a roadmap, junking the colonial relic of currently existing law. However, in revising the terms of the draft Bill that had been on the anvil before Jairam Ramesh took over as rural development minister, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

Making land acquisition prohibitively difficult or expensive will slow down industrialisation and inclusive growth. The most onerous provision that has been included is the blanket ban on acquisition of multi-cropped, irrigated land, which constitutes 40% of India's agricultural land. Most such land runs through Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bengal and Bihar. The ban could well cripple prospects of industrialisation in these states, and will have to be revised once its implications are realised.

The Bill does well to broadly define "public purpose", including industry and infrastructure along with strategic projects. The term refers as much to government building public infrastructure as to its facilitating private projects benefiting people at large. If solicited, government can acquire land for transfer to private companies for a stated public purpose. Its flexible role in transactions can help resolve last mile problems arising from speculative holdout by landowners. However, the rider mandating industry obtain consent from no less than 80% of acquisition-affected families can stymie mega industrial hubs requiring huge tracts of land, as envisaged under the National Manufacturing Policy. Besides, not applying to government's acquisition of land for its own undefined use, it invites the charge of being discriminatory and could open another door for land mafias.

The relief and rehabilitation terms proposed in the Bill are generous. If implemented right, they should go a long way towards addressing current injustices in land acquisition. However, industry has a point in saying compensation in rural areas at six times the market rate combined with R&R will hugely raise project costs. It also rightly demands proper digitisation of land records. We should add that central and state governments must free up land held in excess of their needs for productive uses. Finally, cracking down on politically coddled land mafias is imperative. Else, the enforcement of any land acquisition law against manipulation will prove daunting.

The Times of India, 1 August, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Sighting-land/articleshow/9433117.cms


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