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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Sonia’s sentiments sway Land Acquisition Bill by Devesh Kumar

Sonia’s sentiments sway Land Acquisition Bill by Devesh Kumar

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published Published on Sep 10, 2010   modified Modified on Sep 10, 2010


With Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking annuity benefits for displaced farmers who surrender their land, the Centre has begun tweaking the resettlement and rehabilitation bill. Ms Gandhi had, on Thursday, said justifiable compensation — on the lines of the Haryana package — be provided to farmers.

Senior officials told ET that the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the accompanying legislation on resettlement and rehabilitation were ready, and rechristened as the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2010. “We will incorporate a few changes. We are ready to weave in the annuity clause,” one of the officials said.

Ms Gandhi’s message to the government came in the backdrop of violent agitation in various parts of the country against acquisition of land for commercial purposes. The Haryana government, controlled by the Congress, had sweetened their deal by offering an annuity for 33 years over and above the land compensation.

Only last week, the Uttar Pradesh government came out with its own package which it claimed was one better. The UP government’s compensation formula is a mix of cash and equity. Besides hiking the compensation package, the new policy will guarantee an income to the families of displaced people for the next 33 years and an equity stake in the company for which the land is being acquired.

The Centre, while indicating its readiness to weave in changes in the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill to ensure that the farmers were given the best-possible deal to make up for the loss of their land, said the two pieces of legislation had been modelled on the 2009 version, barring a few changes here and there. The two bills were passed by the Lok Sabha on February 25, 2009, but could not be tabled in the Upper House the next day. The 14th Lok Sabha was dissolved soon after, sealing the fate of the two bills.

(Amendment) Bill sets aside three categories of projects for which the government can acquire 100% land. These include establishment of installations pertaining to national security, infrastructure and facilities designated as “social infrastructure,” such as health, education and space research.

For any project other than the above, land could be acquired in the 70:30 ratio, with the company planning to set up the facility on that land being asked to purchase 70% of it. The state government would step into the picture only after the private player had done its bit, by agreeing to take over the remaining 30% if it felt the project fell in the “public purpose” domain.

The clause, which has been co-opted in the 2010 bill, is certain to face resistance from the Trinamool Congress, an important component of the UPA. “The Centre or the state government should have no role in land acquisition,” minister of state for rural development Sisir Adhikari, who hails from the Trinamool stable, said on Friday. He wanted the government to abide by the standing committee’s recommendation, which ruled out any role for private players in land acquisition, making the state the sole decision-maker.

On the compensation package, the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill wanted the displaced persons to be granted 60% solatium over and above the market rate of the land being taken over. Market rate was defined as the average of the highest transactions in the last three in the same area on a similar tract of land.


The Economic Times, 11 September, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Sonias-sentiments-sway-Land-Acquisition-Bill/articleshow/6533500.cms


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