West Bengal on Wednesday finalized a new land policy under which it will seize industrial land not used for five years. If the land had been acquired from farmers, the government will redistribute it among original owners, the new policy says, expanding the scope for returning farm land taken over for industrial use. Though cleared by the state cabinet on Wednesday, the new land policy wasn’t formally announced in view of two...

The foreword — to the Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 — that says “urbanisation is inevitable” (I.p.1) signifies danger. The Bill, if enacted in its present form, is likely to worsen, and not stop, displacement of tribal, Dalit and other backward communities. The Bill states: “The issue of who acquires land is less important than the process of land acquisition, compensation for land acquired and...

The Haryana assembly on Wednesday removed the limit on land ownership by a person or entity in case of non-agricultural land in urban and industrial zones. This comes after a recent Punjab and Haryana high court observation on "grave violations" of land ceiling laws by real estate companies, several of which own hundreds of acres of land. The assembly passed the Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2011, which is...

Land is the most important ingredient for the development of real estate and infrastructure. For quite some time now, land acquisition had become a contentious issue in the country, which has threatened not only the industrial development but also planned growth of cities in the country. In this backdrop, the central government's decision to introduce a land acquisition bill in the monsoon session of Parliament will go a long way...

Bellary is only the tip of the rotting earthmound. Can a new proposed legislation clear the air? Two years ago, when the ministry of mines decided to use satellite imaging to survey projects, it unearthed several “unusual activities” across the country. “The amount of mining done and material being exported didn’t match in areas where certain companies had been given licences,” recounts a former senior bureaucrat with the mines ministry....