The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has proposed that landowners should be paid six times the registered sale deed value as compensation and a solatium in case of compulsory acquisition by the state. The council sat through the day today firming up recommendations for the Land Acquisition bill the Centre plans to introduce in the next session of Parliament. Sonia was present for nearly six hours. It also proposed that compensation should...

-PTI   Land Acquisition by the Orissa government for the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel project was progressing smoothly with 51 betel plantations being acquired in Jagatsinghpur district today. The betel plantations were acquired at Bhuyanpala, Polanga, Bayanala and Noliasahi areas, Additional District Magistrate (Paradip) Sarojkant Choudhury said. "Land Acquisition is progressing at full steam with the cooperation of villagers," he said. Over Rs 75 lakh was paid as compensation to...

Sticks to his decision to frame two separate laws Linking Bills at this juncture will not be proper, he says Even as the National Advisory Council accepted the suggestion of some of its members for a composite legislation on Land Acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement, Union Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday spiked their suggestion and stuck to his decision to frame two separate laws during the monsoon session of...

Land Acquisitions in India are invariably marked by violent protests. Is politics responsible for stirring up passions? Is it loss of a means of livelihood that landowners resent? Or is there a fundamental problem with the way acquisition is done that stirs up a hornet's nest? Look at the last issue first. There are two fundamental problems with the present system of Land Acquisition: the process of acquisition, and the...

Amidst growing Land Acquisition rows across the country, the Supreme Court today suggested the government come out with a “reasonable compensation policy” to meet the genuine grievances of land owners. A vacation bench of justices G. S. Singhvi and C. K. Prasad felt if a proper monetary compensation policy was evolved by the government the frequent disputes over acquisition of lands by government would not arise. “We think if the state formulates...