New Delhi:
The Land Acquisition bill, designed to revamp a 118-year-old law drawn up by the British, was presented to the cabinet today where it was not greeted with huge enthusiasm. The bill has been referred to a Group of Ministers for more study, after many ministers said the interests of their departments had been ignored.
The new bill is intended to balance the interests of industry, infrastructure and poor farmers by deciding how land should be acquired by the government for itself and by private firms to provide public services. This will embrace a wide range of projects in sectors from power and telecommunications to transport and education.
Among the major projects which have stalled awaiting the new legislation are 12-million-tonne steel plants planned by Posco and ArcelorMittal and a six-million-tonne steel plant of Tata Steel in Odisha, as well as Coal India's mine expansion in Chhattisgarh. More than 80 highway projects are also running behind schedule.
Despite the promise of greater transparency and better regulation, corporate India is worried about cost. The new law may force them to pay four times the market price for land in rural areas and twice the market price in urban areas, and give displaced people homes, jobs, monthly stipends and even a share of their profits in some cases.
Even if companies enter into private negotiations for land, they will be required to rehabilitate people if they acquire over 100 acres of rural land or 50 acres in urban areas.
The Confederation of Indian Industry lobby group estimates that this will increase land acquisition costs by 3-3.5 times, affecting the viability of projects across the board.
The government has tried twice to amend the 118-year-old legislation, but until now it has failed to balance demands for an end to the regulatory minefield that confronts developers with a popular clamour to protect the poor.
Even as the government prepared last week to introduce its latest version of the Land Acquisition Act in Parliament, social activists gathered in the capital to protest against a law their leaders said falls "far too short of democratic expectation".
(With inputs from Reuters)
"The redrafted bill...though accepting certain provisions as suggested by social movements, is pro-market and pro-investment and will only further the land conflict," said activist Medha Patkar.
Safeguarding farmland against the creep of industrialisation to ensure food security is a priority for Congress president Sonia Gandhi, not least because of the Congress relies heavily on rural voters for support.
Back in 2004, when it came to power, the Congress pledged to overhaul a law whose wide definition of "public use" means people can be turfed without much ado off their land, and which omitted to lay down rules for compensation and rehabilitation.
The trick that the government must pull off with the new legislation, however, is mollifying both the social activists and India Inc.
Over 200 government projects and several industrial ones have stalled due to land-use snags, contributing to the country's sharpest economic slowdown in a decade and stifling much-needed growth in employment.
Take the grand plan for a new international airport near Mumbai, which was envisaged more than a decade ago to relieve pressure on the financial capital's existing airport.
A blue signboard overlooking a vast expanse of waterlogged land with hillocks to one side is all there is to show for the project so far. This is because although environmental clearance was granted two years ago, villagers who own 24 percent of the land are holding out for a higher compensation package.
Mahindra Patil, headman of a village that sits on the airport site, said his people want developed land equivalent to 35 percent of the area they are losing and 25 million rupees per acre.
"If they don't agree, the airport will not come up here," said Mr Patil from his cramped office on the edge of lush green paddy fields. "We have been doing farming and fishing here for ages. This is our wealth, how much more will we sacrifice? We will not compromise beyond this."
In what will be a huge relief to existing project owners, a proposal to apply the new acquisition regulations retrospectively is likely to be ditched by the government.
The bill is also expected to propose the establishment of a quasi-judicial body to settle disputes over compensation within six months, doing away with the practice of going to lower civil courts where cases could drag on for years.
But social activists believe that the new law, despite its provisions to make compensation fairer, will build in a bias towards land developers at the expense of small landholders.
The new bill is intended to balance the interests of industry, infrastructure and poor farmers by deciding how land should be acquired by the government for itself and by private firms to provide public services. This will embrace a wide range of projects in sectors from power and telecommunications to transport and education.
Among the major projects which have stalled awaiting the new legislation are 12-million-tonne steel plants planned by Posco and ArcelorMittal and a six-million-tonne steel plant of Tata Steel in Odisha, as well as Coal India's mine expansion in Chhattisgarh. More than 80 highway projects are also running behind schedule.
Despite the promise of greater transparency and better regulation, corporate India is worried about cost. The new law may force them to pay four times the market price for land in rural areas and twice the market price in urban areas, and give displaced people homes, jobs, monthly stipends and even a share of their profits in some cases.
Even if companies enter into private negotiations for land, they will be required to rehabilitate people if they acquire over 100 acres of rural land or 50 acres in urban areas.
The Confederation of Indian Industry lobby group estimates that this will increase land acquisition costs by 3-3.5 times, affecting the viability of projects across the board.
The government has tried twice to amend the 118-year-old legislation, but until now it has failed to balance demands for an end to the regulatory minefield that confronts developers with a popular clamour to protect the poor.
Even as the government prepared last week to introduce its latest version of the Land Acquisition Act in Parliament, social activists gathered in the capital to protest against a law their leaders said falls "far too short of democratic expectation".
(With inputs from Reuters)
"The redrafted bill...though accepting certain provisions as suggested by social movements, is pro-market and pro-investment and will only further the land conflict," said activist Medha Patkar.
Safeguarding farmland against the creep of industrialisation to ensure food security is a priority for Congress president Sonia Gandhi, not least because of the Congress relies heavily on rural voters for support.
Back in 2004, when it came to power, the Congress pledged to overhaul a law whose wide definition of "public use" means people can be turfed without much ado off their land, and which omitted to lay down rules for compensation and rehabilitation.
The trick that the government must pull off with the new legislation, however, is mollifying both the social activists and India Inc.
Over 200 government projects and several industrial ones have stalled due to land-use snags, contributing to the country's sharpest economic slowdown in a decade and stifling much-needed growth in employment.
Take the grand plan for a new international airport near Mumbai, which was envisaged more than a decade ago to relieve pressure on the financial capital's existing airport.
A blue signboard overlooking a vast expanse of waterlogged land with hillocks to one side is all there is to show for the project so far. This is because although environmental clearance was granted two years ago, villagers who own 24 percent of the land are holding out for a higher compensation package.
Mahindra Patil, headman of a village that sits on the airport site, said his people want developed land equivalent to 35 percent of the area they are losing and 25 million rupees per acre.
"If they don't agree, the airport will not come up here," said Mr Patil from his cramped office on the edge of lush green paddy fields. "We have been doing farming and fishing here for ages. This is our wealth, how much more will we sacrifice? We will not compromise beyond this."
In what will be a huge relief to existing project owners, a proposal to apply the new acquisition regulations retrospectively is likely to be ditched by the government.
The bill is also expected to propose the establishment of a quasi-judicial body to settle disputes over compensation within six months, doing away with the practice of going to lower civil courts where cases could drag on for years.
But social activists believe that the new law, despite its provisions to make compensation fairer, will build in a bias towards land developers at the expense of small landholders.
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