The government has realised land acquisition is not pleasing to the ear, just as it has not been to the lives of thousands of displaced people in the country. It reminds people of their conflict with the government, which invariably represented the interest of private companies in need of land. It is the same story everywhere — Kalinga Nagar, Niyamagiri, Lohandiguda, Bhatta Parsaul or Gurgaon.
Probably, it is the government’s belief in cosmetic changes that it has found a more benign-sounding name for the Land Acquisition Bill — the Fair Compensation Bill. Towards the end, the title of the Bill mentions acquisition, too (Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2011).
Tribals of Niyamagiri and Lohandiguda, or North Sikkim’s Dzongu, who protested themselves hoarse and yet went unheard during public hearings in the past, could not agree more with an emphasis on transparency in acquisition.
But, unfortunately, names do not make any difference. The question is whether the intent of the Bill has changed, too. Does it ensure justice would be done to every single individual who has lost his land? Or, every individual who has been paid a pittance by state governments, such as in Uttar Pradesh and Chindwara in Madhya Pradesh where projects worth crores of rupees are coming up now, two to three decades later? Also, does it ensure the lack of consent of land owners or the gram sabha would not tilt decisions in the favour of companies.
For the Bill, overlooking the recommendation of the Standing Committee, emphasises that decisions on acquisition would be based on consultation of the gram sabhas, not their consent.
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In Odisha, Korean company Posco has been kept waiting for land for the last seven years to begin its steel project. The Bill might now legitimise acquisition of land with a compensation being paid, according to the Bill. Or, it may not. For, compensation was never an issue in Odisha. Similarly, it has not been an issue in Koodamkulam or Kalinga Nagar.
Now compensation is expected to become everything. Whatever be the wishes of the land owner, large helpings of compensation under the Bill is expected to smother all protests.
If the land owners are happy with the package and willing to leave their villages forever, the Bill will achieve its goal. The goal of the Bill, as the draft admitted, was to eliminate the hurdles, the unwanted brakes applied to the engine of development, of urbanisation, of industrialisation.
The speed of development can be judged from the fact that the country’s requirement for power is expected to go up eightfold to 800,000 megawatt by 2030. It cannot have the patience for protests. But, even if protests are silenced, water resources and other natural resources are not expected to keep pace, as several studies have warned.
Development today is measured by the money people are willing to invest, rather than a community’s need for it. The concept of ‘eminent domain’ that makes the state the owner of all land, also makes it a co-author of every development script along with the investor. The land-owning communities don’t have a say in the script, as they have no money. And, even the land is not supposed to be their’s — state being the real owner.
The government has rejected suggestions by the Standing Committee to make the gram sabha a co-author in the project. It says only their views and not consent will be taken.
Medha Patkar, the activist who brought the issue of displacement to the forefront during the Narmada movement, says the Bill should have looked at the justification for land acquisition. It should have redefined development and made local communities the main stakeholders in decisions related to land, including if the projects are of any use to them.
An activist from Odisha, Prafulla Samantaray, says the Bill ends nothing as the people still don’t decide whether a project is going to benefit them or not.
The Bill — like the principle of eminent domain — doesn’t leave any space for participatory decision-making. It will ensure the wealthiest get all and the rest get compensated.