Draft suggests payment of twice the market value for urban land and six times for rural land.
The government on Friday came out with the latest version of a draft land Bill which, for the first time, seeks to include relief and rehabilitation measures.
The draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill seeks to set different values for urban and rural land. It suggests a compensation amount that is twice the market value in case of urban land and six times when rural land is acquired. It also provides for relief and rehabilitation if land acquired is more than 100 acres and makes the consent of 80 per cent land owners a must.
| How industry can buy land |
| * A company can acquire up to 100 acres for its projects |
| * Irrigated multi-crop land cannot be acquired |
| * Industry can acquire land only if 80% owners agree |
| * Companies can seek government intervention at any stage |
| * Land can be acquired for industry, urbanisation and infrastructure |
| * Land to be returned if not used for five years after it is acquired |
| * Same relief and rehabilitation (R&R) measures for land acquired for public-private partnership and private projects |
| * R&R compensation amount set at twice the market rate in urban areas and six times the market rate in rural areas |
| * Companies will pay an allowance of Rs 3,000 per family per month for 20 years |
| * They will have to give 20% developed land to those from whom it is acquired |
| * Share 20% profit on each transfer of land till 10 years |
| * The government will not have to seek consent from people to buy land for its use |
However, those fighting for farmers said this would make land acquisition a cakewalk for industry. They said acquiring land up to 100 acres had been made easier.
The draft Bill rules out acquisition of land by the government for private companies, for private purposes, and acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land for even public purposes, as was done in the Yamuna Expressway project.
However, it does not change the definition of public purpose and keeps almost all infrastructure projects, including real estate parks, in its ambit.
“While Posco and Bhatta Parsaul (in Greater Noida) cases were a violation of the law, the Bill makes such land acquisition perfectly legal,” said Madhukar Kumar of the National Alliance of People’s Movements. The Bill leaves land acquisition by the government for its own use outside the clause that mandates seeking the consent of 80 per cent land owners, he says.
Comments on the draft have been invited by August 30. The Bill could be tabled in the monsoon session as seven more days would be left for the session to end after that, said Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. However, he did not want to give a deadline for tabling the bill.
N C Saxena, a member of the Sonia Gandhi-chaired National Advisory Council (NAC) and an author of NAC’s version of the Bill, said the draft had largely followed their recommendations.
OTHER PROVISIONS
The draft Bill calls for compensation to land owners as well as the landless occupants who depend on it. It also seeks to do away with the formula approach proposed in the previous drafts for cases where the government and industry buy certain portions. It instead said if the private sector felt a need for government intervention, the compensation rules would apply to all the acquired land.
The draft follows the Haryana model in offering compensation in the form of both an income per month for a year and a 20-year annuity. It provides a land-for-land approach in cases where land is acquired for urbanisation. It proposes that 20 per cent land that is developed be given back to the original owners. It also proposes a share in the property to land owners.
Farmers’ organisations have been lukewarm in their response. “We wanted ownership of the entire land with industry gett-ing land on lease. We proposed ownership only for 20 per cent of the land acquired. It partly meets our demands,” said Rajesh Bhati, in the forefront of the struggle for land rights to Haryana and Noida farmers.
Yudhvir Singh, a coordinator of the farmers’ movement from the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said the draft might finish small farmers. He said the compensation of Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per month was nothing. “This is less than the NREGA (rural job scheme) wage,” he said.
Ficci Secretary General Rajiv Kumar said: “Land is a very critical factor for inclusive economic development and it is important that a transparent, objective and rule-based process of land acquisition and rehabilitation is evolved”
