Rehab panel, Gandhi to govt

A national rehabilitation commission for the people displaced because of development projects and amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, are now hanging fire after Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the post of chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) last Friday.

A draft policy on rehabilitation of people displaced because of acquisition of their land for development projects could prove to be the last intervention by the NAC in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's policy matters.

The matter was taken up by the NAC after a firing on the protesting tribals who had been displaced and not adequately compensated, at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa.

The draft policy, sent by the NAC to the government on March 6, just 17 days before Gandhi's resignation, is a progressive document. It seeks to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, terming it colonial and draconian.

"The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, does not defend the rights of the project-affected people, but rather facilitates the state acting in alleged 'public interest'," says the NAC document. The draft policy also recommends that the Act be amended to allow people to challenge the claim of public interest of any acquisition.

Only after "national interest" and "public purpose" have satisfactorily been established, which should be binding under the law, authorities should be allowed to go ahead with a resettlement plan, says the paper.

This is long-standing demand of the people whose lands have been acquired for one purpose or the other by the state. The paper also says while determining compensation, replacement value at the operative market rates should be the basic principle. Not only should the lost property and assets be compensated for, but lost livelihoods and opportunities should also be compensated, including the principle of land for land.

The project-affected people must get first right to employment in the project, and also its benefits. They must be allowed first rights to common land, if they have been displaced under irrigation projects, mandatory employment, if project is non-irrigation based.

While the government is silent on the NAC's fate, for non-government organisations which had made use of it to articulate their concerns, Gandhi's exit has come as a body blow. "Without her, the NAC will not pack the punch it used to. A communication from the NAC meant Sonia Gandhi.

Without her, the government may well ignore the recommendations," said a NAC member.