Can land be acquired without government help?

DEBATE

Nandigram's 'recapture' has badly affected the ability of governments to forcibly acquire land "" whether alternative solutions exist is an important question.

Ajay Khanna,
Deputy Director General,
CII

"The private sector cannot deal with faulty land records or identify those who don't own the land but are dependent on it without the government's help"

The Indian economy, realising its true potential, is growing at over 9 per cent per annum. The manufacturing and service sectors are the prime movers of this growth and hold immense potential to provide employment to millions of people in the country. To meet the needs of the growing economy, large projects are being initiated all over the country both in infrastructure as well as manufacturing. Land is a key requirement of these projects and the government's role in the acquisition of land, as an enabler and facilitator of growth, is important.

Historically, governments, both in India and abroad, acquire land for "public purpose" and redistribute it for industrial and infrastructure usage in the interest of the nation. The government directly acquires land at compensation packages determined by it. Further, its support and assistance in terms of infrastructure availability, connectivity, identification of non-agricultural usage land, affected families and other considerations cannot be ignored and undervalued.

Therefore, the government's role in the acquisition of land is prime, important and crucial. The provision for the appointment of an administrator in the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy for projects which impact more than 400 families, further corroborates the fact the government's participation is a must in land acquisition.

The administrator is to work with the local panchayats to develop suitable rehabilitation packages. Over the years, various models of governmental intervention and help have evolved in land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation. In some cases, state governments buy land and re-sell to the private sector. In others, the concerned company purchases the majority of the land, and the government steps in to help it acquire the rest. Problems often arise in land purchase due to faulty land records. There is lack of clarity in ownership and clear titles are not available. Disputes in these cases need to be resolved by the government.

Another challenge is to provide compensation to those who do not actually own the land but are dependent on it for livelihood, such as sharecroppers, agricultural labourers, artisans, or small retailers and vendors. Thus, every aspect of land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation calls for close intervention and the government's involvement. Large projects must undertake baseline surveys and social impact assessments to identify such persons and develop alternate livelihoods and habitations for them in partnership with the government.

A third area where government support for large projects is needed is in providing adequate infrastructure in the project periphery, allowing better living conditions for indirect job workers, education facilities, and so on.

Biswadip Gupta,
JMD & CEO,
JSW Bengal Steel Limited

"The government needs to be around but if you're sensitive to land/ home losers and make them stakeholders, you can succeed as we did in our Salboni project"

In today's business environment in India, if there is one hurdle that comes in the way of industrialisation across the country and industry, it is land. So charged up and emotive has been this issue that the nation has recently witnessed serious backlashes at Kalinganagar, Singur, Nandigram and at other places in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Today most mega-projects needing land in excess of 1,500-2,000 acres are stalled due to the land issue.

Once we understand the reasons that impair the land acquisition process, we will be able to think about solutions. According to me, the major reasons that hold up land acquisition are:

Inadequate compensation values;

No clearances from the ministry of environment and forests with respect to forests, tribals and wild life;

Unavailability of large contiguous land;

Unclear alternate livelihood options;

General lack of sensitivity towards home and land losers; and

Inability of the acquiring companies to include land/home losers in the process of development.

Even by being generous in compensating people, pockets of resistance form due to the last two points. Wherever I have to acquire land, my approach is primarily focused on these two issues "" be sensitive towards the land/home losers and do your best to include them in the nation-building process by making them true stakeholders. This approach has been very successful in our Salboni, West Medinipur project. I must add that for me, this was a serious test as I was planning mega-investments in West Bengal at a time when Singur and Nandigram were on the top of the agenda. In fact, while I was with the honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, on March 14 this year, discussing our Salboni Steel plant project, violence erupted in Nandigram. I was still confident of our land plans as my compensation package was fair and an inclusive one.

To answer whether such acquisitions can be done without government interventions, the answer cannot be a straight yes or no. In any big acquisition, the government has to help with its administrative machinery. Land revenue officials, gram panchayats, local leaders and opinion makers all have to co-operate. The transaction process, as done in Salboni, can be handled by individual companies. But at all stages, the government needs to be around. More so, if the land has to be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act so as to evolve a sensitive R&R policy for the oustees. As an example, without the clear R&R policy of the Jharkhand government, it would have been difficult to proceed with any big investment. It is my firm belief that, provided land is cleared by the environment ministry, together with the help of the local government and administration, we can satisfy the oustees and land losers and compensate them fairly and include them in our development process.