Amidst the high voltage slugfest between government and opposition over Land Bill, former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who had brought the earlier version of the legislation, has come out with a book giving first-hand account of challenges faced at that time.
The book -- 'Legislating for Justice: The making of the 2013 Land Acquisition Law' -- attempts to explain the rationale behind each and every provision of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.
Ramesh has written the book along with his then principal aide Muhammed Ali Khan.
The book is an account of the challenges faced and the factors that drove the decisions in regulating the government's approach to a resource that is arguably the most important in a land-deficit people-surplus nation.
It highlights the challenges faced by the framers and the competing interests that had to be balanced in this historic and landmark enterprise.
Besides, it focusses on the deficits that still affect India's land rights jurisprudence.
Government has brought a new bill, amending the 2013 Act, which is being strongly resisted by almost all the opposition parties and as a result it is stuck in Parliament.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had only yesterday asked opposition to shun politics of "obstructionism" to allow growth.
