Relevance: mains: G.S Paper III: Land reforms in India & G.S paper II: Government acts and policies
What is the land acquisition Bill 2011 all about?
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011 is a proposed law that lays down various provisions and directions to be followed while acquiring land anywhere in the country. The term ‘land acquisition’ means forcible acquisition of land from an unwilling seller and is distinct from a land purchase from a willing seller.
The Bill merges the land acquisition law with rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) provisions; the UPA government had earlier proposed two separate bills. The new proposed law replaces over-a-century-old Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which has various shortcomings—it has no resettlement and rehabilitation provisions for those displaced by the land acquisition and provides low rates of compensation to the land owners.
LARR Bill, 2011 was introduced in Lok Sabha on September 7, 2011. The present rural minister, Jairam Ramesh, has renamed LARR Bill, 2011 as “Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill 2012”. The government claims that the proposed law balances the need for facilitating land acquisition for various public purposes with the concerns of farmers and people whose livelihood depends on the land so acquired.
So far, the government has moved 165 amendments; the opposition has moved as many as 116
Important provisions of the law
Compensation in rural areas would be calculated by multiplying market value by two and adding assets attached to the land or building and adding a solatium. In urban areas it would be market value plus assets attached to the land and solatium
Developers to get the consent of up to 80 per cent of people whose land is acquired for private projects. For PPP projects, the approval of 70 per cent of land owners is mandatory
Multi-cropped, irrigated land cannot be acquired unless it is for defence or emergency caused by natural calamity
Land should be returned to original owner if not used in five years for the purpose for which it is acquired, subject to the refund of one-fourth of the compensation amount with interest from date of payment
The government will not acquire land for private companies for private purpose.
The Bill mandates social impact assessment when government proposes acquisition of land over 40.46 ha, which should be conducted in consultation with the gram sabha (village council). It also provides for the appointment of an administrator for rehabilitation.
Both land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation provisions of the Bill will apply to projects when government acquires land for its own use or on behalf of private companies for stated public purpose, including PPP projects. In case companies directly acquire over 40 ha from land owners, they will be responsible for resettlement and rehabilitation.
The Bill also proposes amenities like schools, health centres and civic infrastructure in places where project-affected people are resettled.
The urgency clause should be exercised in the rarest of rare cases like national defence or for resettlement purposes. This means no land acquisition can proceed without public hearing.
What were the key suggestions of parliamentary standing committee on rural development on the Bill?
A restrictive definition of public purpose which means development of infrastructure by the public agencies with public funds only.
No forcible acquisition for private projects, or for public-private partnership (PPP) projects, which cannot to be categorized as public.
No forcible acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose, including single crop growing farmland.
All 16 Central Acts that are presently exempted from LARR 2011 provisions should be brought under the purview of the new Act.
All studies like Environment Impact Assessment and expert committee appraisal is done in consultation with the gram sabhas and the corresponding reports should be made available to the gram sabhas.
If land is not used till five years from the date of possession then it should be returned to the land owners
Re-examination of rehabilitation and resettlement provisions.
What are the key concerns about this new law?
Gram Sabha and Basti Sabha don’t have legal right to decide the nature of public purpose. As a result misuse of land may occur.
Acquisition for Private and PPP Projects: Land reform activists fear that the state would again play a role of facilitators under garb of PPP project
The Bill leaves it to the state governments to decide if non-irrigated, rain-fed, single-crop land can be acquired or not. India has 75% of the agricultural land as rain fed and most of it is single cropped. Such land is mostly held by Dalits, Adivasis and marginal farmers.
Ministry of rural development wants to exclude 13 out of 16 Acts including Industrial Development Act, Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, National Highways Act and others from the purview of the new Act.
Role and Consent of Gram and Basti Sabha not required in case of linear projects such as railways, highways, major district roads, power lines, and irrigation canals.
Ministry retains the provisions for state land bank. The provision is likely to be misused as large-scale acquisition took place in the past and later the so acquired land parcels were illegally transferred to corporations for real estate and other purposes.
Is this new bill up to the mark?
Even as farmers protest land acquisitions across India, the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) unveiled the draft national land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement bill. Released on July 29, the bill promises higher compensation to land owners and incorporates comprehensive rehabilitation package for even the landless people affected by takeovers. The draft has also introduced certain safeguards against forcible land acquisition for private companies.
The MoRD minister, Jairam Ramesh, in his foreword to the draft bill claimed the proposed law seeks to balance the need for facilitating land acquisition for various public purposes with the concerns of farmers and people whose livelihood depends on the land acquired. The bill merges the land acquisition law with rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) provisions; the UPA government had earlier proposed two separate bills. Ramesh justified the merger, saying resettlement and rehabilitation “necessarily follow land acquisition and that not combining the two laws risks neglect of R&R”.
Recognises rights of landless
The draft bill proposes compensation six times the circle rates for rural land owners and twice the circle rate for urban land owners. The compensation package introduces a subsistence allowance of Rs 3,000 per month for a year and an inflation-indexed annuity of Rs 2,000 for 20 years for both land owners and those losing livelihood (see ‘What the bill promises’).
But activists protesting land acquisition are not placated. The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) says land should be taken only on lease so that the land owners, who may be tribals or farmers, are not alienated from their land and can have a regular income in the form of lease payment. Madhuresh Kumar of NAPM says the bill does not offer a good deal to farmers displaced by irrigation projects. Those displaced by the Narmada project were given 2 hectares (ha); the new bill proposes only 0.4 ha, he says.
Public purpose v private interest
The most contentious provision in the draft bill is the one defining “public purpose”. It says public purpose for which land is acquired would include infrastructure and defence projects, industries and urbanisation.
Kumar says the definition of public purpose covers almost everything from building educational institutions to airports to mining, in which private companies are major players. These companies have no public purpose, and acquisition is for profit making, he says. Dharmender Singh, spokesperson of farmers’ organisation Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), says that the term public purpose is still not well-defined. “For instance, for the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, the government gave away five land parcels to a developer as payment for constructing the highway. Would you consider this swap as public purpose?” Singh asks (see ‘Road to disaster’, Down To Earth, June 15, 2011).
Mander, also expresses concern over the definition of infrastructure projects which allows land acquisition for housing for “such income groups”. Not defining “such” may allow entry of real estate developers, says Mander.
Industry chambers CII, however, hailed the draft bill for including infrastructure and industry in the public purpose clause. It now wants the clause expanded to empower the state to acquire land even for potential use by private sector-led industrial, commercial and institutional projects.
The bill, however, provides safeguards against indiscriminate land acquisitions. It requires states to set up a committee under the chief secretary to approve and determine if land acquisition is for public purpose (see ‘Safeguards against forcible takeovers’).
Safeguards against forcible takeovers
- 80 per cent project-affected families should give consent to land acquisition by government for PPP projects other than national highways and for use by private companies
Multi-cropped, irrigated land cannot be acquired unless it is for defence or emergency caused by natural calamity
- Public purpose once stated cannot be changed
- Land should be returned to original owner if not used in five years for the purpose for which it is acquired subject to the refund of one-fourth of the compensation amount with interest from date of payment
- The government will not acquire land for private companies for private purpose
Public consent for PPP projects
The draft bill mandates social impact assessment when government proposes acquisition of land over 40.46 ha, which should be conducted in consultation with the gram sabha. It also provides for the appointment of an administrator for rehabilitation.
Both land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation provisions of the proposed bill will apply to projects when government acquires land for its own use or on behalf of private companies for stated public purpose, including PPP projects. In case companies directly acquire over 40 ha from land owners, they will be responsible for resettlement and rehabilitation. It also proposes amenities like schools, health centres and civic infrastructure in places where project-affected people are resettled.
The draft bill mandates that 80 per cent project-affected persons must give their consent if government acquires land for use by private companies.
An often misused provision of the existing Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is the urgency cause, invoked by states to acquire land forcibly. The draft bill says the urgency clause should be exercised in the rarest of rare cases like national defence or for resettlement purposes. This means no land acquisition can proceed without public hearing.
Citizens’ groups and non-profits say that the provision of obtaining consent of 80 per cent project-affected people should also apply to government projects as well. NAPM says the draft bill mandates consent only where private sector is involved. It means proposed government projects like the nuclear power project in Jaitapur, dams and airports will not require public consent. What’s more, the draft bill gives legitimacy to government acquiring land for private companies. Till now land was being acquired for private companies in violation of the existing land acquisition Act as seen in the case of POSCO steel project in Odisha.