Cabinet clears land bill

Draft may be introduced in Parliament on Sept 7

The bill provides for compensation to the land owner at the rate of four times the market price. The NAC headed by Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia wanted the compensation to be six times of the market price.  A 90-minute meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the bill, which is likely to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.

“It is a historic bill. It not only safeguards the interests of the land owners but also of the people dependent on the land to be acquired, for their livelihood,” said Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.

The Ministry of Rural Development made public the bill draft towards the end of July and received feedback till August 31. The bill was put on fast-track in the wake of a number of agitations against land acquisition for industrial and development projects across the country.

It was also politically important for the Congress to woo farmers ahead of the crucial State Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh, the hub of much of the anti-acquisition protests.

The NAC, the UPA Government’s interface with civil society, sought a blanket ban on acquisition of irrigated multi-crop agricultural land. Though the draft bill included the ban, sources said the final version cleared by the Union Cabinet allowed acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land to the extent of 5 per cent of the total land acquired for a particular project, albeit with the rider that an equal extent of wasteland within the district would have to be developed.

The bill defines “public purpose” for which land could be acquired and does not allow land acquired for a particular purpose to be diverted for some other purpose. It also stipulates timelines for compensating the land owner.

The Confederation of Indian Industry welcomed the government’s decision to combine rehabilitation and resettlement in the same piece of legislation. It also welcomed the fact that land acquisition for public purpose would be undertaken by the government beyond a reasonable threshold.