After centuries India gets a bill promoting the interests of farmers

After long deliberations and discussions, the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill, which seeks to provide just and fair compensation to farmers and make certain that no land can be acquired against the farmers will, was passed in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The much-touted bill proposes to bring standardization to land purchases by the government for industrial purposes. It calls for the consent of 80 percent of land owners for acquiring land for private projects and of 70 percent landowners for public-private projects. The bill proposed payment of compensation up to four times the market value in rural areas and two times the market value in urban areas.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who has thumped for the legislation said ‘I am happy that the bill has been passed.’

The bill – “The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012”, which would replace more-than-century-old Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is being seen as another possible vote-gainer for the ruling UPA government ahead of the 2014 elections.

However, the industry seemed to be upset with the smooth passing of the bill, as they feel that the bill would slow down the land acquisition process and also raise the compensation cost to fivefold, making industrial projects unfeasible and increasing overall cost in the economy.

As reported by Economic Times, the industry chamber CII President S Gopalakrishnan said that at a time when major projects are stalled and India’s global competitiveness is eroding, a more facilitative land acquisition process would have helped long-term growth and restore investor sentiments.

Another foremost ground of fear in the bill is restraint on acquisition of multi-cropped land that would affect projects such as mineral extraction, whose location cannot be chosen.

Land acquisition in states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for industries, road expansion and housing societies has caused clashes between farmers and state authorities, resulting in huge project delays.