MAY 2015

POINT
OUT
COVER STORY
it is land acQuisition for
deVeloPment
for an ordinary citizen, the amendment bill would be like a dream come true. We have long been complaining about
the rigidity and snail’s pace involved in the past government’s bureaucratese. the people’s grievances over decades
have now been heard and the government is removing itself from places where procedures need not be choked by
its presence and is retaining its role only in the form of facilitation.
» MeeNAKSHi leKHi
W
hat’s
in a name? A lot it
would seem. We have
been discussing the ‘Land
Acquisition Act’ widely.
But there is a lesser known official title
of the bill which reads as - Right to
Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Bill. The title is
self-evident in that it points to three
main tenets of this Act besides land
acquisition itself – Fair Compensation,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement. These
three tenets are of utmost importance
as they touch the lives of people on the
ground in all cases of land acquisition.
What has the present government done
with these tenets? The government has
kept all three intact and only enhanced
them through the amendments.
For an ordinary citizen, the Amendment
Bill would be like a dream come true. We
have long been complaining about the
rigidity and snail’s pace involved in the
past government’s bureaucratese. The
people’s grievances over decades have
now been heard and the government
is removing itself from places where
procedures need not be choked by
its presence and is retaining its role
only in the form of facilitation. In the
case of land acquisition, the choke at
the Social Impact Assessment level
is being removed for special projects
and facilitation in compensation,
rehabilitation and resettlement of the
people is being focussed on with greater
care.
Another point that detractors fail
to understand is that when the
government wants to acquire land
for affordable housing and industrial
corridors, the ultimate beneficiaries
are the inhabitants of that very area
itself – whether in the form of a house,
easy transport, better connectivity,
new economic opportunities, new
employment or re-developed real estate.
If the same detractors had listened
to the people more carefully, they
would also have heard the demand for
development infrastructure made on
the government and woken up to it. We
seek to fulfil these demands but first we
have to reduce possible delays that are
holding up progress.
Any person who has ever dealt with a
land issue whether with the government,
in courts or otherwise knows that
inordinate delays persist. Where the
government has promised to build a
bridge or a school and has acquired land
for it, there is the obvious expectation
that the village will have access to such
a bridge or school at the earliest and
that is the price that they pay for by
way of their land. However, because
of systemic delays, these projects do
not take off for years, people remain
unsatisfied and develop a deep distrust
towards the government. It is this
trust deficit that prevents people from
acquiescing readily to land acquisition
proposals now – a trust deficit due to
the inefficiency of the government (read
past government).
This government is led by an able leader
and wants to erase this black record
and deliver services to the people with
integrity. The people can trust that this
government is not shackled by scams
and corruption, and is, therefore, more
likely to perform. These are not simply
words - a live example can be seen in
Gujarat’s model of land acquisition.
It has been touted as the country’s
best model by none less than the
22
maY 2015