land acquisition/sez & displacement â 2011 - Indian Social Institute

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companies needing land will have to first acquire at least 80 per cent of the land their projects require.According top a minister who attended the 90-minute cabinet meeting, the bill provides for a monthlysubsistence allowance of Rs 3,000 for each family in the first year after losing their land, and a monthlyannuity of Rs 2,000 for the next 20 years. Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwaliatold Financial Chronicle that the current law on land acquisition needed to replaced with a new law thatwas fair in that it must provide appropriate compensation to those who lost their land and livelihood, andat the same time provide reasonable ways to ensure that the objective of economic development was notcompromised. Responding to questions, Ficci secretary-general Rajiv Kumar hopes that the bill took onboard his organisation’s suggestions on simplifying the resettlement and rehabilitation process. “Thecompensation formula was complex and we sought its simplification,” he said. “Also, the point in the draftbill citing that agricultural land could not be acquired was also not feasible as all infrastructure like canalsor roads cannot avoid covering or passing through agriculture land,” Kumar added. CII president BMuthuraman saw several positives in the approved bill with regard to resettlement and rehabilitation. Onthe negative side, he said, it would push up the cost of land acquisition manifold. This may come in theway of industrialisation and economic development, he said. The purpose of the new law to also thatthere is a balanced approach to the question of providing compensation while ensuring the objective ofeconomic development. The draft bill also defines “public purpose” for which land can be acquired and isbelieved to have made it clear that once the land is acquired for a purpose, it cannot be changed. The billwas cleared by cabinet after rural development minister Jairam Ramesh recently had discussions withWest Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who had certain reservations on some of the provisions ofthe bill. There were also reports that agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had some reservations on theissue of compensation. This too appears to have been sorted out.(Financial Chronicle 5/9/11)Land bill prunes NAC price formula (4)New Delhi, Sept. 5: The compensation rate suggested by the National Advisory Council has been prunedin the land acquisition bill, whose draft the cabinet hurriedly approved today, side-stepping severalobjections to try and meet a political timetable set by Rahul Gandhi. The bill will be introduced inParliament on Wednesday, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters. It is likely to go tothe standing committee and be taken up for passage during the winter session. Rahul wants it passedbefore the Uttar Pradesh elections due next summer. The bill compensates rural land-losers at four timesthe market value, defined as the average selling price for a similar type of land in the area. The SoniaGandhi-headed National Advisory Council had suggested the compensation be six times the marketvalue in rural areas. The rate in urban areas will be twice the market value. Ramesh said the states werefree to enact their own land acquisition law on the lines of the central law. Bengal chief minister MamataBanerjee had told him on Saturday that the Centre should allow the states this leeway. The bill acceptsanother of Mamata’s demands: that any acquired plot that remains unutilised for 10 years can be put in aland bank, to be later used for any purpose the state government deems fit. Ramesh thanked Mamata forher “full support” to the bill. Sources said that at the cabinet meeting, which lasted more than two hours,several ministers had objected to certain provisions that they felt would discourage industry and affectinvestments. The critics, mostly former chief ministers familiar with the nitty-gritty of land acquisition, weretold the standing committee would later look into these points but the bill had to be tabled this session.Among the contentious provisions was the annuity clause saying each land-loser family must be paid Rs2,000 every month for 20 years. Sharad Pawar felt this would be unpalatable for industry. The otherobjectors included Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Veerappa Moily and Virbhadra Singh. Theirarguments were not rejected out of hand because the government understands that certain parts of thedraft may need to be tailored. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the bill would be discussed at theNational Development Council, which has all the chief ministers as its members, in mid-October. Rameshhad last month written to all the chief ministers seeking their comments on the bill, but only a few haveresponded. On a suggestion from states such as Punjab and Haryana, the provision banning acquisitionof multi-crop land has been dropped. The bill says the compensation will be paid to land-losers withinthree months of acquisition, and the resettlement and rehabilitation benefits will be given within 18months. There will be no forcible displacement of families from project areas before the rehabilitationcolonies are completed. After acquisition, the purpose of land-use cannot be changed. This will checkpractices such as acquiring land for industry, say, and using it for other purposes such as buildinghousing complexes. The bill, which seeks to replace the land acquisition act of 1894, includes a provisionto apply the law with retrospective effect. “The new law will apply to all cases of land acquisition where
the award (compensation) has not been made so far under the previous law, or the possession of landhas not been made regardless of whether the award has been paid or not,” a ministry source said.(Telegraph 6/9/11)Land acquisition bill may nibble at agriculture land (4)Mumbai | Agency: DNA: The Union cabinet’s approval of the Land Acquisition Act 2011, which has beenpursued on the lines of the Maharashtra model, runs the risk of causing the shrinking of agriculture fields.The biggest concern is that participation of the government to facilitate land acquisition for over 100 acrescould be exploited by private players. The Centre was under pressure from various state governments,including Maharashtra, to streamline the land acquisition as it received major setback in special economiczones (SEZs) following protest from farmers in Raigad district. Although the Land Acquisition Relief andRehabilitation Bill 2011 still requires two-thirds endorsement of both Houses of Parliament before itsimplementation, it has evoked sharp reactions, both within the state government and non-governmentorganisations championing the cause of farmers. A senior Congress minister on condition of anonymitytold DNA, “Notwithstanding the good intentions to protect the right of the land owners in the bill, I fear thehigher compensation package which has been made mandatory for land price would promote marginaland small farmers to sell off their land. This could be the beginning of a dangerous trend leading to thenext generation shifting from agriculture to service sectors across rural Maharashtra.” Kishore Tiwari ofVidarbha Jan Andolan said, “The land acquisition act is going to be detrimental to the interests of farmersin the cotton growing belt of Vidarbha.” Ulka Mahajan of National Alliance for People’s Movement (NAPM)added, “Resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced remains the biggest concern.” (DNA7/9/11)Land acquisition: Farmers give memo to collector (4)VADODARA: Farmers of around 10 villages in Vadodara district on Thursday submitted a memorandumto the district collector over the land acquisition for the expansion of the national highway eight. Thefarmers are opposing the process and the quantum of compensation that they are being offered for theirland. The farmers have demanded that they should be given compensation in accordance with theNational Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy (NRRP), 2007. Presently they are being givencompensation under the National Highways Act. Besides raising the demands regarding thecompensation, the farmers have sought several changes in the land acquisition policy. The memorandumstates that on the issue of giving a solacium to farmers, the National Highways Act was skewed againstthem. It had no such provision whereas the Railway Amendment Act, 2008, and the Land Acquisition Act,1894, had the necessary provisions. The Ekta Gramin Praja Vichar Manch has also stated that besidessolacium a major issue was that of small plots of land after acquisition that were left with the farmers.Cultivation is not viable on such small plots. The organisation has also pointed out lacunae in the way inwhich prices for land were decided. The farmers had assembled in the Kothi compound here at noon onThursday. They conducted a short rally to reach the collector's office and submit the memorandum there.(Times of India 8/9/11)20 villagers arrested at Posco site (4)Kendrapada: Tension gripped the site of the proposed Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district onFriday after 20 anti-land acquisition villagers were arrested on charges of preventing entry of officials andpolice into the villages. Police also dismantled two wooden barricades built by the villagers to bar theentry of "outsiders". "We arrested Niranjan Swain, Pravat Palei, Achuti Das, Srimanta Parida, BhamaraRout, Tushar Nayak , Narayan Parida and others at Nuagaon and at Gadakujang on the charges ofobstructing the entry of officials and police by constructing wooden gates," said the sub-divisional policeofficer (Paradip) Santanu Das. "The deputy general manager of Posco, S N Singh, along with eight treecutters were held hostage by anti-land acquisition villagers at Nuagaon for five hours on Monday. Twoweeks ago, the villagers had detained the additional district magistrate (Paradip), Surjit Das, and thedistrict land acquisition officer, Nrusingh Swain for four hours. Police had rushed to the village andrescued the officials," the SDPO said. Six platoons of police have been deployed at Gadakujang andNuagaon areas in order to check any untoward incident, he added. "The efforts of the districtadministration to expedite land acquisition for the Posco steel project proposed to be set up in the grampanchayats of Gadakujang, Nuagaon and Dhinkia have turned out to be a dampener as both the pro-Posco and anti-land acquisition groups joined hands to prevent the land acquisition by the authority on
Page 5 and 6: order. Each kit contains a kitchen
Page 7 and 8: Jharkhand Opposition rejects rehabi
Page 9 and 10: the new location shall only be iden
Page 11: Development, Acquisition, Displacem
Page 14 and 15: a plot of land within the schedule
Page 16 and 17: land acquisition was a major challe
Page 18 and 19: debate on the issue of land acquisi
Page 20: SEZ land use policy flayed (4)The A
Page 23 and 24: eceive any such complaints. Look at
Page 25 and 26: Singur case: West Bengal to begin a
Page 27 and 28: natural calamities should be brough
Page 29 and 30: Land issues hit road work (4)Thiruv
Page 31: The government's land acquisition p
Page 35 and 36: 2011 it has been mentioned under Cl
Page 37 and 38: Paradip, Sept. 26: A violent clash
Page 39 and 40: Govt cannot change purpose of acqui
Page 41 and 42: new clause bans change of purpose i
Page 43 and 44: Supreme Court would be taken only a
Page 45 and 46: ‘Land acquisition at market price
Page 47 and 48: India Economic Forum on Monday. Rep
Page 49 and 50: decades for massive acquisition of
Page 51 and 52: the apex court, Tamil Nadu alleged
Page 53 and 54: policy," he demanded. The fresh sti
Page 55: overall cost has already increased

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land acquisition/sez & displacement â 2011 - Indian Social Institute