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

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Kolkata, Oct 9 : Disagreeing with the West Bengal government's view that it has no role to play in landacquisition for industrial projects, industry body Assocham Sunday said if the governemnt stays away,future investment would be impacted. "The government has an important role to play in facilitating landacquisition. It cannot shy away. If the government says it cannot get involved at all, then future investmentwill be affected," said Assocham chairman (east) Sunil Kanoria. Soon after coming to power in May, theTrinamool Congress regime led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee formed a two-member expertcommittee that recommended that the government will have no role to play in land acquisition for privateindustry and investors will have to acquire land directly from owners. Contending that the anti-landacquisition agitation against automakers Tata Motors' small car Nano had sent a wrong message to theworld, Assocham secretary-general D.S. Rawat said the right sort of atmosphere has to be created forinvestment to pour in. Banerjee had a led a sustained farmers' protest against the then Left Frontgovernment's land acquisition for the Nano project in Hooghly district's Singur which ultimately forced theautomobile giant to shift the factory to Gujarat. Rawat said the issue will be deliberated upon and ablueprint for the state's all round development released in an investors' summit "Land of Opportunities" tobe held here Oct 15. (New Kerala 9/10/11)Arundhati: Joint fight against forced land acquisition (4)KUSSA (MOGA): The fight of Punjab farmers and labourers facing forced land acquisition got anunexpected boost, with Booker winner Arundhati Roy advocating a joint struggle to stop this, whether it isin Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bengal or Punjab. Talking to The Times of India, Roy also condemned thecane charge on farmers at Gobindpura village. Arundhati said she has come to know that some womenresisting forced acquisition have sustained injuries. ''I salute their spirit.'' She also stressed on the need toorganize a renewed and sustained struggle for ensuring equality, irrespective of caste, creed andfinancial position, to get rid of the ills afflicting civil society. Roy, who had come to this dusty village to paytributes to eminent playwright Gursharan Singh, said, ''He fought all his life against imperialistic forceswhich can only be defeated by joint efforts.''Referring to usurping of vast natural resources bymultinational companies, Arundhati said if the poorest people in the world, residing in Orissa andChhattisgarh could keep the big companies at bay for more than five years, why can't those in otherplaces (states) do so. She said the world takes inspiration from poor people's fight against the mighty.Arundhati, her Hindi peppered with English words, said, ''Gursharan showcased people's anger againstanti-people regimes. There is dire need for thousands of small stones (people) to join together to form aformidable wall, which could not be torn apart by big concerns or regimes. And writers, people in art andculture could work as cement in the building of this wall.''She said lakhs of people from Punjab to Kerala,and Chhattisgarh to Orissa, are undertaking different struggles for their survival and well-being. But abigger, collective fight is needed. Roy pointed out that Punjab has 30% dalit population, out of which and90% are landless, but the leftist forces have failed to fight for their cause altogether. Earlier, paying richtributes to Gursharan Singh, Roy, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Sahitya Akademi award winnerplaywrights Atamjit, Ajmer Aulakh, Gursharan's daughter Areet, Desh Bhagat Yadgar hall committeemember Amolak Singh, playwrights Kewal Dhaliwal, Sahib Singh and others stressed on the need tocarry forward Gursharan's legacy. (Times of India 11/10/11)Parliamentary panel seeks public opinion on land bill (4)New Delhi, Oct 14: The parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development headed by BharatiyaJanata Party's Lok Sabha member Sumitra Mahajan has invited public opinion on the Land Acquisition,Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011. The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha Sep 7 was referred tothe committee by Speaker Meira Kumar. The panel invited public opinion Thursday. The draft bill givescompensation for land at four times the market value in rural areas. Addressing the concerns ofAgriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the draft bill lays a condition that while not more than five percentmulti-cropped land can be acquired in a district, an equivalent wasteland would have to be developed foragriculture purposes. But this clause shall not apply to linear projects like railways, higways, power linesand irrigation canals. The draft bill has also tightened definition of "public purpose" and made provision of"eminent domain" - meaning land acquisition would require prior consent of 80 percent "project affected"people where the government acquires land for transferring it to private companies for public purpose.The central law would override existing state laws on land acquisition. The draft bill providescompensation not only to land owners but people who lose their livelihood because of land acquisition. A
new clause bans change of purpose in the land use plan submitted and facilitates transfer of landacquired back to the state government's land bank if not used for 10 years. While there would be socialimpact assessment to ensure transparency, the draft bill also has fixed three month's time for payment ofcompensation. According to the rural development ministry, the bill seeks to ensure a humane,participatory, and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, infrastructure developmentand urbanisation. The committee has invited views/suggestions from individuals, experts, professionals,organisations and associations interested in the subject. (New Kerala 14/10/11)PM to meet chief ministers on land reforms (4)Agartala: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet 10 Chief Ministers this month to finalise astrategy to deal with agrarian and land reforms, an official said here on Sunday. A National Council forLand Reforms (NCLR), under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, was set up earlier this year with theChief Ministers of 10 states, the official said. Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Orissa, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are expected to attendthe meeting. The official added: "Central ministers of rural development, agriculture, environment andforest, Panchayati Raj and tribal affairs are also members of the council." He said the meeting wasscheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 28 and was "crucial in view of the Central government'smove to amend the contentious land acquisition act". The meeting would suggest possible action planand suitable measures to deal with the problems of land acquisition, land reforms, agricultural andfarmers' vital problems across the country, he said. (Zee News 16/10/11)Maharashtra plans to acquire 60,000 ha for industry (4)MUMBAI: With a view to attracting investment, the Maharashtra government plans to acquire 60,000hectares for industrial development. Aiming for an investment target of $500 billion, the focus would be ondeveloping the manufacturing sector, Chief Secretary of the State Ratnakar Gaikwad told a pressconference here on Tuesday. “The plan is to acquire 60,000 hectares of land through the MaharashtraIndustrial Development Corporation,” Mr. Gaikwad said. “I am confident we will acquire 20,000 hectareswithin one year.” A day-long ‘Investor Aftercare' conference is being held here on Thursday with robustgovernment participation. “Maharashtra has continued to attract investment despite problems. Ourgovernment is fully committed to investors. We will provide assistance and support formally andinformally. We want to attract investment to the tune of $500 billion in three to five years,” Mr. Gaikwadsaid. While land acquisition was a major concern, he said the government had put in place landacquisition units for the purpose. Opposition to land acquisition is under way for many projects. A chunkof land for the Navi Mumbai Airport is pending to be acquired due to protests. Acquisition of land for theDelhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is clouded by uncertainties. Early this year, the Stategovernment called for returning land to protesting farmers in Raigad after the land acquisition process forReliance Special Economic Zone (SEZ) lapsed. Mr. Gaikwad said the sites the government had selectedfor this ambitious acquisition are those where habitation would not be affected. He said rehabilitation wasalso not an issue for Maharashtra. To a question on the Jaitapur rehabilitation package, he said the issuethere was not related to land. DMIC, he felt, would give a big boost to industrial development in the State.Port development was another important area. “Port traffic is currently 150 billion tonnes. We want toincrease our capacity to 500 billion tonnes,” he said. As for the recent power crisis in the State, Mr.Gaikwad said it was a “temporary problem.” “We are positive that by 2012, we will be a power-surplusState,” he said. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is slated to speak at the summit, an initiative of theMaharashtra Economic Development Council. (The Hindu 18/10/11)Converts disputed areas into trusteeship zone: Haldar (4)Shillong, Oct 19:Former Intelligence Bureau Chief PC Haldar today mooted the idea of convertingdisputed areas between states in the northeast into trusteeship zone and jointly developing the areas intoeconomic centres. ''BG Verghese (Journalist) has said that converting disputed areas into trusteeshipzone where the claimant states would equally have right over the areas in terms of developing it, shouldbe given a thought,'' Mr Haldar said. Speaking at a two-day workshop on 'Development Paradigms in theNortheast' at North Eastern Council auditorium, the former Intelligence Bureau Chief said ideas putforward by scholars should be given a thought to veer out of the present problem of disputed boundariesbetween different states of the region. Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have
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 and 32: The government's land acquisition p
Page 33 and 34: the award (compensation) has not be
Page 35 and 36: 2011 it has been mentioned under Cl
Page 37 and 38: Paradip, Sept. 26: A violent clash
Page 39: Govt cannot change purpose of acqui
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