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

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