LAND BILL BOUNCES BACK TO LS

New Delhi, Sept. 4: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Land Acquisition Bill, approving the legislation that seeks to give fair compensation to farmers and to those who lose livelihood on account of acquisition. The bill will go back to Lok Sabha for approval of the new amendments, which include dilution of retrospective clause with regard to acquisition of land for irrigation projects.

The Land Bill which was passed on Wednesday will apply to all Special Economic Zones to be set up from now onwards, the Union government said while rejecting apprehensions over it, saying states were free to improve upon it by even raising the requirement of consent from 80 per cent to 100 per cent.

The Bill, which will replace over a century-old law, stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.

It proposes compensation up to four times the market value in rural areas and two times the market value in urban areas.

Replying to a six-hour debate, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh sought to address the concerns over the “urgency clause” in the bill, saying it is for use only in case of natural calamities and national security and cannot be invoked in case of land acquisition for private parties. Compensation in this case will be higher, he said.

“This Bill says land can be acquired only after the consent of a gram sabha,” Mr Ramesh pointed out. On the forceful acquisition of land, the minister noted that “provisions for compensation and rehabilitation for farmers cannot be reduced. Also, there is no provision to forcefully take land from farmers”. The Bill, he said, “will make sure that acquired land is not left unused The best thing to do would be to follow a middle path so that the government is happy, and so are farmers.”