New Delhi: After meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a
year ago, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi promised a radical
change in India's land acquisition law, addressing the concerns of
farmers with regard to adequate compensation for land acquired from
them. But senior party colleague and Rural Development Minister Jairam
Ramesh, who has piloted the bill, has now done a complete U-turn. The Ministry of Rural Development, in its cabinet note, says that the new Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012 will only be applicable for new projects. This will, thus, bring to naught Mr Gandhi's much-publicised padyatra that he undertook last year for the cause of the farmers of Uttar Pradesh since old laws for remuneration will apply in those cases.
Mr Ramesh has also made a crucial change in the land bill, making it mandatory only for 80% of the landholders to give their consent and not affected families. The latest draft also says that the amount of fertile land that can be acquired from the farmers has been left to the state government. The acreage for applicability of the land bill will also be decided by the states. Some of these amendments to the bill are likely to be strongly opposed by allies of the Congress.
The bill met with stiff resistance from several ministers the last time
it was discussed in the cabinet but the urgency of introducing the
contentious bill, coupled with not thwarting Mr Gandhi's mission ahead
of the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections, was uppermost in everyone's
minds. But the tables have since turned and with industry expressing
reservations about the new draft of the bill, it could be a long road
ahead.
From NDTV
