Monday, 05 September 2011 23:50
DEVELOPMENT DEFICIT
BY Sudarshan Chhotoray
Will ‘the Draft National Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement (NLARR) Bill, 2011’ help or halt the massive industrialisation drive of the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in Odisha?
The State Government has the assured investment of more than Rs 6 lakh crore and about 100 MoUs to set up steel, aluminum and energy plants, but land acquisition has been the main hindrance on its way.
But, now the land acquisition for proposed projects like POSCO, Mittals, Vedanta University, Jindal, Tata Energy, Sterlite and upcoming projects in Kalinganagar, Dhenkanal, Angul and Jharsuguda will be coming under complete scrutiny of the Central Government’s new Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement(R&R) Act.
Though land is a State subject under the Constitution, land acquisition is a subject in the concurrent list. Presently, the law governing land acquisition in the country is Land Acquisition Act 1894. Although it has been amended from time to time since British days, it is still termed as a draconian and archaic law.
For the first time in independent India, land acquisition with rehabilitation and resettlement policies have been proposed together in a comprehensive law, which is now in the public domain. The draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011 prepared by the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), has now been in pre-legislative consultative process, which is going to be placed in the Parliament in its amended form, after the comments from general public are incorporated.
However, the process of the new bill is not so smooth. Since 1998, attempt has been made by various Governments to place a new comprehensive Act, suitable for every stake holders. In October 1998, the MoRD had initiated amendment process. In 2007, Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 was introduced. It was referred to the standing committee in October 2008. The committee submitted its report in December 2008 in which many of the recommended amendments were approved by the UPA Government. Further, in February 2009, Land Acquisition Bill was passed a day before the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha and in February 2009, the Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha, though it could not be passed till it lapsed.
The Act will enjoy primacy over 18 such other specialized Land Acquisition laws (like on the Highways, SEZs, Defence, Railways, etc) which are currently in force.
The intention to make a new and novel law on land acquisition is to facilitate more industries and investments in coming days, sustain the present GDP growth rate and amicably resolve all disputes. But, the contentious issues in the present Bill are ‘public purpose, 80 per cent consent of project affected people, minimum 100 acres of land and urgency clauses,’ to name a few.
Rehabilitation and Resettlement(R&R):
For the first time, R&R will be institutionalised through the establishment of State and National Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Dispute Settlement Authority. The purpose is to provide speedy disposal of disputes, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement through notification in the official Gazette.
Similarly, National Monitoring Committee for Rehabilitation and Resettlement will be constituted for reviewing and monitoring the implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement schemes or plans under the Act.
Besides these, to facilitate the R&R process and likely involuntary displacement,
there shall be a three-tier institutional arrangements like Administrator for Rehabilitation and Resettlement not below the rank of Joint Collector or Additional Collector or Deputy Collector, a Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee at project level under the chairmanship of the District Collector and the Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Resettlement, an officer of the rank of Commissioner or Secretary of the State Government, who will be responsible for supervising the formulation of rehabilitation and resettlement schemes or plans and proper implementation of such schemes or plans. Under 1894 Act, these
programmes were looked after by Revenue Divisional Commissioner level R&R committees.
R&R provisions will apply when private companies buy land, equal to or more than 100 acres, on their own or they approach the Government on partial acquisition. There are a few industries like sponge iron units and Asbestos factories that need less than 10 acres of land. Considering the situation, in Odisha several villages are located on less than of 100 acres of land. Tribal districts like Koraput, Kalahandi and Kandhamal are having some villages with less than 100 acres of total land ownership.
Under no circumstances, the Government would be acquiring land for private companies for private purposes and acquire multi crop irrigated land for public purposes. As a matter of principle, no agriculture land should be allowed to be acquired for diversion and certain portion of village land must not be allowed for change of land use. Land acquisition can take place provided 80 per cent of the project affected families give consent to the proposed acquisition.
Any acquisition shall be based on the consent of Pallisabha. The disagreement of affected families, if any, should also be noted. 100 per cent participation of socially excluded communities/livelihood dependent groups’ representation should be ensured.
Private company cannot purchase land on its own. Only the Government along with the prior informed written consent of the Gram Sabha/Palli Sabha shall acquire land for any private company, which should not be superseded by any officials.
According to the various opinions on the draft, the Bill is an attempt to empower the Government to acquire the land on behalf of private parties in the face of rising protest from land owners and affected people. It is also a shrewd way of limiting the claimants to the rightful claims and paving the way for use of force in the disguise of consultation with public. It is also equally important that the Government accepts consent as the principal basis for land acquisition and empowers the local bodies to negotiate their settlement and rehabilitation plans as well as compensation packages above the minimal being proposed by the Bill.
Public purpose:
While defining public purpose, the draft bill has categorised various needs of the Government like strategic purposes-armed forces, national security, state police etc; infrastructure and industry where benefits largely accrue to the general public; land acquired for R&R purpose; land for private companies for public purpose and for needs arising from natural calamities.
Public purpose should be more strictly and clearly defined. Public purpose is the overall development of the people, but, how private companies will ensure that? The term ‘Public Purpose’ should also include the criteria (a) the proposed project should be beneficial for the state, locality and more particularly the affected people, (b) the ownership of the acquired land should be with the Government and company can be the leaseholder during the period of use mentioned in the MoU, (c) company to ensure 100 per cent employment for the affected families and protect the environment and (d) the Government should ensure that the public purpose is served by the said company.
Besides these, mining activities and tourism should be deleted from the infrastructure clause of the public purpose section as these
activities involve business and profit. Permission of Pallisabha/urban local bodies should be mandatory whether land is acquired for private or public purposes, except for national security.
Compensation package:
The Bill has enlisted a comprehensive and hefty compensation package like land for land, house for house; for urban areas the land looser will get the award amount, which would be not less than twice that of the market value determined, whereas in rural areas it would not be less than six times the original market value. Mandatory employment for one member per affected families or `2lakh if employment is not offered, subsistence allowance at `3,000 per month per family for 12 months, `2,000 per month per family as annuity for 20 years, for homeless a constructed house (plinth area) on 150 sqmts of house sites in rural areas or 50sqmts in urban areas, one acre of land to each ST families in every project, etc.
Despite all these provisions mentioned in the Bill and emphasis on mandatory Social Impact Assessment study to be undertaken by each project, the consent clause has been replaced by consultation in many sections, which might pave way for conflicts in upcoming projects in States like Odisha.
--------The writer is a senior freelance journalist
PUBLISHED IN THE PIONEER ON 6TH SEPTEMBER 2011
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