The government’s role in acquisition of land for industrial and infrastructure projects could be whittled down from what is proposed in the Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill. Official sources told FE that the Prime Minister’s Office is reviewing a proposal from the rural development ministry which says the government will acquire just 20% of the land needed for a private sector project. As per current proposals in the Bill, if the developer acquires 70% land for a given project from farmers, the government assists it by acquiring the rest 30%.
It is hoped that the proposed change would help take recalcitrant allies like Mamata Banerjee on board and push the law through Parliament.
However, in the country where even for acquiring an inch of land, industrial houses often need to toil a lot, a stricter policy regime could make matters worse for them and hamper investments in the economy, analysts said.
The rural development ministry proposal forms part of the set of changes to be introduced in the Bill, which is under review by the PMO. The government is set to table the amended Bill in the winter session of Parliament with a set of amendments that seek to make farmers partners in the prosperity that their land generates.
As part of the proposed amendment, there could be a huge jump in compensation for farmers selling land to corporates. In fact, the compensation could be revised to the tune of prevailing market prices in respective areas. Fertile land will be kept completely out of bounds for industrial or construction activities. The government is also considering giving farmers sweat equity in the project as this model will ensure that a farmer gets a portion of the total surrendered land once the project is developed.
?This is not just an attempt at ensuring a secure future for farmers; it also aims at making farmers some kind of partners in prosperity that the project generates on his land, as the farmer benefits from the appreciation that happens on his land because of infrastructure development,? a senior government associated with the policy-making told FE.
Land acquisition has been a hot political issue with Rahul Gandhi meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a fortnight ago in a bid to corner Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati after farmers agitated against acquisition of their land for Yamuna Expressway. Railway minister Mamta Banerjee too has stridently opposed several provisions of the Bill. No wonder, the govt is taking all efforts to make the Bill comprehensive so that there is little opposition once its tabled in Parliament.
As FE had reported earlier, there are also chances that some of the proposals in an earlier draft drawn up by National Advisory Council (NAC) and presented to the Prime Minister in January 2006 would be included in the draft Bill.
The NAC version envisages linking the relief and rehabilitation package to the consumer price index and evaluating the market price of land to its output, looking primarily at yield per hectare. The NAC draft also proposes that a small amount as rental on land should be given to those affected by the project.