NAC?s recommendation of 100% government acquisition of land in cases where more than 400 families were affected came right in the middle of a heated conversation caused by the Bhatta-Parsaul agitation. Not only did it create more chaos in already muddied matters, it also went against the grain of the consensus for greater private participation that had been developing across the political spectrum. For example, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has long held out for only 10% government acquisition and the UP CM Mayawati has come forward with a much-lauded policy where developers will negotiate with landowners directly for determining prices at which land is to be acquired. As these deeply divergent ideas tussle with each other in a din, the PM has promised that a land acquisition Bill will be introduced in Parliament this monsoon session. The Union rural development ministry, which has been entrusted with the job of finalising the Bill, is sticking to the proposal of 70:30 industry-government involvement in land acquisition, which is what the draft Bill that?s already in the public domain puts forward. The ministry cites the time crunch to defy NAC recommendations but with this government that may not be the final word on the subject. As for the NAC, as FE reported yesterday, it has ?suddenly? realised that land acquisition is a state subject. The only way in which the NAC recommendation can become law is if each state agrees to it or if there is a constitutional amendment shifting land from the state to the central list. Both being highly unlikely events, the puzzle is why they are even being mooted as solutions. But this is no more puzzling than why an extra-constitutional body has come to have such sway over UPA?s policymaking.
The point is not that civil society, think tanks, advisory bodies and suchlike shouldn?t have an important input role in a democracy. For example, PMEAC does a credible job of advising on economic matters as and when they are referred to it, which is quite different from (say) unelected folk putting together the Lokpal Bill. But the job of drafting the operative principles of a legislation has to be the exclusive domain of the executive and the specific clauses of the legislature. Specifically on land, when industry and states are sincerely trying to address something that is critical to India?s future growth (Tata and the Posco may grab the most headlines, but land is not insignificant to SME prospects either), it is unconscionable that NAC is trying to strongarm the government, and that too in an ill-prepared fashion as has become evident with its constitutionally untenable land acquisition proposal.
