GoM clears land acquisition Bill, likely to be tabled in Parliament's winter session

The long-pending land acquisition Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the winter session. The Group of Ministers (GoM) examining the draft has finally arrived at a consensus over its provisions.

"We have reached a consensus. The Bill will be ready in a couple of weeks," agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who heads the GoM, said.

The Bill's fate was hanging in balance because of the sharp differences between senior ministers over some of its provisions.

Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh said he and Pawar would meet on Thursday to give a final shape to the 'Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill'.

While on paper it appears that Ramesh has had his way on the Bill's content goes, the fine print tells a different story.

The most significant change from the draft presented by Ramesh on August 27 is that the acquisition of land will require the "approval of twothirds of the land losers", as opposed to the "consent of 80 per cent of all affected families", mandated in the earlier draft.

The number of those whose consent is required was reduced after some GoM members, particularly urban development minister Kamal Nath and commerce minister Anand Sharma, contended that the Bill would dampen investor sentiments .

In Tuesday's meeting, the consent clause was diluted in two more ways.

Firstly, only the landowners will be consulted and not those who lose their livelihood due to the acquisition, as had been recommended earlier. Secondly, the word "consent" has been changed to "approval".

Ramesh, however, insisted that even in its present form, the draft Bill was pro-poor. "The payment of compensation and relief and rehabilitation will have to precede the possession of land," he said.

The other major contentious issue was the retrospective application of the legislation. Ramesh said that as a way out, "the GoM has decided to have a certain cutoff date for the application of the Bill".

This means that projects for which land has been acquired after a certain date - that will be decided later - will have to comply with the Bill. There is, however, no change on matters of compensation, relief and rehabilitation.

Land activists slammed the changes. "This is an extremely diluted version. The replacement of 'consent' with 'approval' will open a room for the government to subvert the poor's interests.

The Bill has no provision for the landless who will lose their livelihood," said Madhuresh Kumar of the National Alliance of People's Movements.

In association with Mail Today