Whose land is it anyway?

With divergent views emerging on the Land Acquisition Act, political parties ought to iron out differences

The National Advisory Council wants that the Government should acquire 100 per cent of the land for public purpose by offering very good compensation to landowners.
The thought is noble and comforting that the highest opinion making body under the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi is thinking about the plight of the farmers.
NAC on 'public purpose'.
The most important aspect of the suggestion of the NAC is the most controversial. The NAC talks about the public purpose which has been the bone of contention ever since farmers and landowners have realised that they were being duped by successive governments by citing this very clause. A through debate is needed on what constitutes public purpose and when do the governments have the last word on acquiring lands from the farmers.
A three-month old agitation in Noida grabbed the national attention only after four people were killed and a district official shot in the leg by agitating farmers. Bhatta Pasaul is now synonym with land acquisition and the various problems and issues associated with the boiling developmental issue.
The farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been left with very little option but seek justice as their lands were taken by the Mayawati regime at low prices ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 800 per square meter in the name of building Yamuna Expressway. Not going into the logic of developing the superfast highway when the existing highway is in a bad shape - bad roads, two-three toll points, inadequate emergency services, etc - the Uttar Pradesh government virtually gave a large tract of land to the Jaypee group to enable it construct a mall along the Expressway and also a part to construct residential quarters along the way.
When the farmers realised this, there was bound to be wide-spread resentment. The farmers have not only lost their source of livelihood, foodgrain production will also take a hit in the coming years. By the end of it all, the constructing company would be a couple of thousands of crore rupee richer.
Nevertheless, the public purpose in this case is a road connecting Noida to Agra. But what about the malls and residential quarters and also commercial complexes that would be built alongway the way, questioned the farmers.
This raises important questions. What will be the compensation for the land acquired? What will be the definition of ‘public purpose’? Will public purpose take into account alternate development routes and ensure best practices for current projects are being followed?
If the public purpose is being served by a private industry, then government will acquire land for them as well, the NAC opines.
This is certainly a loophole which the NAC is leaving which would enable governments to acquire lands for big industries and corporate houses who have the mullah to rake in mega projects. The farmers' precious land would open to be taken over by the corporates at throwaway prices. And even if prices match the market rate this is not going to serve the purpose in the larger context.
If public purpose is well defined, the governments should acquire 10-15 percent of land for the entire project and leave the rest to the private builders to purchase direct from the farmers. This too should come into vogue if the constructor faces any hurdle in a private project, the government should acquire that land to overcome that hurdle.
However, a higher percentage can create undesired interests of politicians heading the governments. The percentage should be clearly spelt out in the Land Acquisition Bill (LAB).
In addition, most important the amount of compensation the landowners or farmer should get for giving up their lands. In the present structure, the compensation is grossly inadequate. The UP government gave Rs 300-800 per square meter of land whereas the market rate in Greater Noida was to the tune of Rs 25,000-50,000 per square meter. The Haryana Government has offered even less compensation where as the Punjab Government fares much better on this score. This itself brings to the lack of uniformity in acquisition rules.
The NAC is recommending that landowners be given six times the price of plot purchases registered in that area. This sounds an attractive proposition for the farmers. If the registered rate in an area is say Rs 50,000 per sq meter, the private party acquiring the land would end up paying Rs 3 lakh per square meter. There are chances that it could make the project unviable.
There are other issues which need to be thought over. NAC wants participatory and full consultation with affected families on acquisition and at least 75 per cent should consent. An inter-linked issue to acquisition is whether some study has been undertaken to use barren, less fertile or wasteland before focusing on agriculture land.
The NAC and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congresss leader Mamta Banerjee, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh have divergent views on the LAB. If the Bill is to be passed in the Monsoon session of the Parliament as has been agreed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urgent steps need to be initiated at the earliest. There is hardly any time to kill today and all parties should iron out important issues.