The Land Acquisition Bill fails, both in terms of ensuring a fair deal to the farmer, and in terms of promoting industrialization, says JP.
Lok Satta Party national president Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan has said that the Land Acquisition Bill passed by the Lok Sabha on August 30 fails, both in terms of ensuring a fair deal to the farmer who parts with precious land, and in terms of promoting industrialization and infrastructure development, which is the need of the hour.
In a media statement issued on Saturday, Dr. JP said, "In the guise of helping the farmer, the Bill creates all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles in the shape of committees at the district, state and Central levels for clearing land acquisition. Stipulation of social impact assessments, and rehabilitation and resettlement norms, make acquisition of even a small piece of land next to impossible. As a result, the farmer does not benefit, economic activity gets stalled for years, and the country slides back into the license-permit raj of the 1970s."
Dr. JP pointed out, "Farmers have been short-changed for decades in land acquisition for public purposes. They have been paid a pittance compared to market price, by way of compensation. Even the meagre compensation is often delayed. The land acquisition policy has seen land buyers becoming prosperous, and land losers ending up in penury."
"Land acquisition is an absolute prerequisite for industrialization and infrastructure development. India has limited land mass. We still have 40 crore acres or 11% of the world's total agricultural land. The land so far acquired for SEZs (special economic zones) is about 200,000 acres. The land required for industrialization and infrastructure development falls below 1% of the land available," he added
According to him, any land acquisition policy against such a backdrop must ensure that farmers who lose land emerge as winners, and that land is available for promoting industrialization, infrastructure development, urbanization and economic growth.
"It should ensure that the farmer gets handsome compensation well above the market price. The Lok Satta welcomes the provisions in the Bill which ensure fair compensation to the land loser," he opined.
He suggested, "The children of farmers who part with land should be equipped with skills and provided jobs as a part of activities that are followed post land acquisition."
He recalled that he had the privilege of training 8,000 children of farmers who had parted with their land for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, and that he had been successful in providing permanent jobs to all of them.
Dr. JP said that other than that, the Bill does not cater to another important aspect - once the land is acquired, say for a project, its value shoots up dramatically, upto 100 fold in some cases. "In such cases, the land acquired for any project should be double that needed by the project. Half the land thus acquired should be given back to farmers after development. Under such a policy, the farmer gets not only compensation, but also developed land with a value that will have increased," he said.
He said laws should promote risk-taking and entrepreneurial activity, more so when millions of young men and women are looking for livelihood opportunities, and the country is highly deficient in infrastructure and manufacturing. The land acquisition law, instead, makes life of the prospective entrepreneur miserable and dashes the hopes of the youth, he said. (INN)