With an eye on oncoming elections, political parties joined hands to pass the land acquisition bill in Lok Sabha. The key features of the bill, such as consent of landowners for acquiring land for private and PPP projects and compensation norms set at four and two times the market rate for rural and urban land respectively, were hailed by all quarters.
The Left and the AIADMK walked out, the Trinamool Congress and the Revolutionary Socialist Party opposed and the bill was passed by 216 votes to 19. Leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj’s amendments on deterring land sharks were incorporated in the bill. The bill, with 158 amendments of which 28 are substantive, did not face any significant obstacle given the convergence between UPA and principal opposition BJP which set the tone by criticizing the bill for not being sufficiently profarmer. The Lok Sabha nod following a detailed response from rural development minister Jairam Ramesh to criticisms and suggestions makes the law virtually a done deal with its passage assured in the upper House.
The bill, framed in 2007, has had a chequered career. Its introduction in Lok Sabha was withdrawn at the last moment in August 2009, with the TMC demanding a complete ban on “forcible acquisition”. Thereafter, it has been through a standing committee and more changes and consultations that have placed a social impact assessment at the centre of any land acquisition in a bid to evaluate if a project is worth the environmental and social cost. The consensus among parties appears dictated by political correctness, aggravated ahead of elections, while the government’s presentation of the bill as a panacea against coercive acquisition is sure to veto any serious political costs.
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