Economic Highlights
New
Delhi, 14 May 2011
Land Acquisition
OVERHAUL ENTIRE POLICY
By Shivaji Sarkar
Communists have been feared not for
their ideology but for the popular belief that they would dispossess the people
of all of their land. Well, there rule is no more. But the State, supposedly a
welfare one, has been functioning like an agent of the rich corporate and has started
acquiring prime farm lands.
Today Trinamool Congress chief Mamata
Banerjee has come to power in West Bengal
exploiting these sentiments both in Singur and Nandigram. However, there is no
one to protect the rights of villagers in a non-descript Bhatta Parsaul in
Noida in Uttar Pradesh, 50 km from Delhi.
But, the village has shaken the country with its resolve to fight against forcible
acquisition of land from its farmers.
Another battle may soon begin in
neighbouring Saadapur in Ghaziabad,
where farmers have tilled 12,500 square acres of land acquired by the Ghaziabad
Development Authority. The moot question is: Is there something wrong in the
Land Acquisition Act 1894? Perhaps, a lot. But so is the case with the proposed
draft bill to amend this law. Undoubtedly, no law is supposed to be perfect and
a lot depends upon how it is implemented.
The battlefield appears to be spreading.
In Orissa, Posco and Kalinganagar have already begun it. In Chhattisgarh and
other States a dozen power plants would require almost 2 lakh acres of land,
which is likely to dispossess about 1.25 lakh farmers of their resources of
livelihood. Many special economic zones (SEZs) are also likely to put a similar
kind of demand.
Apart from the serious concern on
what would happen to the dwindling area for agriculture, one does need to take
hard look at the plight of the farmers. They are forced to sell their land for a
pittance, which in turn is resold by the so-called ‘developers’ at exorbitant
prices. At the end, the farmers suffer a double deprivation – losing their
livelihood and land for prices that are far from being remunerative.
A point in case is the ongoing
agitation of the farmers in UP. The Mayawati Government pays the farmers a compensation
of Rs 850 per sq metre, whereas it is sold to private parties at Rs 28,000 to
30,000 per sq meter, explains Congress MP Jagadambika Pal. And this is precisely
what the farmers at Bhatta Parsaul are fighting for. As against this, Haryana
offers a floor rate of Rs 12 to 30 lakh and Bihar
takes the highest of last three years as a base and adds another 50 per cent to
decide the floor rate.
Clearly, this provides huge sum of
money to the farmers who may have been leading a comfortable life but did not
have large amount of cash in their hands. However, they eventually suffer at
the social level. The rates, even when low compared to their resale prices fetch
each land holding huge sums of money. This becomes a bane. Not used to handling
such huge funds, the families often squander the money away on small luxuries
like buying big cars, big houses and other frills in areas around Noida,
Greater Noida and elsewhere in western UP. Lately, during marriages use of
helicopter appears to have become almost a fashion and in one such case, the
groom was even presented with a copter!
This opulence has cost the farmers dearly.
In many cases, the money that they get vanishes soon, whereas their lifestyle
cost increases manifold. The comforts become unaffordable, which eventually leads
to a complex problem for the youth. Easy money leads them astray.
As funds start drying up quickly for
many, the youth take to crime – lootings, robbery, kidnappings and even murder.
This phenomenon is seen in the villages of Delhi and around the National Capital Region
(NCR), which now have become the highest crime-infested areas. Sadly, in UP the
books do not show this trend as the police do not register cases.
Insofar as the Land Acquisition Act
1894 is concerned, it allows the Government to acquire any land for “public
cause”. And, the provisions are clearly vague. Farm land is acquired to put up industries and is sold
to private firms in the name of development. The land which is barren or has
not been tilled for over eight years or so can be acquired and compensation is
given to the land owner.
Scandalously, the land given in the name of
development or for building houses etc is fertile and has rich soil. But the greed
and the politician-builder nexus camouflages this. The land acquired for 800
per sq foot is sold for hundred times more its price, with the finished
structure fetching even more, by the developers in the open market. As against
this the poor farmers get a pittance and end up becoming unskilled labourers.
In this background, the law now is
proposed to be amended allowing private companies to acquire 70 per cent of the
land for their requirement and the rest 30 per cent to be acquired by the Government.
However, it has no provision to prevent arm-twisting. Ironically, the 1894 law
has the provision to at least protect the land holders. Unless a decision is
taken by the Government, the process of acquisition cannot begin. The new law
has virtually done away with this.
Yet another protection is being done
away with it. The Greater Noida Authority is out to have direct dealings with
farmers to buy 156.9 hectare land in Saberi village so that builders could
construct flats. Fortunately, the deal was stayed by Allahabad High Court, but now
it is being said that deals for the fertile land is being done with “mutual
consent”. This methodology has reportedly been suggested to the Authority by
legal advisers of the building companies!
Sadly, there are lobbies of some economists
who do not see any harm in such deals as “it brings in investment”. But they
are silent about the deals of the past, where industries or projects have
either closed down or simply failed. Worse, the land does not go back to the tiller.
In addition, it is not used for other industrial activities as the cost becomes
too high.
All in all, land in the entire
country is today being held by the big corporates. They are emerging as the
largest zamindars. Therefore, the entire issue is not just a case of enacting
or amending laws, but is one which affects the social fabric and has a terrible
cost on food security.
It is time that there be a total relook
of the policy of land acquisition. Clearly, the land belongs to the society and
not the few rich corporate. Thus, ownership must be vested in the society, farmlands
be protected for feeding future generations and the State be halted from playing
a role to benefit the rich. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News
& Feature Alliancea0
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