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Mayawati’s Land Policy:NO FARMER BUT CORRUPT TO GAIN, by Shivaji Sarkar, 4 June 2011 Print E-mail

Economic Highlights

New Delhi, 4 June 2011

Mayawati’s Land Policy

NO FARMER BUT CORRUPT TO GAIN

By Shivaji Sarkar

 

The nation is abuzz with Baba Ramdev’s fast against corruption. However, in its shadow, the Uttar Pradesh Government has announced a land acquisition policy which gives a virtual free hand to private operators and profiteers! Sadly, the Government has fundamentally decided to withdraw and thereby deny any protection to the farmer or common citizen.

 

As the nation discusses the issue of corruption, not many realise that land acquisition has become the easiest way to earn billions and deprive millions of their livelihood. Fortunately, some people are free from the clutches of the mafia thanks to the State Government’s and protection given by the judiciary. If this semblance of Government protection is also withdrawn, the plight of the poor, dalit and other deprived groups would definitely get worse.

 

Given this background it is pertinent to study the UP Government’s order. It says that no land could be acquired by a private group if 70 per cent of the farmers do not agree to part with it.  On the face of it, this looks like a fair policy. But it is not. The Government is aware that land mafia and other corporate groups know how to employ strong arm tactics to extract the farmers’ “consent”.

 

Even in China, there have been many incidents on record wherein access, water supply, drainage and other amenities were literally cut off by the land sharks as an arm-twisting measure against the farmers. At home, we have seen the latest incident in Chief Minister Mayawati’s home district of Greater Noida at Bhatta Parsaul, wherein a corporate group on a land acquisition spree in western UP employed arm-twisting tactics to dislodge the farmers leading to the ongoing agitation and political tamasha. And the State administration virtually worked like the corporate group’s agent. As a result the farmers have turned out to be fugitives in their own land and many are still missing!

 

Regrettably, the new policy would see the virtual exit of the Government insofar as protection to individual land owners is concerned. And the State, as per Mayawati’s announcement, would remain a “facilitator” for private operators, who in turn could pay back to all those associated with the Government.

 

According to the new policy, the farmers would also have another option to take up to 23 per cent fully-developed land in lieu of the total acquired agricultural land, which would entail a waiting period of up to three years.  In addition, the farmer would also be entitled to a 33-year annuity at the rate of Rs.23,000 per acre with an annual increment of Rs 800.

 

However, in most cases such promises or agreements are forgotten after the initial few years. The remedy lies only in a long-drawn legal battle that would obviously suit the rich corporate rather than the individual farmer. The only option provided is the provision for a measly payment of Rs.2.76 lakh per acre —a one-time flat rehabilitation package! The proposal clearly suggests that this would  suit the acquirer more than the land-holder, wherein the former  would in most cases like to settle for a cheaper “negotiated” one-time option and reduce his own liability.

 

Additionally, Mayawati’s moves appear largely to hoodwink the recent court judgments. At least in three cases in Noida and adjacent areas, the Allahabad High Court declared the acquisition of land by the Government for private groups “illegal” and ordered return of the land to the farmers, forcing a jittery State Government to come out with the new policy.

 

Let us keep in mind that the process of land acquisition has many facets. It would turn western UP into the most populous and polluted area. It would no longer remain the bread basket of the country as its most fertile lands are being transformed into townships, industrial areas and airports by the corporate groups. The losers are the small and medium farmers, who also want to exit from agriculture as it requires a high investment and the returns are extremely poor. The only silver lining is that land still sustains 72 crore people all over the country.

 

According to former Planning Commission member and now National Advisory Council member NC Saksena, almost six crore people have been displaced between 1947 and 2004. Almost 40 per cent of them are tribals, 20 per cent dalits of which only 8 per cent could be rehabilitated. Thus, “Crores of individual entrepreneurs have been turned into landless labourers”.

 

Importantly, in a judgment this March the Supreme Court noted that the Government does not come out clean on land acquired from the common man for the benefit of private groups. In these past two decades, it is being seen that the private sector is benefiting in a big way in the name of infrastructure development, corporate expansion, industry, mining and similar other activities. But sadly the entire process is based on a flawed concept that industry provides more employment and increases productivity than an average farmland.

 

The above is more a myth than reality. Employment in real terms has come down over the years. During the last three years more industries have laid off or simply retrenched workers. Many industries like jewellery and diamond polishing closed down in Gujarat throwing the migrant workers from Orissa, Bihar and Andhra out of jobs. Since the farm sector is also being neglected, a large number of people are in a dismal state and many are being driven to commit suicide.

 

The land acquisition policy — be it Mayawati’s or the Haryana Government’s—it is disastrous in social terms. It displaces people at the cost of food security and creates miserable living condition for the poor, illiterate of semi-literate, who may have skills but are not suited for alternate employment. Even if they have the skills, it has been the practice of the industries or housing colonies coming up in those areas not to employ the displaced or employ them at the meager wages, much lower than what they got on a farm.

In conclusion, Mayawati’s land acquisition policy is disastrous in more than one way. It might fill up the coffers of those associated around her but lakhs of people, thousands of farmers’ families and many more dependent on them as workers, would swell the numbers of the jobless. And, if her policy becomes the model, the entire country would see repetition of the violent agitations that have rocked States like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.

 

Thus, the Centre needs to immediately intervene in this vital area. Acquisition of farm land is just not a case for providing compensation. It is important for sustaining future growth and food security. Some half-baked models should not be allowed to destroy the farm sector that still provides jobs to the highest number of people and has the capacity to employ more. ---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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