Land Bill: Government formulates committee to supervise rehabilitation and resettlement of farmers

By Newsgram Staff Writer

NDA government's move to bring the amended Land acquisition law has seen a widespread protest from the farmers. As reported by Economic Times, "The government's move to issue an ordinance that dropped the mandatory social impact assessment and the consent clause for five sectors in a bid to spur infrastructure development and industrialsation" remains a bone of contention.

Therefore a top notch committee has been formulated which will scrutinize and supervise the implementation of the rehabilitation and resettlement act. This committee will comprise of 25 members chaired by the secretary of various central ministries, revenue secretaries of Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu. The committee will ensure that all the provision of resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) as prescribed in the act are enforced even before the land is acquired. This step will help the government to prove its good intensions.

The R&R provisions of the 2013 Act include rehabilitation and resettlement amount payable to the family, a house to be allotted in case of displaced families, onetime subsistence allowance and transportation allowance, payment for cattle shed and shops, one-time payment to artisans and small traders as well as a provision for mandatory employment to be provided to the members of the affected families.

The government brought about changes in the original law through an ordinance on Dec 29,2014 which they later passed in the government in the parliament during the budget session and was given consent in the Lok Sabha after the government made nine fresh changes to the act to pander to the demands of both allies and opposition. The most important infusion consisted of compulsory employment clause.

Moreover under the original law, land acquirers needed 70% consent of land holders in case of public and PPP projects and 80% in case of private ones and the maximum time allotted for social impact assessment was 6 months. But now according to the proposed law, the projects related to affordable housing, defence manufacturing, public-private partnership projects, industrial corridors and rural infrastructure are not subjected to mandatory consent of landowners and their social impact assessment.