The contentious Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, which has been stuck since it was tabled in Parliament last year, has now been cleared by a group of ministers [GoM], which was set up for this purpose, on Tuesday. Though the final draft of the bill had all members of the GoM on board, the draft bill is a diluted version of what was presented in the cabinet in August.
In the draft bill cleared by the GoM, the word 'consent' has been replaced by 'approval', when it comes to acquiring village land. Earlier, the consent of people who lose land was required before acquisition could take place, but now only an approval is needed. 'Consent is a more stringent word, as one has to take consent of each and every member of village for land acquisition; but now a few representatives from a gram sabha can give their approval for the land acquisition in the village,' said Madhuresh Kumar, a national organiser of the National Alliance of People's Movement. But, officials in the ministry said that the word consent needed to be changed, as getting everyone in a village to agree on a project would be a cumbersome and never-ending process.
The other change in the bill is that now the approval of only two-third of people losing land will be required for acquisition. In the orignal draft, the consent was required from 80 per cent of all families that were being affected by the projected. The present draft has also left out the clause for taking approval from people whose livelihood is tied to the land to be acquired.
The GoM has also agreed on removing the word retrospective in the draft. Instead, a cut-off date will be set to decide when the new law comes into effect.
The other important decision taken in the GoM was that SEZ Act and two defence acts – the Cantonments Act and the Works of Defence Act – will now come under the purview of the new land acquisition law. Also, in terms of land acquisition in scheduled areas, the acquisition will be done as the last resort and approval of gram sabha will be required. With respect to irrigation projects, now resettlement and rehabilitation will be done six months prior to the submergence of the village.
In the draft bill cleared by the GoM, the word 'consent' has been replaced by 'approval', when it comes to acquiring village land. Earlier, the consent of people who lose land was required before acquisition could take place, but now only an approval is needed. 'Consent is a more stringent word, as one has to take consent of each and every member of village for land acquisition; but now a few representatives from a gram sabha can give their approval for the land acquisition in the village,' said Madhuresh Kumar, a national organiser of the National Alliance of People's Movement. But, officials in the ministry said that the word consent needed to be changed, as getting everyone in a village to agree on a project would be a cumbersome and never-ending process.
The other change in the bill is that now the approval of only two-third of people losing land will be required for acquisition. In the orignal draft, the consent was required from 80 per cent of all families that were being affected by the projected. The present draft has also left out the clause for taking approval from people whose livelihood is tied to the land to be acquired.
The GoM has also agreed on removing the word retrospective in the draft. Instead, a cut-off date will be set to decide when the new law comes into effect.
The other important decision taken in the GoM was that SEZ Act and two defence acts – the Cantonments Act and the Works of Defence Act – will now come under the purview of the new land acquisition law. Also, in terms of land acquisition in scheduled areas, the acquisition will be done as the last resort and approval of gram sabha will be required. With respect to irrigation projects, now resettlement and rehabilitation will be done six months prior to the submergence of the village.