[UPSC Interview Prep Feed Vol.11] Land Bill Basics

Topic : Land Bill Controversy.

Basic Funda

Land Reforms have been talked since time immemorial even before the inception of the civil service and ergo apparently all the civil service aspirants that ever existed have gone through the pain of understanding and mugging up reforms. And so shall we and so shall the rest.

So what is Land Acquisition?

Land acquisition is the process by which the government forcibly acquires private property for public purpose without the consent of the land-owner. It is thus different from a land purchase, in which the sale is made by a willing seller. So far this has been governed by the archaic Land Acquisition Act 1894 but there were several problems with this act.

1. There was no provision for fair compensation.
2. No provision for rehabilitationa and resettlement.
3. There was no clause of taking or even listening to the public concent.
4. Many cases where the then acquired land was not used for the stated purpose and was then sold to private entities resulting in windfall loss to the original owners of that land.
5. Overall draconiam in nature.

To rectify this dilemma came the Land Acquisition, Rehab, Resettlement Act (LARR) 2013. But then you might question when "LAND" is a state subject, why should Parliament make a law? Well folks, the devil is in the details. Well, “acquisition and requisitioning of property” is in the concurrent list. Both Parliament and state legislatures can make laws on this subject. And in case of conflict the Union Law would prevail. That we all know!

What the LARR Act 2013 changed?

1. It clearly defined the controversial clause of "Public Purpose" so as to stop the abuse.
2. It introduced the concept of Public Conscent fromt the affected families where 80% was required for private projects and 70% in case of PPP.
3. Under the "Sociai Impact Assessment", it was also required to get consent from the labourors, farmers, craftsmen, fishermen, tenant farmers, share-croppers whose livelihood would be affecrted because of the proposed project.
4. It categorized compensation as 4 times the rate in rural areas and 2 times the rate in urban areas.
5. To ensure the food security angle, it was made clear that multi-cropped fertile land can only be acquired as the last resort and in case this happens the govt. was obligated to develop an equivalent wasteland.
6. State govt. to set up Dispute settlement authorities.
7. If the project doesn't start in 5 years, the land to be returned to the original owner.
8. Both land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation provisions of the Bill will apply to projects when government acquires land for its own use or on behalf of private companies for stated public purpose, including PPP projects. In case companies directly acquire over 40 ha from land owners, they will be responsible for resettlement and rehabilitation.

But then, rather than the applause what this resulted into was this....

1. The process as a result of these provisions became so difficult and cumbersome that it stalled all the proposed land acquisitions.
2. It made the whole thing totally impractical and ridiculously complex.
3. It was easy to mobilize 30% of the affected families against the acquisitions.
4. As land records were not present for quick dosposal, all of it seemed senseless.
5. Willing people couldn't sell. Willing takers couldn't take. And rest is history.

So as to rectify this now we have the Right to Fair Compensation and transparency in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement 2015 Bill popularly known as the Land Bill and the related controversy. Lets see what are these provisions....

1. This creates five categories viz. Defence, Rural Infrastructure, Affordable Housing , industrial corridors and infrastructural projects. 
2. And then exempts these five categories from the provisions of public consent of 80% in case of private projects and 70% in case of PPP projects.
3. The bill also exempts these five from the Social Imapact Assessment and from the restrictions from the acquisition of irrigatted multi-cropped land.
4. This bill changes the wordings "Private Companies" to "Private entities" which would now mean that under it also comes the corporations and Non-Profit organizations. Thus unbridled expansion in the scope of coverage.
5. Now one of the obstables to provide compensation earlier was the fact that the govt. would have to amend all acts like the Railways Act, Electricity Act etc. So here they have provided that under all these laws the compensation will be on the lines of this new land bill.
6. This also includes that building Private Hospitals and Private educational institutions would be covered under the garb of "Public Purpose".
7. The provisions on relief and rehabilitation remain the same as earlier.
8. Immunity has been given to the head of the department so that he cannot be prosecuted and take decisions not fearing the media and the judiciary.

Issues with 2015 Bill

1. The "Immunity" Clause can give free hand to the authorities and in the process it would become difficult to ensure fairness.
2. The five special categories can eventually cover all projects thus negating the impact of the earlier provisions. Defence is one category wherein one can underrstand the urgengy of things and the relevance of quick decision making but rest of the categories can be provided with some degree of consensus for the affected community.
3. This should get the approval of parliament and not take the ordinance route. We do not want to see the ordinance raj especially with concerns to such an important topic.

Present Status

As of today, Lok Sabha has passed this bill and since Rajya sabha was prorouged, a copy of the earlier ordinance was promulgated and hence the controversy.