It is the new battleground for the UPA cabinet. As competing interests vie to get their version of the Land Acquisition Resettlement and Rehabilitation (LAAR) Bill cleared by the cabinet, the interest of the farmers and landowners has become the punching bag.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is burning the midnight oil to get his version of the bill deliberated upon by the Cabinet. He is pitted against Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Transport Minister CP Joshi and Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily.
The latter, who want sweeping changes to the bill in its current form, have managed to win the first two rounds, when discussion on the bill has been deferred by the Cabinet.
While Ramesh wants Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act to be within the purview of the LAAR, the other group is vociferously opposing it. If the SEZ Act is supervised by LAAR, the targets set by their respective ministries could be severely hit.
Given the sensitivities of the matter, the ministers opposing LAAR in its current form are willing to speak officially on the matter. Jairam Ramesh told reporters, “They are also part of the Congress party and they should understand the significance of the Bill. The Bill is part of the Congress's election manifesto.”
Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath is believed to have told the Cabinet last week, when the Bill did come up for discussion that implementing it in its current form would “bring industrialization and urbanization to halt in the country”.
Corporate Affairs Minister, who has additional charge of the Power Ministry, is believed to have said that the economy would be hit by the stringent provisions of the Bill.
Industry bodies are also opposed to the provisions of the LAAR because they feel that the compensation and relief measures provided for in the Bill is too high for the industry. The Road Transport Ministry fears that acquiring land for highway projects will become prohibitively expensive for new highway projects.
LAAR provides that if the land that has been acquired is unused for five years, it will go back to the state government's land bank.
Jairam Ramesh is believed to have knocked the doors of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary, on the issue. In a meeting with Pulok Chaterjee, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Ramesh is understood to have stressed that the matter be resolved at the earliest so that the Bill can be introduced in the Parliament during the Winter Session.
The government, meanwhile, is moving ahead with the setting up of a Group of Ministers (GoM), which the Rural Development Minister is strongly opposed to. A formal notification to set up the GoM is expected this week.
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