In what may come as a relief for industry and businesses, the rural development ministry has diluted the consent provision for land acquisition.
The consent from two-thirds, or 66 per cent, of land losers will now be required for land acquisition, down from the earlier provision of consent from 80 per cent of land losers, sources told NDTV Profit.
Earlier, consent was required from 80 per cent of all project affected families, which included both land losers and livelihood losers. Now, consent will be required only from land losers. However, compensation and restoration and rehabilitation (R&R) will be given to both land losers and livelihood losers.
There was strong opposition from several quarters, including the industry as well as several Cabinet ministers to this provision of the land Bill.
The Bill will now be discussed by the group of ministers under Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at its meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
But other provisions of the Bill relating to R&R and compensation issues are likely to remain the same.
The Bill will apply only for new acquisitions and not retrospectively. Earlier, the Bill was to apply retrospectively to ongoing land acquisitions where the award of land had not been made or possession not taken.
Definition of market value has been amended to ensure that acquisition price does not form the basis for compensation calculation in future acquisitions.
Also, power has been given to the collector to not consider transactions which he feels are outliers and not indicative of true value while calculating market value. Earlier, there was a danger of a price spiral as (a multiple of) price of first acquisition in an area would go into calculation of land price for any subsequent acquisitions.
States will decide on the thresholds regarding acquisition of irrigated multi-crop land and net sown area. These types of land will be acquired only as the last resort. Earlier, the amount of multi-cropped irrigated land that could be acquired was capped at 5 per cent, and amount of net sown area that could be acquired was also capped.
R&R and compensation provisions
The Bill gives just a baseline for compensation. A sliding scale has been proposed and it has been left to the states to fix the multiplier that will determine the final compensation depending on the distance of the plot of land from urban centres. As you move from urban areas towards rural areas the multiplier increases, increasing the compensation amount.
R&R provisions would be applicable even in the case of private purchase if the purchase exceeds a certain threshold. The threshold will be decided by the state Government. Earlier, R&R on private purchases was to apply to all acquisitions above 100 acres in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas. The state government will also decide about the procedures and functioning of R&R committee at the project-level.
State governments will be free to enact any law to enhance or add to the entitlements enumerated under the Bill, which confers higher compensation than payable under the Bill or make provisions for R&R, which are more beneficial than those provided under the Bill.
The multiplier will not be applicable in urban areas, which means there will be no increase in the market value. However, a ‘solatium' of 100 per cent (which currently is 30 per cent) will be imposed on this market value calculated. This ‘solatium' amount is a compensation to ameliorate the pain of forcible acquisition.
All affected families will be entitled to a house provided they have been residing in the area for five years or more and have been displaced. If they chose not to accept the house they will be offered a one-time financial grant in lieu of the same. Affected families will be given a choice of annuity or employment. If employment is not forthcoming they will be entitled to a one time grant of Rs 5 lakh per family.
Alternatively, they will be provided with an annuity payment of Rs 2,000 per month per family for 20 years (this will be adjusted for inflation). Displaced families will be given a monthly subsistence allowance equivalent to Rs 3,000 per month for a period of one year from the date of award.
Affected families will also be given training and skill development while being offered employment. Multiple monetary benefits such as transport allowance of Rs 50,000 and resettlement allowance of Rs 50,000 will also be given.
The Bill has a separate chapter to protect the interests of tribals and those belonging to the scheduled castes. As far as possible, no acquisition shall take place in the scheduled areas. And where such acquisition does take place it has to undertake comprehensive consultations with the local institutions of self-governance (including the autonomous councils where they exist).
The rural development ministry claims that given the way in which market value is to be calculated and the imposition of a solatium of 100 per cent over and above the amount, the farmers will surely get a fair price for their land. The collector has to make sure that no other unutilized land is available before he moves to acquire farm land. The final award has to include damage to any standing crops which might have been harmed due to the process of acquisition (including the preliminary inspection).
In case the land is acquired for urbanization purposes, then 20 per cent of the developed land will be reserved and offered to these farmers in proportion to the area of their land acquired and at a price equal to the cost of acquisition and the cost of development. In the case of irrigation or hydel projects, affected families may be allowed fishing rights in the reservoirs, in such manner as may be prescribed by the appropriate government.
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