The much-awaited pathbreaking Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to provide just and fair compensation for farmers while ensuring no land can be acquired forcibly, was passed by the Lok Sabha with an overwhelming majority late on Thursday evening.
“The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012” stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for public-private partnership projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.
The bill, which was passed with 216 votes in favour and 19 against, will replace over a century-old law. It proposes compensation that is up to four times the market value in rural areas and two times the market value in urban areas.
The Left parties, AIADMK and BJD members staged a walkout. The Trinamul Congress voted against the bill while the BJP as well as the SP and BSP supported the legislation. In all, 381 amendments were moved to the bill, but of these 166 were official ones. Among the Opposition’s amendments, some were withdrawn and others were defeated during voting.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and home minister and Leader of the House Sushilkumar Shinde, apparently unwell, did not participate in the voting as they left while the amendments were being moved.
The government accepted some Opposition amendments, including two moved by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj. These said that instead of acquisition land could be leased to developers so that its ownership remained with farmers and provided them a regular annual income.
Ms Swaraj had also suggested provision for payment of 50 per cent compensation to original owners whose land was purchased after introduction of the bill in the Lok Sabha in September 2011. The government agreed to 40 per cent.
Replying to the debate on the bill, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said: “There will be no forceful acquisition of land under this law. This legislation will provide lawful right of farmers over their land and no right of forceful acquisition to the government.”
Asserting that the new law will address “historical injustice”, the minister said this law was being enacted under the Concurrent List and that the states can bring their own law on the subject without derogating from the Central law.
Allaying the fears of the Muslim community, he made it clear that waqf land will not be acquired under this law.
The bill will replace the archaic law of 1894, which suffers from various shortcomings, including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by the acquisition of land.
In his reply, Mr Ramesh sought to reach out to all political parties, including BJP, JD(U), Trinamul Congress and the Left, telling them that he had tried to accommodate several of their concerns in the bill and many of the amendments suggested by them had been turned into official amendments.
Earlier, participating in the debate, the Samajwadi Party, which provides outside support to the government, expressed reservations along with other Opposition parties on various provisions of the legislation. Parlies like the SP, BJP, BSP, CPI(M) and TMC had concerns over aspects like adequate remuneration to farmers and the right of land losers to appeal in the bill, which seeks to provide “fair and just compensation” to landowners.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav questioned the very need for acquiring the land of farmers, contending that the bill would “ruin” and “devastate” farmers.
Initiating the debate, BJP president Rajnath Singh said there are a lot of grey areas in the bill. Despite the proposed bill, there are apprehensions that forcible land acquisition would continue, he added.
BSP member Surendra Singh Nagar said the government had suddenly remembered the bill and farmers as polls were around the corner.
Congress member Meenakshi Natrajan said the government should streamline information about land records across the country. Without having proper land records, justice cannot be done, she added.
Participating in the debate, Rajeev Ranjan Singh “Lallan” (JD-U) said it was a “toothless bill” with many loopholes, which had not been plugged.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), while praising Mr Ramesh for making a lot of effort in bringing this bill, said all the recommendations of the standing committee on rural development, which scrutinised the bill, should be accepted by the government.
Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) also raised concerns about the land bill, saying it should be referred back to the standing committee, as there was a need for further amendments in the draft law.