Just a day after taking charge of the rural development ministry, Mr Jairam Ramesh ordered a reversal of his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh’s stand on proposed Land Acquisition Bill, and directed his officials to adhere to the recommendations made by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council. He said while there would be a
mention of rehabilitation in the bill, there would be separate legislation on compensation and resettlement in view of the large projects — such as those on power and irrigation — which are coming up.
In a clear signal that the draft Land Acquisition Bill, now being vetted by the law ministry, would be reworked, Mr Ramesh indicated he would ask officials to incorporate feedback collected by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi during his four-day padayatra in western Uttar Pradesh, which he had launched from Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida, the epicentre of the UP farmers’ agitation.
The draft bill which had been prepared during Mr Deshmukh’s stewardship of the ministry had clearly ignored the NAC’s recommendations. Mr Ramesh ruled out any confrontation with the NAC on the land bill issue.
Mr Ramesh said Wednesday that the new draft bill would be uploaded on his ministry’s website in a week, and suggestions and feedback would be invited from the public. The minister promised that there would be a new Land Acquisition Act in place by August 30.
Speaking to the media, Mr Ramesh said he had accepted the NAC’s recommendations on the bill, and said the stress in the new law would be to define the “public purpose” behind the move to acquire land. “The purpose for which the land is being acquired — whether for critical infrastructure or golf courses — is an important issue that has to be discussed.”
NAC member N.C. Saxena, who met Mr Ramesh soon after the minister took charge of his new portfolio, said the meeting was fruitful and that they would meet again on Saturday.
Mr Ramesh instructed officials that workers affected by any land acquisition should be given top priority in the new law. “It is not just compensation to landowners; the more important issue is to compensate those whose livelihood depends on the land being acquired. This is the most important matter. Compensation is the second most important issue,” he said.
The new minister is yet to reconcile the recent stand taken by the ministry on the 70:30 ratio (70 per cent of land to be acquired by the private player, the remainder by the government), while the NAC had wanted 100 per cent of the land to be acquired by the government. To complicate matters further, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee — who has in recent years taken an unequivocal pro-farmer stand on land policy — is not in favour of any role for the government in land acquisition.
Mr Ramesh, showing urgency to get to grips with the task at hand, had driven to his office Tuesday evening straight from Rashtrapati Bhavan after the swearing-in, and had met officials till late in the night, and again started Wednesday morning with a series of review meetings which continued till late in the evening.