The Union Cabinet on Monday approved the landmark Land Acquisition and Resettlement Bill, which will allow the states to enact their own laws on the subject. The bill will now be introduced in Parliament on September 7.
This decision could be arrived at only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened to placate some dissenting ministers. Sources said that before a final decision on clearing the the bill was taken at the Cabinet meeting, at least four ministers (all of them former chief ministers) objected to the proposed legislation’s provisions. It is learnt that Sharad Pawar, Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Desh-mukh and M. Veerappa Moily voiced strong objections to various provisions of the draft bill.
Sensing that it would be difficult to reach a consensus, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee suggested that the bill could be referred to a Group of Ministers, sources said. “But then the Prime Minister intervened, saying the bill could first be placed before Parliament and then referred to the standing committee. He also said he would take the matter to the Natioanl Development Council, to take the chief ministers on board,” they said. A meeting of the NDC is likely later this month to clear the 12th Plan approach paper.
Before taking the bill to the Cabinet, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had a meeting last week with the Prime Minister, where he told Dr Singh that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi was keen to see the bill passed by Parliament as soon as possible.
The draft bill talks of “livelihood compensation” for displaced farmers. Under it, compensation to for farmers will be four times the current value of the land for urban areas, and twice the land value for rural areas.