Revised land Bill faces hurdles galore

BJP, JD(U) now ask for leasing instead of takeover; Jairam, Sharad Yadav to discuss on Friday

The revised land acquisition Bill, which Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wants to table in Parliament in the ongoing session, seems to face too many hurdles in the shape of objections from various opposition parties.

The latest idea floated by the latter, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (U), is of leasing a land lot, rather than buying or acquiring it for various purposes. This is supposed to ensure the owner doesn't lose legal possession and it continues to give her or him a return as long as it is leased by industry or government.

Ramesh will hold talks on Friday with JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav to discuss the differences and this proposal. Yadav had proposed the principle of leasing land at the all-party meet convened this week by the government to discuss the Bill. When Business Standard asked him if any state had experimented with this model of land transfer for development, he said he could not comment on it now.

Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, who is leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, had supported this demand at the all-party meet. Asked if the BJP and his party were united on the idea of leasing out land, Yadav said he did not know. Asked why this was not put before the standing committee headed by Sumitra Mahajan which had examined the Bill, Yadav said different people give different ideas.

Mahajan, when asked about the leasing principle, refused to comment, saying she did not attend the all-party meet and was not aware of what Swaraj had said. She said the matter never came up for discussion before the standing committee. While Swaraj and other parties have been insisting the revised Bill be handed over to another standing committee and brought before parliament only in the monsoon session, Mahajan had earlier expressed the view that she was in favour of the Bill in its present form being discussed in Parliament.

Ramesh's ministry had made 154 amendments to the bill while incorporating recommendations of the standing committee and also rejecting its stand that the government should not acquire land for the private sector. The revised bill allows this and acquisition for public-private partnership projects, provided 80 per cent of the land losers consented.

Basudev Acharya of the CPI(M) said today the opposition now wanted 100 per cent consent of the people who were to lose land to acquisition. "The minister as well as parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath want consensus. How can there be consensus when we differ so much on the bill?" he asked.