Budget 2014: Land Acquisition Act
In the union budget 2014-15, the finance minister did not make any public announcement regarding the Land Acquisition Act. Expectations were high with the union budget that it will inject transparency into the land acquisition process, however, the new government did not throw light in this regard.
Land Acquisition Act is a crucial term for the government, which serves as the basis for construction in India. The present government had previously cleared the air of making certain amendments in the previously approved Land Acquisition Act, 2013, starting with section 40, which quotes that the government can acquire a land with a notice of mere 30 days, on the grounds of national security and defence. Among the different laws which were expected to be amended are-the National Highway Act of 1956, the Coal Bearing Area Acquisition Act of 1957 and the Land Acquisition Mines Act of 1885.
Proposed changes in Land Acquisition Act
The rural ministry has shortlisted a few action points for the PMO’s consideration. Some of them are:
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Removal of the consent clause for PPP projects. An alternate proposition is to reduce the consent requirement to 50 per cent of land owners. According to the law passed the previous year, the consent required from the land owners was 70 per cent for PPP projects.
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Another proposition is that people’s view will not matter if any public agency is involved in the project.
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The present law limits the acquisition option only for waste-land and single crop agriculture land. The ministry has proposed to expand this to multi-crop agriculture land, making 48 per cent of the total agricultural land available for acquisition.
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The ministry has proposed to remove the ‘social impact assessment’ provision from the present law as it could delay the execution of projects.
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The ministry has also suggested the PMO to redefine the ‘affected families’ as it believes that the present definition raises false alarms.
The prime minister will be taking a call on the proposed changes. The proposed changes have been hailed as industry-friendly. However, one will have to wait to see if the proposed changes are farmer-friendly as well.
