Recently I heard that the government has ensured that while acquiring land, the rights of the farmers are protected. The draft rules to implement the land acquisition bill has been released in public domain so that they can get valuable comments from the stakeholders and the comments should be submitted within 45 days to the Rural Development Ministry. Even all consent proceedings and social impact assessment documents are openly available and requests for information will be fulfilled within seven days.
It is made mandatory by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 that at least 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies and 70 per cent for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects. The draft rules also says that for bigger projects where land acquisition is spread across multiple locations, permission must be sought in all the affected areas at the same time. It is also said that for PPP projects and projects by a private company in Schedule V areas, Gram Sabha permission must be taken before the land owners permission
Government allowed to form a committee to look after the demand of the farmers demonstrating in Delhi since long time under the banner of Kishan Khel Mazdoor Mahapanchayat with a definite timelines.
The meeting took place in the presence of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh along with 19 delegates of the Mahapanchayat accompanied by six central ministers.