Land acquisition

Problem: 

• Land is acquired by various state agencies from the people for various projects and Industry without considering the opinion of the affected people. Not only people loose their home and hearth but also face unemployment. The compensation paid in lieu of the land is inadequate. Even if the rates are paid as per the prevailing market prices, then also the people’s problem are not lessened. We are merely taking an example that an acre of land is sufficient for a farmer to grow crop year after year and take care of his needs for a life time but rupee forty or fifty thousand that is paid as compensation is not sufficient to take care of his expenses for a life time. Such acquisition alleviates poverty. 

• Though the land owner gets an inadequate compensation but the labour who was working on that land does not get anything. He faces the specter of unemployment and poverty. 

• In many a places it has been observed that when the land was acquired, under duress, from the villagers then they joined the violent ranks of the naxals. 

Suggestion: 

Gram sabhas should be empowered to take decision on suitability of a project whether it is for the welfare of the people of the area or not, whether the land should be given for the project or not. If it 
is decided the land should be given for the project then at what rate and conditions. There opinion of gram sabhas should be supreme. To give these power following provisions should be made in the 
laws. 

• If any company, central or state government is interested in acquiring land then it should send an application to the panchayat of the concerned village. 

• Original papers should be submitted, duly translated in the local language explaining how the acquired land will be used and what kind of project will be put up. The papers should be submitted to all gram Sabha panchayats that are affected to enable them evaluate various pros and cons of the acquisition. 

• Based on the information submitted to the panchayat a campaign should be organized in each village to make people aware of the land acquisition. If any person of the village wants a photo copy of the project then a photocopy should be made available to him after charging money for the same. 

• After giving papers to the village panchayats, each panchayat should call a meeting to discuss the project. If there are doubts and fears about the project then the gram panchayats would send in a request to the company, central or state government which is putting up the project to appoint their representative to give answers to their doubts and fears in the gram Sabha. If more information is needed then gram Sabha could request for the same. 

• In the next meeting, which would be attended by the representative of the acquiring agency, all doubts and fears would be put to discussions. No decision would be taken on acquisition, except question answer session in this meeting. 

• If the gram Sabha is satisfied with documents furnished and the answers of the representative then gram Sabha will call another meeting for taking the decision on the acquisition issue. In case it requires more information then it would send in a request to the company, state government or the central government. 

• The meeting, in which the gram Sabha takes the final decision, no outsider would be allowed like the company representative, state or central government representative and the police. Even the media would be kept at a distance from the meeting. This meeting would not be chaired by the gram sarpanch or the pradhan. The people of the gram Sabha will choose, with consensus, a respectable person amongst themselves to head this meeting. The minutes of the meeting would not be written by the secretary of the gram Sabha but by a person chosen from amongst the people present. A vote would be taken to decide if the people want to give away the land or not. If yes then on what terms and conditions? The gram Sabha will ensure that interest of all concerned is taken care of while taking unanimous decision. This Sabha will take care of the interest of the landless and the labours who work on the land and the acquisition would result in their unemployment. If need be then more than one gram sabhas should conduct meetings jointly to reach a consensus. 

• Whatever is the decision taken by such a consensus would rein supreme. The government will have no power to make amendments or reject the same. 

• There should be a national policy on rehabilitation of the land owners and landless which should clearly define their basic rights. If the gram Sabha gives consent to land acquisition then provisions laid down in the rehabilitation policy, without tempering the basic rights, would form the basis of acquisition. The gram sabhas on the other hand will be free to negotiate other terms and demand more. The decision of the gram Sabha will be treated as final. 

• The country is passing through a great food crisis. This crisis would deepen in the times to come. It is important in the national interest to preserve fertile land for the purpose of agriculture only. The nation will survive without roads, power and industry but we will not be able to survive for a day without food. A law should be enacted that bans the use of land that yields two crops a year for any purpose other than agriculture. Such land should be identified and marked for agriculture use only by the gram sabhas.