What is land acquisition bill in India and is it really bad for the country progress and development?

Answer 1

The Land acquisition full details are not yet out, and there may be surprises in the fine print.

Here I am trying to summarize some key disadvantage of this bill:

1. The Industry has serious concerns on some of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Bill.
2. The CII say that the cost of land acquisition will be increased by three times thus making the forthcoming projects unviable. In addition, the CII notes that the Bill would lead to major delays in the process of Land acquisition.
3. The clause of obtaining consent of 80 percent of affected families for private sector and 70 percent of affected families for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects would make the process of obtaining consent a very long drawn out process.
4. The Bill talks of an urgency clause which means that government can acquire a land it wants by ignoring all the pre-set conditions.
5. The Resettlement & Rehabilitation clause gives no guarantee to jobs.
6. The Bill compensates different categories of affected families at par, not aligned to their losses. So there could be cases where compensation calculated is lower than the market rate.
7. State is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to acquiring farm land.
8. The Bill does not guarantee return of unused land if land owner repays compensation to the state.

Answer 2

Here are positive and negative clauses of the new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill:

Pros:
1- The existing Act kept 13 most frequently used acts for Land Acquisition for Central Government Projects out of the purview. These acts are applicable for national highways, metro rail, atomic energy projects, electricity related projects, etc. The present amendments bring all those exempted from the 13 acts under the purview of this Act for the purpose of compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement. Therefore, the amendment benefits farmers and affected families.
2- The proposed changes in the Land Acquisition Act would allow a fast track process for defence and defence production, rural infrastructure including electrification, affordable housing, industrial corridors and infrastructure projects including projects taken up under Public Private Partnership mode where ownership of the land continues to be vested with the government.
3- As per the changes brought in the Ordinance, multi-crop irrigated land can also be acquired for purposes like national security, defence, rural infrastructure including electrification, industrial corridors and building social infrastructure.
Cons:
1- The original Land Acquisition Act, 2013 had a consent clause for acquiring land – industrial corridors, Public Private Partnership projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. But after the central government changed, it exempted these five categories from the rule of acquitting land in the Bill tabled on February 24.
2- Social assessment which was mandatory before acquitting land has also been exempted in the Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha.
3- As per the existing law, land will be given back to the farmer if it remains unused for five years. The proposed amendment says the land will be returned only if the specified project on the land fails to complete the deadline.
4- Bureaucrats will be punished if found guilty of violating any clause of the existing Land Act. However, the new clause makes government sanction necessary to prosecute civil servants.
The Land Acquisition Amendment Act, 2015 is currently creating a lot of hassle in Parliament with the Lok Sabha session being adjourned for the same on February 24. With both opposition and ruling parties equally holding their leashes tight on the Land Bill, only time will tell if the amendments in the Land Acquisition Act will be passed or not and whether they will be truly beneficial.

Conclusion : ( Conclusion Credits Apoorv Jindal )

Govt. -- I will buy your land.
Farmer -- I don't want to sell.
Govt. -- That's not your choice because we think this land is required for industrial project for XYZ company.
You -- OK then how much will u pay me.
Govt. -- 15 lakhs/hector.
You -- That is too little.
Govt. -- That's not your choice.
You -- I will not sell

One week later, police comes & throws you out of your own house.
Now you want file a case in the court. And the Court says, you need "Govt." permission to file this case since new "Land Acquisition Bill" doesn't permit you to go to court .