The government has decided to let its Ordinance, which diluted clauses
of the UPA regime’s 2013 land acquisition Act, to lapse. The opposition
claims it as a victory over the government. The alliance fighting the
BJP in the upcoming Bihar elections touts it as a victory for every poor
farmer. The truth is more nuanced: state governments have primary
jurisdiction over land laws. After the Singur and Nandigram incidents in
Bengal where the state tried to forcefully snatch land from farmers for
industry, many states have adopted innovative methods to minimise
opposition to acquire land for development and other projects. Rather
than a one-time acquisition, they seek to make land sellers stakeholders
in future development. The Centre must allow states this flexibility
without discrimination.
Most recently, Andhra Pradesh has
acquired significant parcels by offering farmers a portion of land they
have given up, to develop residential and commercial projects once the
area is developed. This will increase their incomes hugely, possibly for
decades. Earlier, Uttar Pradesh under Mayawati and Haryana under
Bhupinder Singh Hooda had developed models that combined upfront
payments, annuities and return of a portion of the land to land sellers,
making them stakeholders in development. However, there are exceptional
cases, like developing dams or irrigation projects, where social gains
outweigh the losses of those affected directly by projects. In these
cases, states must have the flexibility to ease the terms of the consent
clause, or make returns far more generous to the few who give up land
for the benefit of many.
There is a political message for the
BJP here: the Modi regime must learn to talk to all parties, including
allies and the opposition, before undertaking major policy decisions. In
our parliamentary and federal system, one size never fits all:
unilateralism is not an option. Next time, say, while trying to roll out
the GST, the government must first listen, build consensus and stop
trying to use its majority in the Lok Sabha to bulldoze opponents.
(Source: Editorial in The Economic times dated 01-09-2015.)
