GoM clears amendments to R&R, land acquisition policies

With only two days left in the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha, the group of ministers headed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar cleared the proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy on Tuesday.

"I am trying hard to accommodate these items in the list of business of Parliament. Let us see what happens," Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told reporters at Parliament on Tuesday.

According to sources, the GoM has accepted the rural development ministry's demand to stick to the 70:30 formula for land acquisition for industry, after rejecting suggestions of a parliamentary panel, Left parties and some state governments.

This means that a state can acquire only up to 30 per cent of the total land required for a project with the remaining being acquired by the private party concerned. The original Land Acquisition Act (amendment) Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha last year favoured the 70:30 formula.

Earlier, the Left parties, some state governments and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development had raised serious objections over the 70:30 formula and sought full power for the state to acquire land.

The new Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy moots rehabilitation before eviction of the people affected by an industrial project.

The amendments will not be binding on the states as they are free to formulate own policies.