Land Acquisition amendment bill 2015;

Land acquisition amendment bill was passed by Loksabha yesterday bringing in some 9 amendments to the existing LARA (Land acquisition rehabilitation Act ) 2013,

The new law advocates of Right to fair compensation and

Some of the highlights are as below.

As per the existing LARA 2013 if any project is done by the private company it must take the consent of 80% of the land owners and if it is done by a govt. company or govt. body consent of at least 70% of the land owners is required for Land acquisition.

New law exempts this pre-requisite by making some amendments and categorizing the purpose of use of lands as below;

1. if the land is used for defence purpose.

2. If the land is acquired for rural infrastructure

3. if the land is used for cheap housing projects.

4.Social infrastructure

5.Industrial corridors

Thus making some more amendments to make it easier for the industrialists to get land acquired by the govt. and handed over to the private bodies at the earliest to deter Nandigram west Bengal, Bhatta Parsaul U.P like situation in near future. Unlike in the previous Act of 2013 it has removed consents of 70 % for PPP projects and 80 % ( for private companies) of land owners.

Land acquisition means purchase of 100 Acres land in Rural areas or 50 Acres of land in Urban Areas.

It has draw back if someone purchases the same amount of land in the passage of time in installments he/she can avoid the application of this Act. Big MNCs can easily grease the palms of our ministers and bureaucrats to gain favour and easily acquire any land anywhere in India and farmers might be thrown not only out of their fields but also of their homes…

In my opinion it is alright to have such liberal land acquisition bill so that it does not come in the way of growth trajectory of India.

But at the same time it should be noted that farmers at any cost should not be exploited otherwise it will have dire consequences on the plights of grieving farmers. Due heed must be paid while making assessment for the land acquisition and its cause effect relationship.

One should be very careful in acquiring agricultural land for industrial purposes, and much attention should be paid so that farmers are not at disadvantages and fair compensation is paid to them.