Union Rural Develoment Minister Birender Singh Union Rural Develoment Minister Birender Singh

Indicating the government’s willingness to make concessions on the Land Acquisition Bill, Union Rural Develoment Minister Birender Singh on Wednesday said the consent clause would be brought back, though in a slightly diluted form. The Bill has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha, but remains stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP is in a minority.

Addressing mediapersons in Chandigarh, Singh said a rethink is needed on the consent clause. “It is not possible to get consent of 70-80 per cent people of the area. We would reduce it to 50-60 per cent. Also, consent should be sought only of the landowners where acquisition is to take place. A committee of MPs and MLAs of the area where land is to be acquired should be made,” Singh said.

The rural development minister said the Centre is likely to re-promulgate the ordinance on land acquisition since the existing one would lapse on April 5. He added that consensus of all political parties would be taken before the Land Acquisition Bill gets the final nod. Several amendments are proposed to be made to the Land Acquisition Act in consultation with the states, and priority would be accorded to wasteland and non-cultivable land while making acquisition. He further said land would be acquired as per requirement and not for future expansion.

Singh stated that the land of defunct public sector undertakings should be utilised first instead of making fresh acquisitions. He also clarified that only government would acquire land in public interest and it would not be handed over to any industrialist or businessman.

The minister said a meeting with representatives of 32 states and union territories was held on June 21 last year. Most states that are now opposing the amendments had demanded that the consent clause and social impact clause be removed, he noted. The draft was made only after the government received suggestions from states and UTs.

“The UPA government had passed the Bill in a hurry before the elections. We removed as many as 54 errors, including typographical errors, wrongly used words, etc. The party aimed at garnering votes of farmers,” he said, adding that eight amendments have been made in the Bill by them keeping in mind the interests of farmers.

Meanwhile, announcing that a decision on the fate of the land acquisition ordinance would be taken by the Union Cabinet, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the proposed legislation would help in the development of rural areas while decentralising power to state governments to decide on land acquisition.

“The decision on whether a state government wants to acquire land for the five (exempted) purposes is with the state government,” he told investors at ‘The Growth Net’ conference in New Delhi.

“You cannot have a situation where one state says I will not grow and I will not allow others to grow. That is not an acceptable economic proposition,” he said.

Outlining the advantages of the Bill, he further said that it proposes to bring in five new exempted purposes, including security, defence, infrastructure, power and affordable housing, for which it would be easier to acquire land. “Most of those exemptions have been designed to help rural India,” he said.

Pointing out that the original land Act of 2013 had 13 exempted areas, the minister further said, “Instead of 13, it has become 18. Please do not forget that this Ordinance in those 13 exempted areas has also provided for enhanced compensation. And therefore the enhanced compensation to those 13 areas exists as long as the Ordinance exists.”

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