The government has opted for an ordinance to change the Land Acquisition Act. But down South, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is crafting a new land pooling model, claiming it is better than the Central framework for land acquisition. CR Sukumar and Raji Reddy Kesireddy find out how the experiment is unfolding:Forty-five-year-old marginal farmer Kolli Narendra is yet to come to terms with how his fortunes have changed over the past few months. Many of his relatives in faraway villages, he suspects, even envy that he is a paper 'crorepati' as a result of the fact that he owns a two-acre plot of land in in Thullur village on the Krishna riverfront where a brand new capital city is being planned.His fate changed after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014, leaving the residual state without a capital. When chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and his team searched for a new headquarters, Narendra was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time — Thullur, with some 3,600 acres in its revenue limits, is among those 29 villages that the team identified for building a greenfield capital about 270 km southeast of Hyderabad.After identifying the boundaries of the capital region which would span at least 30,000 acres initially, Naidu toured several capital cities that were built over the past few decades — Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Naya Raipur.He even went to Singapore and managed to secure the Singapore government's assurance for designing the master plan for the proposed capital, which is yet to be named. He has also sought at least Rs 1 lakh crore of assistance from the central government for building the capital city. This was more than enough for igniting the realty market sentiment and for land prices to skyrocket multi-fold in the villages on the Krishna riverfront.As against some Rs 15 lakh an acre before June 2014, Narendra is now seeing each acre fetching nothing less than Rs 1 crore in most villages in and around the proposed capital region.Hundreds of farmers on the Krishna riverfront have sold portions of land in the capital region at high prices and their lifestyles have changed dramatically. Many new-generation private sector banks, jewellery and automobile firms and even eateries have opened their shops over the past few weeks, mostly in makeshift forms as they seek to cater to the changed aspirations of the farmers-turned-highnetworth individuals.Narendra himself spotted a business opportunity and is now a real estate agent like many in the region. "This should help our future generations enjoy comfortable lives," said Narendra, watching the beeline of luxury cars on the riverfront, some of them acquired by his fellow villagers from the proceeds of land sales.Chief Minister Naidu has announced a land pooling model, claiming it will protect the interests of landowners and residents. Under this model, land parcels would be pooled from owners through a voluntary process with no immediate cash payment to them.The designated agency of Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) would develop and hand over a portion of the developed land with infrastructure to the landowners in proportion to their land contribution. Half of the land procured from landowners will be used for common assets like roads, open spaces and social infrastructure. The other half will be shared equally between the landowners and government.The landowners would be exempted from payment of stamp duty, registration fee and other charges for the developed portion of land. In its share of land, the government proposes to build world-class infrastructure and common amenities including the capital complex within three years. The government proposes to develop the capital in six zones of 800 acre each and hand over the developed land share to the landowners in the zone his land was originally pooled.A section of farmers' bodies, civil society organisations and opposition parties allege blatant violations by the Naidu government of laws enacted by Parliament to ensure protection and safeguards to landowners and multi-crop farmers.They fault Naidu's decision to choose an area with fertile multi-crop agricultural lands for the capital. Some advised the government to look at building an administrative capital on government and forest lands. They also accuse the government of ducking the mandatory studies including the social impact assessment before finalising the location for the proposed capital.Countering this, Naidu insists that the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri (VGTM) area between Vijayawada and Guntur is most suitable for the proposed capital city since it is centrally located with road, rail and airport connectivity. "Forest and remote areas are not suitable to build a socially vibrant and liveable world-class capital city," he told ET in an interaction on December 5.Parakala Prabhakar, communications advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government, is of the view that the model is primarily aimed at benefiting the landowners while helping the government to procure land quickly and avoid the delays associated with the social impact assessments, public hearings as well as the pain of relocation and resettlement.He is also of the view that the land pooling model is superior to the central ordinance which amends the land acquisition law to make it more business-friendly. The ordinance does away with social impact studies involving public hearings and the clause relating to consent from at least 70% of landowners for public-private projects while leaving the level of compensation unchanged — four times the market price in rural India and two times in urban India."We consider our land pooling model far superior to the central law even after the ordinance. Our land pooling model makes landowners the stakeholders in sharing the benefits of the developed land, including the multi-fold surge in property valuations after land procurement," said Prabhakar. Naidu claims his model offers the best benefits to the landowners, as compared to the Centre's Land Acquisition Act 2013, passed during the regime of the Congress-led UPA in 2013.Besides sharing the residential and commercial space developed over the pooled land, the landowners would also be offered annuity payments for a period of 10 years with an increase of 10% a year.Apart from announcing to waive some Rs 200 crore of farm loans availed of by around 22,000 farmers in the capital region, Naidu promised to take care of interests of some 12,000 tenant farmers and landless labourers by paying them monthly compensation through a capital region social security fund.He also assured to help them upgrade skills, ensure works throughout the year under the rural employment guarantee scheme and offer interest-free loans for self-employment initiatives. Andhra Pradesh's move to go in for land pooling comes at a time when the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is preparing to relook at 'illogical provisions' of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.Senior Andhra bureaucrat D Sambasiva Rao, who was instrumental in framing the land pooling model and several elements of the CRDA, says the model is being tested for the first time in the country on such a large scale through proactive and voluntary participation of landowners. "Given the kind of response from the landowners so far, it looks like it is going to be a grand success. The entire country is keenly watching our large-scale land pooling experiment.It may even emerge as the most preferred mode for land procurement in the country going forward." Deputy chief minister KE Krishnamurthy claims a majority of the villages identified for the capital city have already agreed to pool their land and have begun submitting consent letters. "The TDP government is now looking at replicating this 'win-win' land pooling model for all the government and private developmental projects given the advantages the model offers."Land prices in the designated capital region moved into a higher orbit immediately after the government promised some 'exceptional benefits' to landowners under the proposed pooling model. Realtors from across the country landed in these villages. The region saw thousands of crores of rupees changing hands. Hundreds of deals took place — both through formal registrations and understandings on paper.Notwithstanding the rising affluence of nearly one lakh people living in the villages in the capital region, thousands of villagers, landowners, tenant farmers and landless labourers are worried about several uncertainties.They are apprehensive about the success of land pooling, its timely development for them to get their due share of developed land to reap the promised benefits, apart from with anxieties of looking for new housing and livelihoods. Despite the upbeat mood in several quarters, on the whole, the reactions are mixed among those living on the Krishna riverfront where the capital is going to come up.Farmers in some 10 villages with over 10,000 acres of fertile multicrop agricultural land right on the riverbank feel dejected. They find the package unremunerative given the traditionally high valuation for their lands and their substantial agricultural incomes.On December 8, Naidu announced an upwardly revised differential package, primarily aimed at luring the farmers owning 'Jareebu' or 'Maagani' (wet) lands, which enjoyed higher valuation as compared to 'Metta' or dry lands. He offered 50% additional developed commercial land and two-thirds increase in annuity payments to fertile wet landowners.A section of 'Jareebu' landowners is still not enthused by the revised package. Some landowners are now seeking legal advice and looking at mobilising people and resources to oppose land pooling.While a majority of dry-land villages are dominated by the Kamma community, the key support base of the ruling TDP, a large portion of 'Jareebu' lands are owned by the farmers of Reddy community with close linkages to the opposition YSR Congress. The family of Mallela Seshagiri Rao in Rayapudi village, owning nearly 100 acre of wet lands, is vowing to oppose the government's move to obtain their lands.Rao, also a leader of Federation of Associations of Capital-Affected Farmers, accuses Naidu's machinery of creating panic among farmers and threatening to coercively acquire the land.On the night of December 28, some of the frustrations boiled over and unidentified miscreants burnt fruit godowns, huts and haystacks in some villages on the Krishna riverbank. This incident has resulted in a blame game between the TDP and the YSR Congress. In a bid to allay apprehensions and to provide legal sanctity to the land pooling model, Naidu on December 22 secured the assembly's approval for the CRDA Bill amidst protests by the YSR Congress. The opposition parties find the bill inferior to the Centre's Land Acquisition Act in protecting the interests of landowners and residents.YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy accuses the government of misleading the farmers on the benefits under land pooling and says the model appears legally untenable. "Naidu knows pretty well that the New Land Acquisition Act does not allow him to procure irrigated multi-crop lands and hence, he devised the land pooling model," said Reddy, while alleging lack of transparency in the process of identifying the location for the proposed capital.He suspects property accumulation, speculation and insider trading by the associates of Naidu and their business entities.While the state government insists that the farmers would get compensaqtion under the Land Acquisition Act based on the registration prices, retired High Court judge turned social activist P Laxamana Reddy claims the courts take into account any informal deal between willing seller and buyer for deciding on the 'just and reasonable' compensation to the landowners.Referring to the alleged veiled threats of government to coercively procure land from unwilling farmers, he advises the farmers to part with their lands in line with the provisions of the New Land Acquisition Act 2013 'under protest' so that their benefits are taken care of under the law."Naidu is misleading the farmers that they benefit more with land pooling as compared to compensation under the land acquisition act. In fact, the New Land Acquisition Act provides one of the best compensation packages to landowners," said Laxmana Reddy, accusing Naidu of trying to grab thousands of acres free of cost in the backdrop of the poor financial situation of the state government.Bureaucrat Sambasiva Rao says pooling helps landowners secure well-developed land with world-class infrastructure, fetching them benefits that are multifold as against the four-fold compensation based on the average registration values under the New Land Acquisition Act."Those who are propagating that the government is getting the land without spending a penny should realise that the government is not only going to spend sizeable amounts on developing infrastructure but is also foregoing hundreds of crore of rupees of tax revenue by exempting the landowners in the capital region from paying stamp duty, registration and land conversion fees."Retired bureaucrat and former city estate officer of Chandigarh, MG Devasahayam, accuses the Naidu government of attempting to flout existing regulations at the cost of environment and food security."Naidu is trying to superimpose a concrete jungle over one of the world's highly fertile multicrop agricultural lands." Observing that both Krishna and Guntur districts were already densely populated with nearly a million people each, Devasahayam said an administrative capital between Vijayawada and Guntur would have been ideal. He points out that only 9,000 acres is acquired for the most acclaimed capital area of Chandigarh and another 6,000 acres in the second phase. "It took more than five decades for Chandigarh to reach over a million in population."The Union government appointed the Sivaramakrishnan panel, whose key terms of reference were to suggest alternatives to the new capital with "least possible dislocation to existing agriculture systems," also opposed the VGTM area.The panel found the VGTM area undesirable for decentralised development, describing that it will significantly add to the 'honey pot' character similar to Hyderabad, which in turn will detract from the potential and growth prospects of other centres.Sivaramakrishnan panel wanted the Andhra Pradesh government to "approach the capital question in the context of a broader pathway of balanced regional development, away from urban primacy." Opposing the single greenfield capital, the panel also advised the government to consider multiple capital zones across the three major regions of the state.Even as the ruling party lawmakers assure justice to the 'Jareebu' landowners on the Krishna riverfront and invite them for talks with the government, chief minister Naidu appealed to unwilling farmers "not to get into the trap of opposition parties and NGOs, which were only trying to create hurdles to the capital building exercise for petty motives."Bureaucrat Sambasiva Rao claims there is no notable resistance from the landowners to part with their lands. Some landowners in a few pockets are of the view that they deserve a better compensation package over others. At a time when most governments across the country have turned 'unpopular' during largescale land acquisition, Rao said, "Naidu is all set to become highly popular with his win-win land pooling model and offer a lasting solution to the land procurement woes in the country."