NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLES' MOVEMENTS

LAND ACQUISITION ACT NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED, NOT AMENDED

The Government of India through the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment is putting the finishing touches to a major redrafting of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Given that the act has been one of the central tools used for mass displacement of people from their sources of subsistence and culture, and given that the act has been criticised by a wide cross section of democratically committed people, it is imperative that a significant national mobilisation be sought to understand and oppose this move.

The amendment to the Land Acquisition Act, recently approved by the Central Cabinet is anti-people and against `public interest'. The move does not suggest any consideration of the voice raised by the people affected through this act of British legacy during the last few decades. The tribal, peasant and other communities have questioned the principle of eminent domain, no right to information, unquestioned public purpose and no concept of rehabilitation with land for land or community resettlement- and the law makers have consistently taken no notice of these concerns.

Some of the main changes would be, in brief:
 

  1. The collector has been given major powers. Any project or agency can seek acquisition through the collector merely by seeking his/her consent.
  2. There is no mention of due process where consultation with potentially affected communities and other concerned citizens is mandatory.
  3. Appeals can only be heard by the High Court, that is still out of reach of many of the displaced persons.
  4. No commitment to seek least displacing or no displacing alternatives.
  5. It is not compulsory to give compensation prior to possession. This could impoverish and destabilise people and ultimately turn them into beggars.
  6. The displaced persons also have to seek compensation, rather than a comprehensive due process to identify those eligible for compensation. The amendment shifts responsibility to the person who, within three weeks has to file a claim and justify why he or she should be compensated.
  7. There is no recognition of those who do not have legal title to land; often a majority in a village, particularly in tribal areas have no legal titles or do not have titles but are dependent on the land (landless workers, artisans, nomads, etc.)
  8. The new draft of the LAA makes almost no acknowledgement that the ministry has also been in the process of drafting a national policy on rehabilitation which, despite its flaws and limitations, has protections which are contradictory to what is provided in the proposed LAA.
The amendment is rather applying salt to the wounds borne by the displaced and the affected. It also reduces the time for raising objections to the first notice from 30 to 21 days and in lieu of judicial process, proposes a tribunal for the purpose, with composition not specified. Cash compensation prevails as the only measure to compensate. No amount of show of transparency would help of the basic premise of peoples' right to natural resources and right to their own development plan is not recognised. This appears to be an attempt or a conspiracy by the globalisation, liberalisation, forces to privatise people's resources and usurp those towards their own benefit. The so-called development process underneath is a fiasco and yet those in the fast track are not ready to wait until human rights, social, environmental and economic justice is protected. We demand scrapping of the Land Acquisition Act and instead enact a policy and an act for `development planning and development rehabilitation' for the minimum displacement. It is urgent that we stridently oppose the amendments and call for a year long national dialogue on the form and content of policies that deprives and displaces hundreds of thousands of people every year.

It is crucial that we all raise our voices on this issue immediately, as it is to be discussed in the Winter Session of Parliament.

Please write to the Rural Development Minister expressing your disapproval of these amendments and call for the scrapping of the Land Acquisition Act.

Address your letters to:
 

Rural Development Minister
Krishi Bhavan
New Delhi
INDIA

Thank you for your support,

Medha Patkar