Punjab farmers have been tenting on the Khanauri and Shambhu borders of Punjab and Haryana since February, demanding authorized standing for the Minimal Help Worth (MSP) of crops together with a dozen different calls for from the central authorities. One of many outstanding calls for is the implementation of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
Why are farmers demanding the implementation of this Act? We clarify.
What’s the Land Acquisition Act, 2013?
The Proper to Honest Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013 (generally known as the Land Acquisition Act, 2013) was enacted by the Centre to interchange the outdated Land Acquisition Act of 1894.
The 2013 Act supplies a contemporary framework for land acquisition, guaranteeing truthful compensation and rehabilitation for affected households. The Act got here into pressure on January 1, 2014. Some amendments had been made in 2015.
What are the important thing options of this Act?
Honest compensation and consent necessities are the foremost options of the Act. Landowners are entitled to compensation that’s twice the market worth in city areas and 4 instances the market worth in rural areas. Moreover, consent is required from 70% of the affected households for Public-Non-public Partnership (PPP) initiatives, and 80% consent is required for land acquisition by non-public corporations.
For irrigated multi-cropped land, acquisition is restricted past limits specified by the state governments. If such fertile land is acquired, the federal government should develop an equal measurement of wasteland for agricultural functions. If a person is dissatisfied with an award underneath the Act, they’ll strategy the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement (LARR) Authority for redressal.
The Act additionally mandates a Social Impression Evaluation (SIA) to guage the social, environmental, and financial impacts of land acquisition. Moreover, the Act contains provisions for Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R), providing entitlements for affected households akin to:
- A home for displaced households.
- Monetary help for livelihood loss.
- Employment or annuity-based revenue for dependent households.
- Infrastructure growth, akin to roads, faculties, and healthcare services, in resettlement areas.
What are the opposite options of this Act?
The Act narrows the definition of “public function” to stop arbitrary acquisitions. Public functions embody infrastructure initiatives, urbanisation, and industrial corridors. If the acquired land will not be utilised for its acknowledged function inside 5 years, it should be returned to the unique house owners or a land financial institution.
Sure initiatives, akin to these associated to defence, railways, and atomic power, are exempt from the Act; nevertheless, compensation and R&R provisions nonetheless apply. Transparency is ensured by way of public hearings and entry to SIA studies. Moreover, the Act mandates additional advantages and session processes for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
When the Act is already in pressure, why are farmers demanding its implementation?
The Act will not be being applied in its letter and spirit, the farmers declare.
“Each the central and state governments are chargeable for not implementing the Act in its authentic type,” mentioned Bharti Kisan Union Common Secretary Jagmohan Singh.
He cited the continued state of affairs in Noida, the place round 160 farmers had been not too long ago arrested for protesting towards the dearth of “truthful” compensation for land acquired by the state, for initiatives together with the Yamuna Expressway.
Jagmohan additionally highlighted that a number of states have applied the Act with amendments, resulting in controversies and court docket circumstances. “Modifications had been proposed, akin to enjoyable sure provisions, together with the elimination of the consent clause for a number of classes, together with PPP initiatives,” he mentioned.
“The Land Acquisition Act, 2013 is a progressive legislation that ensures truthful compensation, offering monetary safety to farmers. Its consent clause provides farmers a say in whether or not their land will be acquired, empowering them towards pressured acquisitions. The Act’s rehabilitation provisions assist displaced households by offering livelihood help and important infrastructure in resettlement areas. It additionally prevents misuse of arbitrary acquisitions for personal features, safeguarding farmers’ dignity, particularly as land stays their major supply of revenue and identification,” Jagmohan mentioned.
What challenges does the Act face in its implementation?
Specialists level out that the procedural necessities usually delay land acquisition for growth initiatives, and the compensation prices can pressure private and non-private challenge budgets.
Balancing growth wants with social justice stays a contentious subject, making the Act’s full implementation difficult, specialists say.
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