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Land acquisition reforms in India: The way forward

India is among the most densely populated countries of the world. India has current

population density of 360 per sq KM. Scope for availability of unused land is very limited

in India. Besides, considerable proportion of Indias population is dependent on land fortheir livelihood. This, further, makes the situation of unused land availability worse. Indias

GDP has grown at a significant rate. But one of the issues that India still faces is lack of

proper land acquisition laws to support the growth. Infrastructure of country shouldimprove to make growth sustainable. Land is important factor to improve infrastructure. So

land is limited due to large density but its requirement is very large. So government should

have a proper mechanism by which it can acquire private land for the public purposes.India, currently, have a 117 year old act - Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Multipleamendments have made to it, but the basic characteristics of act still remains the same and

act still need considerable reforms

Characteristics of Land Acquisition Act, 1894:

The basic reason for the establishment of the law was to facilitate the government in

acquiring privately held land for public purpose. The scope of public purpose involvedsetting up institutes for greater good like schools, hospitals and scope also included the

extension, planned development or improvement of existing village-sites. The reasoning

behind setting up the law was the concept of Utilitarianism, which means community

betterment ranks higher and is of superior power to the right of individual to hold property.The flowchart involved under the act was:

Step 1: In this step, government publishes preliminary notification that land is needed bythe government for public purpose. On publication of notification, any concerned party can

submit his objections to the collector. The collector submits a report to the government

Step 2: On basis of report, government makes the final declaration and other processes ofacquisition follow. Factor like Measurement are initiated.

Step3: In this stage, collector hears the claims for compensation of the land and gives his

award for compensation. It is the duty of the competent authority to pass the award

within two years from the date of publication of the declaration.Step 4: In this step, the collector can take possession of the land after the order is made and

the collector makes payment of the compensation awarded by him.

Every step requires adherence to time schedule and if authority fails to follow then theentire proceedings initiated for land acquisition will lapse.

Issues:

Some of the interesting issues that resulted from the archaic land acquisition act were:Compensation was liable to only those who were directly affected by the acquisition. But

there was no involvement for those who were affected indirectly like agricultural laborers.

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There was scope for farmers not getting market value for their land. It might happen that

State acquires land for private projects. Farmer is compensated for value of agricultural

land. Once Non agricultural use clearance (NAC) is issued for the land, the land ratesincreased substantially.

There were no fixed standards and processes involved for evaluating the compensation.

Many criticizers for the act consider it as exceedingly harsh and draconian as there are nopublic sentiments attached with the act.

There are instances like Nandigram violence where rehabilitation and relocation of those

affected by the act were not followed up properly.