Land Related Issues
Land Related Issues
Land Related Issues
www.visionias.in
1 Introduction
Issues related to land have become the most contentious and complex in recent times in India. The issues vary
from the age old debate on displacement vs development to latest land acquisition, rehabilitation and
resettlement.
There is an urgent need of land for the expanding urban areas, but at the same time, there is also a need to
conserve agricultural land to feed the increasing population. Protection of environment and biodiversity are the
hot-topics but at the same time there is an outcry on lack of growth and development. The land issues are being
revisited with a new perspective with the impact of liberalization, privatization and globalisation.
In recent decades, however, a ‘new development paradigm’ has been articulated, one that promotes poverty
reduction, environmental protection, social justice, and human rights. In this paradigm, development is seen as
both bringing benefits and imposing costs. Among its greatest costs has been the involuntary displacement of
millions of vulnerable people.
After independence, India faced massive challenges in the economic front. Centuries of colonial rule had
drained out its productive resources and led to huge unemployment and disguised unemployment. The
subsistence agriculture often battered by floods and droughts could barely hold up an ever-growing
population.
Determined steps were taken to bring development and make India an industrialised and modern
nation. The 'Five-Year Plans' emphasised on developing key sectors like irrigation, power, heavy
industries and transport. Large dams, colossal steel plants, national highways and big ports were built to
create 'growth centres' with the twin objective of creating employment and reducing the burden of
import.
Eventually most of these projects came up in mineral-rich areas, upper stream of the rivers and coastal
belts. While heavy industries like steel and power were set up near coal and iron-ore rich belts, dams
were built in mountain ranges and refineries and ports in coastal areas.
These developmental projects, though increase productivity and production to a great extent, give rise
to involuntary displacement, thereby creating untold miseries for the oustees as has been experienced
in the completed and ongoing projects.
3 Environment vs Development
The environment/climate change crisis and development needs of the India’s poor require us to acknowledge
the necessity and urgency for both continued growth at the current pace, and rapid greening of this growth
strategy.
The spike in food prices signal in good measure, pressures on production that are exacerbated by the
deleterious effects of environmental devastation and climate change.
While some may set aside the global risks of climate change as being distant, recent extreme weather
events point to changes that may already be upon us.
The economic costs, including the losses caused by air pollution, water contamination and solid wastes
as well as deforestation are estimated to amount to some three per cent of GNP in China as well as
India, Argentina, Turkey and elsewhere.
Strikingly, prevention is often far cheaper than cure — whether it is curbing industrial pollution,
arresting deforestation or reinforcing structures in disaster-prone areas.
Green growth aiming to achieve a harmony between economic growth and environmental sustainability
is just what the world needs to obtain long-term and all rounded human development.
With sound protection and management, natural capital can actually yield considerable economic
dividends for India as well — especially due to its dependent on agricultural production, which is in turn
highly dependent on natural resources for the livelihoods of producers.
Alternatively, economic development can provide a solid material foundation for environmental
protection efforts, enabling Indian government to take better care of their ecosystems, and equip them
financially and technologically for the fight against climate change / environment. It is about growing
cleaner and greener, but not slower.
However, in a developing country like India, agriculture still plays a major role. The agriculture sector provides
employment to 58.4% of country’s work force and is the single largest private sector occupation. Various
important industries in India find their raw material from agriculture sector - cotton and jute textile industries,
sugar, vanaspati etc. are directly dependent on agriculture. Handloom, spinning oil milling, rice thrashing etc. are
various small scale and cottage industries which are dependent on agriculture sector for their raw material.
Agriculture accounts for about 14.7% of the total export earnings. Besides, goods made with the raw material of
agriculture sector also contribute about 20% in Indian exports.
There is no doubt that without agriculture, India cannot exist and without industry, it cannot develop.
Agriculture and industry are like two wheels of a bicycle; one cannot survive without other. So it’s necessary for
a country to have both - agriculture as well as industry. Industries should be promoted but not by compromising
with agriculture. Policies should be made in order to promote both, industries as well as agriculture.
Government should try to set up industries in those lands, which are either unproductive for agriculture
or barren. India has a vast reserve of barren lands. These lands are either not suitable for agriculture due
to lack of fertility or shortage of natural resources such as water and minerals.
Such areas can be found in western region of the country, which includes states like Gujarat and
Rajasthan. Areas, which have very less food production, can also be utilized for industries.
But setting up of industries in such lands are not always possible. The location of an industry depends
upon several factors, which includes availability of raw material, cheap labour, communication and other
economic viabilities.
If the agricultural lands are to be used for industrial development, government must ensure that the
farmers are compensated adequately. The compensation may be in the form of money or in job,
whichever viable.
While, food production must also be increased by using scientific method of agriculture. Genetically
modified seeds, which are resistant to pest and can have high productivity, can increase food
production. Modern methods of agriculture can also benefit farmers.
The situation deteriorated after the Zamindari (tenant farming) system was abolished in the 1950s, leading to a
diminished social sense of ownership and protection of forest among the tribals as there was no law to protect
their interests.
After a period of dissent and social unrest, the government decided to grant land ownership titles to locals based
on how long they had been there. This system raised the importance of the Patwari (keeper of land records). But
as the tribals didn’t have any means of proving the period of occupation, the system became corrupt, vesting all
the power in the hands of one person, the Patwari.
Critics of the FRA say it was enacted by the government for privatizing natural resources and making vote banks
out of the forest dwellers. But the basic principles of the act were largely misunderstood. Contrary to popular
belief, the FRA is not a land redistribution legislation. It merely provides for land ownership titles to forest
dwellers who have occupied and farmed the land. These titles cannot be sold but can be passed on within a
family.
But even after many years of implementation of the landmark legislation - which overturned centuries-old
colonial legislation made by the British to exploit India's rich forest resources –it has not shown the results
hoped for.
Land rights activists say poor implementation is down to a number of issues - a lack of awareness,
difficulties in proving entitlement and illegal interference by forest department officials to prevent
claims being awarded.
Activists accuse forest officials of "deliberately sabotaging" claims for land by destroying the evidence
and creating hurdles for claimants.
Accusations of violations of the law itself by state authorities are also widespread, with forest-dwellers
complaining that they are being evicted which, under the legislation, can only be done with their
agreement.
The title of the law itself conveyed that its primary purpose was to expedite the acquisition of land.
Once the acquiring authority has formed the intention to acquire a particular plot of land, it can carry
out the acquisition regardless of how the person whose land is sought to be acquired is affected.
There was no real appeal mechanism to stop the process of the acquisition. A hearing (under section 5A)
was prescribed but this was not a discussion or negotiation. The views expressed were not required to
be taken on board by the officer conducting the hearing.
There were absolutely no provisions in the 1894 law relating to the resettlement and rehabilitation of
those displaced by the acquisition.
Urgency clause: This was the most criticised section of the Law. The clause never truly defined what
constituted an urgent need and left it to the discretion of the acquiring authority. As a result almost all
acquisitions under the Act invoked the urgency clause.
Even where acquisition had been carried out the same had been challenged in litigations on the grounds
mentioned above. This resulted in the stalling of legitimate infrastructure projects.
6.2 The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement act, 2013
The new act provided for land acquisition as well as rehabilitation and resettlement. It replaced the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The process for land acquisition involves a Social Impact Assessment survey, preliminary notification
stating the intent for acquisition, a declaration of acquisition, and compensation to be given by a certain
time. All acquisitions require rehabilitation and resettlement to be provided to the people affected by
the acquisition.
Compensation for the owners of the acquired land shall be four times the market value in case of rural
areas and twice in case of urban areas.
The new law stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for public-private-
partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.
Purchase of large pieces of land by private companies will require provision of rehabilitation and
resettlement.
The provisions of this act shall not apply to acquisitions under 16 existing legislations including the
Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, the Railways Act, 1989, etc.
6.3 The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014
The ordinance was promulgated by the new NDA government in December 2014. Following are the important
changes brought into the act:
The LARR Act 2013 exempted 13 laws(such as the National Highways Act, 1956 and the Railways Act,
1989) from its purview. However, the LARR Act 2013 required that the compensation, rehabilitation, and
resettlement provisions of these 13 laws be brought in consonance with the LARR Act 2013, within a
year of its enactment, through a notification. The Ordinance brings the compensation, rehabilitation,
and resettlement provisions of these 13 laws in consonance with the LARR Act 2013.
The LARR Act 2013 requires that the consent of 80% of land owners is obtained for private projects and
that the consent of 70% of land owners be obtained for PPP projects. The Ordinance creates five special
categories of land use which are exempted from the above requirement: (i) defence, (ii) rural
The LARR Act states that as far as possible, land will not be acquired in the scheduled areas. Though in a
damaging omission, which should be corrected, the Act makes no reference to adivasis who live in areas that are
still not covered by the Fifth Schedule, which is an estimated 50-70% of the adivasi population, according to the
National Advisory Council. If acquisition is done, the Act goes on to say, it will only be done, “as a demonstrable
last resort”. Much will hinge on how rules currently being drafted for the Act define this ambiguous “last resort”
principle. Given official estimates that 90% of India’s coal reserves are located in adivasi areas, as are 50% of
other key minerals and prospective dam sites, it is easy to envisage governments and elites continuing to deploy
the “national interest” argument to jettison adivasi interests for such projects.
The far more meaningful provision for adivasi communities is that acquisition in scheduled areas will be now be
subject to the free, prior and informed consent principle. This is what the relevant clause states:
“In case of acquisition or alienation of any land in the Scheduled Areas, the prior consent of the concerned Gram
Sabha or Panchayats or autonomous District Council, at the appropriate level in Scheduled Areas under the Fifth
Schedule to the Constitution, as the case may be, shall be obtained, in all cases of land acquisition*, including
acquisition in case of urgency, before issue of a notification under this Act, or any other Central Act or a State Act
for the time being in force..”
This by far is the most unequivocal recognition in law of a people’s constitutional right to participate in decision-
making over projects that affect it, and more importantly, to be able to say no to such projects. The clause is an
essential acknowledgement of the numerous, and increasingly intense, protests unfolding across adivasi blocks
of central India, despite state and police efforts to intimidate and stamp down such citizen movements against
forced displacement. However, given numerous instances of officials and corporations usurping gram sabha
powers, the Act should have recognised violation of the consent clause as an offence, to be penalised by fines or
imprisonment, just as it has laid down such penalties for violation of compensation and resettlement clauses.
7 www.visionias.in ©Vision IAS
Finally, if the LARR Act has to be meaningfully implemented, it should be accompanied by a massive awareness
campaign, primarily directed at three audiences. The first audience should be officialdom, particularly
administrative and police personnel working within the district, who have to look beyond the deeply entrenched
notion of eminent domain, give up the imperious power and rent-seeking opportunities that come with it, and
instead imbibe and feel responsible for the participatory spirit of the new law. Having the average revenue and
forest official, policeman and collector respect the gram sabha as a legitimate site of decision-making is a
mammoth task, and we should not underestimate the importance of pushing for this shift in official attitudes if
the law has to mean something on the ground.
The second audience that needs to be sensitised is business, including state-owned and private mining
corporations, steel and power corporations that are looking to operate in or source raw material from adivasi
areas. Many of the people working in these entities are openly contemptuous of the new Act and view it as a
hurdle to economic activity and profits, instead of a mechanism to have a more equal, expansive and educative
conversation about a proposed project’s benefits and damages, and as a tool for pre-empting conflict and
abuses.
Finally, the campaign should actively engage adivasi communities, who must not just be told about the
safeguards in the new law but also the seriousness of its intent. The latter is especially important, given how
little faith villagers today have in public hearings, knowing from bitter experience that such events have been
reduced to just another box to be ticked by officials in the clearance process. One way of crafting a campaign for
this audience could be for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to closely ally with networks like the Bhasha Research
Institute, the central Indian citizen media initiative Swara, adivasi student movements, lawyers, community
leaders and activists on the ground to produce and propagate succinct rights primers in various adivasi
languages. Such written or oral accounts should clearly outline for communities on the ground what their new
participation and anti-displacement rights are, how they can exercise them, and finally the mechanisms available
to them to raise violations, of which there are bound to be many as a landmark law takes life on the ground.
The policy aims at striking a balance between the need for land for developmental activities and, at the same
time, protecting the interests of the land owners, tenants, the landless, the agricultural and non-agricultural
labourers, artisans, and others whose livelihood depends on the land involved.
It recommends that only the minimum necessary area of land commensurate with the purpose of the project
should be taken and the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes should be kept to the minimum.
Also, multi-crop land should be avoided and irrigated land use should be kept to the minimum for such purposes.
Projects may preferably be set up on wastelands or un-irrigated lands.
The objectives of the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy are as follows:-
The benefits to be offered under the policy to the affected families include:
Land-for-land, to the extent government land would be available in the resettlement areas;
Preference for employment in the project to at least one person from each nuclear family within the
definition of the ‘affected family', subject to the availability of vacancies and suitability of the affected
person;
Training and capacity building for taking up suitable jobs and for self-employment;
Scholarships for education of the eligible persons from the affected families;
Preference to groups of cooperatives of the affected persons in the allotment of contracts and other
economic opportunities in or around the project site;
Wage employment to the willing affected persons in the construction work in the project;
Housing benefits including houses to the landless affected families in both rural and urban areas; and
other benefits.