The impact of Jairam Ramesh moving into the Rural Development Ministry was evident on the first day itself — he ordered that a fresh new legislation on land acquisition be drafted instead of the ongoing effort to amend an existing 1894 law in this regard.
Ramesh is also learnt to have told officials to prepare just one draft law incorporating provisions for both land acquisition as well as resettlement and rehabilitation of people whose land is taken away. Presently, the government is working on drafting a separate Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill to complement its efforts to amend the Land Acquisition Act.
Land acquisition for infrastructure, industrial or housing projects has become a politically sensitive subject of late in view of an increasing number of protests and agitations being witnessed all across the country. The subject is extremely close to the heart of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been fighting a pitched political battle in Uttar Pradesh protesting against the land acquisition policies of the Mayawati government.
The government had committed itself to amending the 1894 Act which continues to govern land acquisition to bring it in tune with the present requirements. The amendment Bill is supposed to be brought in Parliament in the monsoon session.
Ramesh said he would strive to introduce a new comprehensive draft legislation in the monsoon session but only after putting it through a wide public consultation process. “After finalising a draft legislation, I intend to put it in the public domain for inviting suggestions and comments for a short period of three weeks,” he said.
Incidentally, the amendment Bill that was being drafted until now was not supposed to be put up for public consultations.
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