Land to Land On!

Land aquisition Bill
It’s land that has given Mamata political land to firmly stand on. So she’s the last person to compromise on land issue. Central Govt reluctantly obliged Mamata to leave the bill in the cold storage for long. However, such an important bill which is in fact the vehicle of develovelopment can’t be left in the cold for long. So now it’s been taken out for reconsideration. But Mamata likes to have the bill drafted anew to incorporate her own suggestions. However, some of her suggestions can’t be accommodated in the bill for practical difficulties. First of all she advises land can’t be acquired without consent of the farmers. Does one ever expect that all the land owners would unanimously give their consent to give away their land particularly when a reasonably large tract of land is required? It’s very likely some of the land owners would always object to parting with their land at least for emotional attachment or for political reasons making whole land procurement drive a futile exercise. So land acquisition bill should incorporate a provision that a farmer must be obliged to give his land in greater public interest( of course against hand some compensation).Secondly, her suggestion that for private players govt would have no say in acquisition of land. This part is also impractical. In absence of govt’s intervention private players may purchase land at any site convenient to them but inconvenient to public. That apart they may purchase multicrop land if it suits their interest paying a lucrative price to the farmers. It might adversely affect our food production too. This system would also give the land sharks free run as was found in Vedic Village land row. So even for procurement of land for private parties Govt should have a significant role to play. In considering land acquisition bill all political parties should consider the hard realities and refrain from playing to the gallery with an eye to the vote bank.