Land War

Land acquisition has been a very sensitive issue now, particularly after Singur and Nandigram episodes in West Bengal. The Left front govt has paid a heavy price to learn this lesson.Ironically,the land issue that has landed the Left in sheer predicament has offered firm land under the feet of the opposition.Now land politics has overtaken Mayawati govt. Noida and its surroundings are seething in anti- land acquisition agitation.Opposition parties as usual have closed ranks and taken advantage of the situation to corner Mayawati and derive political mileage.

In fact,without land developmental activities normally come to a standstill.On the other hand to procure land from the farmers is a very difficult job.To sort out this problem the existing land bill badly calls for modification.Central govt started this job also but due to objection put forward by Mamata Banerjee the draft land bill was shelved and no initiative has yet been taken to bring the bill back from cold storage and finalize drafting on the basis of consensus.Now bone of contention regarding the draft bill is that Mamata opposes govt intervention in land procurement while govt wants 30% land be acquired by administration and 70% by the corporate or by private entrepreneur.In fact, in land acquisition govt should have the right to intervene as otherwise farmers might part with even multi-crop land lured by money and it might affect our food production.Again, exorbitantly high price asked for by land owners might discourage the buyers.That apart, if a portion of land is procured by govt it'll be easier for the entrepreneur to collect the rest.Another proposition which might sound a bit harsh and even despotic to many is there should be a legal provision in the land bill that if a land is required for public purposes, the land owners would be bound to part with his land.Of course, sufficient compensation would be awarded to the land loser so that he in no case complains that injustice has been done to him or his exiting security is made at a stake.'Willing' and 'unwilling' land givers should prove superfluous in the context of land acquisition.In reality,when a long tract of land is procured it's very unusual, if not next to impossible that cent percent of land owners will be 'willing' land givers.Without exception at least a fraction of the owners would object to giving away their land for emotional or other reasons.It's enough to frustrate the whole process of land procurement deal.So it's wise to feel the hard reality and refrain from playing to the gallery in land acquisition issue for short term political gain at the cost of country's long term loss.If central govt could have modified the land bill in right earnest, at right time and in right perspective, perhaps farmers' wild agitation at Noida could have been averted to a large extent.