A new land acquisition law to come to force soon
A new land acquisition law which included the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement act (LARR), was enacted 10 months ago by the UPA government. It was considered as a big success for the former government. This had widespread support from almost all political parties, including the BJP.
However the state governments started demanding for changes to be made to the law and the Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari held meetings with the state governments and presented a report to the P.M Narendra Modi.
Finally this new law is apparently going to be “amended” or “diluted” by the new NDA government led by the BJP. The citizens of the country have got immune to the hypocrisy and opportunism abounds in Indian politics, and no one really bothers about it anymore.
We can focus on what the new thinking on land acquisition appears to be and what, instead, it should be. The LARR was created by the Congress in the mode of its other landmark laws on information, education and food using a rights-based approach. It was a reaction to serious conflicts over land acquisition (especially in well-known cases in Singur, Nandigram, Niyamgiri, Kalinganagar and others), which had come after the injustice meted out by the state for several decades during massive land acquisition drives for India’s modernisation and development.
There are some changes proposed in this new act and it is expected that the amendments will be passed in the parliament in the monsoon session.
Source- The Indian Express
Kalinganagar, LARR, Minister of road transport and highways, Nandigram, Nitin gadkari, Niyamgiri, Singur, UPA government, UPA government's policies
