By IANS,
New Delhi : The new land acquisition bill would facilitate economic growth and not depress investor sentiment, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Friday said and hoped that the legislation will be introduced during the monsoon session of parliament.
Addressing mediapersons a day after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on rural development gave its report on the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011, Ramesh said he would go back to the cabinet for “final approval after incorporating suggestions we find acceptable.”
The bill was introduced in parliament in September and was referred to the standing committee. Ramesh said he intends to have another round of consultations with the states before giving final shape to the reworked bill, and added that the new bill will help in reviving economic growth and “not depressing investor sentiment.”
“We hope to introduce it sometime in the monsoon session for consideration and passage,” Ramesh said.
Outlining “core principles” of the bill, Ramesh said the government must have a role in land acquisition and faster industrialisation and urbanisation were inevitable and desirable.
“We must recognise, we are not at a stage of development where the government’s role can be completely abandoned,” Ramesh said.
However, he added that the government’s role must be confined to public purposes which should be clearly defined. He added that public purpose objectives can be met by government organisations and, at times, by private organisations.
“There can be areas where the government consciously seeks private investment. Power plants, infrastructure projects are examples,” he said.
The standing committee had questioned the involvement of the government in acquiring land for private enterprises, public-private partnership (PPP) enterprises and even public enterprises, and said “public purpose” in the bill should be limited to linear infrastructure and irrigation.
Ramesh, however, said that the issue of government acquiring land for PPP projects had found favour with the cabinet.
He said much depended on the definition of private projects and its conditions.
The minister said chief ministers and political parties were in substantial agreement on the need for government intervention to acquire land for PPP projects.
Ramesh said compensation must be equitably fair to those whose land is acquired and those whose livelihood is affected.
He said procedure of acquisition must be transparent and should not be such that leads to endless litigations.
He said state governments had made suggestions to the standing committee and he would endeavour to incorporate all these suggestions.
“At a time when investment is uncertain and economic growth under pressure, we need a new (land acquisition) law quickly to end the uncertainty,” he said.
The land acquisition process is at present carried out under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Ramesh said he will ensure that whatever law is presented in parliament will facilitate economic growth.
“The overriding priority is to revive economic growth,” he said.
He said the standing committee had not altogether rejected the notion of state intervention in land acquisition but emphasised that there must not be diversion of land acquired for public purposes.
The minister said he was in agreement with recommendations of the parliamentary panel concerning social impact assessment and role of gram sabhas.