Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday tabled the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and

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Resettlement Bill that will bury the British enacted 1894 law on the subject.

As reported on Tuesday, the bill seeks to pay farmers four times the market value of land they lose in rural areas. In urban areas the compensation is twice the market value. The compensation for rural land has been reduced from the level proposed in the first draft, which had suggested six times the value of land taken over.

This has been done so as to not to make land acquisition for large projects, particularly infrastructure, “cost-prohibitive”, Ramesh told media.

He clarified what constituted “public purpose” and said that any land acquired by the government for such purposes would be done with the consent of at least 80 per cent of the affected families.

The government wants to meet the needs of farmers but must also keep India's economic growth in mind. Investments need to be made to meet growing needs for new roads, housing and factories, he said.

The bill, claimed by Ramesh to have been prepared in a record 55 days, provides greater flexibility to states in their land acquisition laws. The bill sets the benchmark for the states.

According to the minister, the bill tightens the urgency clause that the Union government can invoke to acquire land only for national defence and security purposes, besides emergencies like natural calamities. This clause can be used only in the “rarest of rare” cases.

The bill has seen also some other dilution. The first draft barred acquisition of multi-crop land for projects. This brought forth strong reservations expressed by industry and even some state governments, which said it would hit economic development.

The bill now allows acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land for linear projects such as railways, highways, major district roads, power lines and irrigation canals. Acquisition of multi-crop land is barred for any other purpose or projects.

Ramesh said the government agreed to a suggestion from agriculture minister Sharad Pawar that wherever multi-crop land was acquired, an equivalent area of cultivable wasteland must be developed for agriculture.

The bill makes it clear that land acquired for a particular purpose cannot be used for any other purpose or project. Such transfers have been happening causing resentment among those who lost the land, Ramesh said.

Ramesh said the bill did not have overriding powers over 15 other laws, including one covering SEZs, which allowed land acquisition for specific purposes. At the same time, it empowered the Union government to override such acts in certain circumstances, he said. A minimum subsistence allowance of Rs 3,000 a month will be given to each land-losing family for 12 months, plus Rs 5,00,000 as one-time payment or Rs 2,000 as monthly annuity for 20 years.

For those who lose their livelihood as a result of land acquisition, such as landless labour, a similar compensation is also provided for. This aims at adequate compensation to both landowners and those who work on land they do not own. Ramesh said there were special provisions for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Another major change from the draft is that the bill will have retrospective effect if an acquisition process is not completed before its enactment. This means that any land already in the process acquisition before the bill becomes law will attract its provisions. But any acquisition completed before the new law comes into effect will not attract its provisions.

It also provides adequate safeguards against indiscriminate acquisition and land hoarding. Land not used within 10 years in accordance with the purposes for which the acquisition is made, will be transferred to a state government’s land bank. This provision was suggested by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Uttar Pradesh elections next summer were clearly one of the issues taken in view in drafting the bill. Greater Noida has been a scene of violent protests against land acquisition. Ramesh said there were 18 key differences between the bill he tabled in Parliament and the Uttar Pradesh land policy announced after the Greater Noida agitation.

He said the bill had good chances of getting passed in the winter session, provided the parliamentary standing committee, which would scrutinise it first, submitted its recommendations in time. He mentioned that the bill had broad support from various political parties.