Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

Land Acquisition, Livelihoods and Policies: Way Forward

Background Land acquisition is a painful process, especially to the people who are connected with it, either through ownership or dependence on it. To cite an example, a poor family, with a hut to live, is dependent on a clutch of coconut trees. When they lose these trees, after the land is acquired, their livelihood is lost. Most often the compensation for such loss, does not exceed a few hundreds of rupees. On the other hand, continuation of these trees and livelihood, does not impact negatively on the economy. Land and land-based livelihoods are very crucial, especially in India. No government with all its will and budget would not be in a position to adequately compensate such losses. Hence, land acquisition cannot be reduced to a mere administrative procedure, but has to be seen in the larger context of balancing various interests of economy, environment and people. Trade-offs in land acquisition need to be thoroughly examined, before the plan of land acquisition is initiated. In Andhra Pradesh, land has been acquired for various purposes, displacing more than 10 million people. In some areas, people were displaced twice or thrice. Earlier displacement was for irrigation projects. Later, urban development, housing, industrial and infrastructure projects have also led to displacement. Displacement has affected mostly tribal families, dalits, farmers and other poor sections of the society. Compensation paid has been meager in many cases, while the destruction of livelihoods has been severe and permanent. Actual beneficiaries got very less compensation due to a combination of laws, lawyers, bureaucracy and politics. In recent years, SEZs, road widening projects, new roads, power projects, tourism and industrial cluster projects have also contributed to this displacement, deprivation and profiteering process. Growth of Hyderabad has put enormous strain on the farmers, farming and other land-based livelihoods in areas around the city, especially residents of Rangareddy, Medak and Nalgonda districts. Industrial corridors, development of ports and industrial development along the coastline of Andhra Pradesh has become a major source of stress on agriculture and allied sectors. Land alienation in coastal areas is leading to major unrest. Farmers and other sections of villagers have been protesting many of these projects. Recommendations Based on field information and analysis, after detailed discussions, over a period of two days (non-sequential), the following recommendations have emerged: 1. Lands that support people livelihood and food security should not be included under any circumstances for land acquisition. These lands include: Agricultural land used for food production

With only 46% of Indian geography under cultivable land, it is necessary to preserve and develop existing agricultural lands. Any diversion of such fertile land would have serious impacts on food production and food security. Retaining agricultural lands should be top

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

priority, and expanding the scope of bringing more land under food production should be ongoing effort. It needs to be mentioned here that dryland is often termed as uncultivable and waste land. A public process needs to be followed in such categorization, or wherever there is a dispute. Lands, with water and with access to water

With the threat of desertification, water shortages, climate change and various other cataclysmic threats, the life-supporting link between land and water needs to be maintained. Land, which has water, in ponds, kuntas, lakes, troughs, marshes, etc., should not be alienated for industrial development or any other unnatural activities. Even land with access to water, such as canals, rivers, streams, etc., also need to ear marked for food and agricultural production. When governments have been investing thousands of crores of rupees to bring water to parched lands, agitations are being staged for such investments; it would be illogical and gross injustice to acquire lands which already have such access, to other purposes. Land distributed under land reforms, including assigned lands

For decades, many sections of Indian society were deprived of land ownership, due to feudal and colonial governing systems. As a result, lakhs of families have remained impoverished and dependent. In Independent India, and before by Sri. Vinoba Bhave, government had tried to correct this situation by initiating land reforms. The core agenda of these land reforms was to distribute land for equity and justice. Governments, in the past, have undertaken specific campaigns, to ensure that every family becomes a proud owner of a piece of land, for their living and livelihood purposes. Crores of rupees have been invested by the families and the governments who got possession of these lands, by building fences, digging wells, drilling borewells, clearing bushes and leveling the land. These assigned lands, and land pattas, have been the hope for many families to step outside their impoverished state. Their lifelong savings have been invested in such development. Where they could not invest, governments had special schemes to enable such land development process. Such schemes for development of land-based livelihoods of dalits and other disadvantaged sections are still continuing. Such distributed lands cannot be acquired, and consolidated. It would render the entire efforts, of more than 5 decades, waste. It would be injustice to those families. Hence, such lands cannot be included in land acquisition. Grazing lands

In upland, dry and temperate regions, grazing lands are very important, for livestock based livelihoods. Grazing lands also help in maintaining soil fertility, prevent soil erosion and help increase in seepage of rainwater into the sub-soils. These lands are also critical for sustenance of watershed systems and rainwater harvesting systems. It would

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

be helpful to preserve such lands from being acquired for other purposes, which may lead to distortion of watershed systems. 2. Land acquisition bill should have the following: i. Public purpose should be defined more closely. In this regard, NAC recommendations are agreeable. Purposes that generate profits for the private need to be eliminated or highly restricted by giving low weightage in estimating cost-benefits. However, it would be helpful to add a Schedule to the Land Acquisition Act, which lists all the public purpose projects, especially the infrastructure projects. This is important considering that there is now a growing debate on infrastructure projects as well, because of PPP mode, which includes BOOT, BOT and other variations. These models blur the distinction between private profits and public purpose. A huge airport is no longer a public project, but might be a private initiative, catering only to certain class of public. Thus, the debate is not only about private and public, but also who among the public as well. This brings in the whole debate on development planning, equity, balance of interests, etc. Social impact assessment should be made compulsory for any project, which displaces 50 families or more. Past experience shows that often projects try to overcome such stipulations by breaking the number of displacements into smaller packages. To avoid this, the wording has to be careful, such as social impact assessment has to be done for every land acquisition project, which impacts a minimum of 5o families or more, cumulatively or separately.

ii.

iii.

3. Recommendation of the NAC to bunch Relief and Rehabilitation and Land Acquisition together is appropriate, and has to be accepted by the government. Government should explore this possibility. 4. Land acquired under public purpose should not be privatized. It has to be either leased or rented (this is also problematic as they often give it to 99 years lease). Ownership should be with the government. Land acquired for a purpose should be used only for that purpose and in the case of any deviation the land should be restored back to the erstwhile owners. 5. Urgency clause needs to be restricted to defense and strategic purposes only, if it cannot be removed altogether. 6. Relief and Rehabilitation package, negotiations and settlement should precede land acquisition. Under no circumstances, forced eviction should be allowed. Possibly, a negative provision can be included in Land acquisition bill, to the effect such as any project, which acquires land through forced eviction should be nullified, if proven later.

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

7. There should be State and District level Land Acquisition and Compensation Settlement Committees, under the law. The composition of these Committees should be broad enough to include various sections of society and accountable persons. Proceedings of these Committees should be open and transparent. 8. Compensation is usually contentious because of the dispute over the basis of fixing compensation for the land acquired. Market price is usually far above the registered price, and hence there is ambiguity in deciding upon such a benchmark price. It might be helpful to define market price, in the LA legislation, and has to be arrived at based on public enquiry (such a enquiry process can also be notified, in the Schedule to the Act). Compensation should be arrived at based on the cost of retaining of the same amount of land by the affected family/person in the near vicinity of the project after the proposed project has commenced. 9. Compensation for the land acquired is a long and cumbersome procedure. The land value is fixed by the Commissionerate and conveyed to LA officers. He just confirms it. He has no discretion to fix the market value. In case as a precaution government wants to avoid corruption at the lower level. The market rate must be assessed by a competent authority of officials and non-officials for that area. 10. The market price so assessed is not satisfactory to the person affected. He has to take money under protest, if it is to be adjudicated by a court. This clause must be done away with. 11. The government must make a preliminary assessment of the value of the land showing its assets, such as a well, fruit trees, nature of soil, fencing, etc. so that the facts are established rather than be a subject matter of dispute before court. 12. The appeals must be decided expeditiously by appointing a special judge for this purpose. Cases may be heard on the spot where acquisition is made of the property belonging to 50 families or more. 13. It should constitute district and State level Land Compensation Board, for efficient delivery of compensation and also to address grievances. 14. Wherever land has been acquired, owners of such land should be given compensatory land in urban areas, especially prime locations, such as mega cities, if market price cannot be paid. Special Development Rights may also be provided for such lands. 15. Procedure of the LA Act may be made easy so as to enable the affected to represent the case himself rather than deploy middleman, who knock away a substantial part of the compensation. Land Tribunals should enable the evictee to argue his/her case in person, like in Consumer forums (under Consumer Protection Act).

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

16. Wherever land has been acquired, and has not been utilized for such purpose, needs to be restored to the erstwhile land owners, if possible. 17. Land banks have to be created from among the lands available to the government (government lands, waste lands which are not being used for agriculture or other livelihood purposes). First, those Land banks have to be exhausted in respective areas for any industry before going for Land acquisition. In a sense, for every Land acquisition, the agency has to show/prove that there are no alternatives except for going for Land acquisition. 18. Land use Boards should be appointed. These Boards should be tasked with developing land use plans based on a survey, using geo-spatial technology and ISRO services. 19. Land use should not only include the categorization of the land (based on characteristics such as soil, soil fertility, vegetation, water, etc.), but also the assets created on the land. Most often development based on appropriate land use planning helps in balancing various demands on the land, while adjusting to the environmental parameters. 20. Access to non-acquired land (around or near the vicinity of the acquired land) has to be ensured and enhanced for the local communities. Most often, private projects fence their land, which puts the users of other lands, nearby, to great distress. A textile park (Brandix) in Vishakhapatnam has created such a problem for local land users. 21. All land acquisition agencies, such as urban development authority, infrastructure development authority, housing board, industrial development agencies, should be brought under one authority, namely the State-level Land Acquisition Committee. 22. These agencies should submit their annual plans and get approval from the Committee. These approvals have to be based on an open and public hearing process. There are multiple agencies, with similar objectives, which are involved in land acquisition. With land acquisition becoming a lucrative process for officials (elected and appointed), lawyers and others, land is being acquired for irrational and/or cross purposes. For development planning to be proper and targeted, land acquisition needs to be coordinated, open and transparently done. 23. This Committee should submit a report, annually, or for such period as may be decided, to the Parliament and/or State Assembly. 24. A detailed land mapping exercise should be done, using ISRO services. Based on such mapping, a visible, consulted and transparent land use policy has to be developed. Land categorization, based on ground level data on agreed parameters, should be done,

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

indicating its suitability for agricultural and non-agricultural (housing, industrial, infrastructure) purposes. 25. Government should consider including the distribution of land to the land less poor into the definition of public purpose. 26. There should be a right to challenge the land acquisition done under public purpose. This will help in efficient and judicious usage of this purpose. 27. Conversion of agricultural lands for non-agricultural purposes needs to be avoided, if not be stringent. The present regulations are acting as facilitators rather than deterrents to the conversion. Accordingly the regulations are to be modified with stringent provisions. 28. Limitation has to be imposed on land allotment to industries and other projects, based on their actual needs. Huge swathes of land cannot be allotted to projects, which do not use such land. A scientific, transparent and open process has to be followed in allotting such land. 29. Government should take back all the surplus land given to projects previously. 30. Non-starter SEZs should be denotified and the land should be taken back by the government. This land can be either restored to the previous owners, or should be included in the land bank. This land bank can be used for future needs and land allotments. Under no circumstances, companies should be allowed to retain excess land and use for their real estate activities. 31. All SEZs in Andhra Pradesh should be reviewed by a State Committee, assess the utilization and business development. Wherever possible, these SEZs should be denotified and the land has to be re-acquired by the government to be added to its land bank, or restored to the previous owner. 32. A status report on land acquisition and compensation has to be developed, in the last 50 years. This report can be shared with the people, and other institutions. 33. State governments should have a higher role in Land Acquisition process. At the same time, State governments should share more information, powers and plans with the local bodies, especially municipalities and panchayats. 34. Among other things, consent of Gramsabha needs to be made compulsory for any land acquisition process. Voluntary consent of the community or gramsabha is the test of the genuineness of the public purpose, adequacy of the compensation and rehabilitation measures and no loss of livelihoods. Government, instead of attaining the formal consent through arm twisting or through dubious means, needs to create an environment where the consent is voluntary.

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Discussions on Land Acquisition, June, 2011, Hyderabad

(hosted by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Points to ponder Eminent domain vs. individual rights Definition of public purpose Working out compensation land, cash, shares, etc. Displacement of livelihoods vs. alternative employment Changing land use agricultural to non-agricultural purpose Balance between different priorities development debate Land consolidation vs. individual, small holdings Land markets vs. government regulation

Legislations under discussion 1. Land Acquisition Act, 1894 2. PESA Act 3. Forest Rights Act 4. Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2002 5. Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 Summary of Recommendations 1. Definition of public purpose has to be more rigorous and democratic 2. Agricultural land should be excluded from being diverted to non-agricultural purposes, under any circumstances 3. If agricultural land has to be acquired, farmers should be paid compensation in both cash and land modes (maybe through prime urban land), and by no other means 4. Landless families displaced by land diversion should be provided with alternative livelihood opportunities, if not employment 5. Prior informed consent is a must, and should be based on full disclosure and through transparent consultation process done at a pace that is comfortable to the identified land owners 6. Government should not act on behalf of companies, but should facilitate on behalf of the land evictees. 7. Private companies should enter into land markets, and should not be supported by the government for their private activities. 8. Consent of Gramsabha in rural areas should be made mandatory. Members of the Committee by APCC Kisan Kheth Mazdoor Cell: 1. Sri. P. Narasa Reddy, Ex-Revenue Minister and Ex-MP 2. Sri. K. S. R. Murthy, Ex-Chief Secretary (IAS) 3. Sri. M. Kodanda Reddy, Ex-MLA and Chairman, AP Kisan and Kheth Mazdoor Cell 4. Sri. M. Buddha Prasad, Ex-Minister for Animal Husbandry 5. Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy, Expert on agriculture and handloom sector 6. Sri. Ravi, Bhumi Kendram, Hyderabad 7. Sri. Srikanth, Convenor, AP Kisan and Kheth Mazdoor Cell

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