ISSUES OF CONCERN

LAND ACQUISITION

WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY?

Vidyadhara 

Land is that part of human existence, on which he lives to survive and be part of it when he dies. Managing this wealth needs effective care, concern, and governance. The Indian pre Independent legislation on this subject was the Land acquisition Act of 1894, enacted by the colonial rulers, which was amended few times for infrastructural requirements of the country. The right to property enshrined in the Indian constitution as a fundamental right under Article 19 and 31 was struck down with the Constitution 44th amendment Act 1951 and a new Article 300 A, was introduced as a legal right.

The Land acquisition Act of 1894, gave the absolute power to the ruling government to acquire the land and hand it over to anyone for a purpose which can be described as the public project.The Seabird project on the west coast of Karnataka, of Ministry of Defence,where the government of India acquired the land stretching 23 kilometres in the year 1984, where the land losers are still waiting for their final settlement after a prolonged court battle for almost 3 decades, even after the Supreme Court judgement. Similarly, theNarmada project land acquisition judgment of the honourable, Supreme Court has been path breaking in the development vs environment debate. The recent issue was that of the TATA Nano project of Nandigram & Singur. The Government’s acquisition failed to convince the villagers, because of which the TATA’s had to shift the project to Gujarat. In the case of the Batta Parsoul agitation on the NOIDA Authority’s acquisition of land for construction of luxury apartments, the farmers’ agitation resulted in the Supreme Court order, which settled the case by paying the farmers 64% enhanced compensation of the amount.

The misuse of acquisition law, rose to an extent that the, land were acquired in excess and in some places for the real estate builders. In a case in Bangalore, the land acquired was de-notified and sold to some powerful people. Under the pressure of intense resistance from the landowners in the above cases and others, the then ruling UPA Government passed the new legislation of “The Right to fair compensation and Transparency in Land acquisition, rehabilitation, and resettlement Act 2013”. The legislation, had adequately considered the main points of the land losers grievances. The important salient features of this law are,

1. It is necessary start the work within 5 years. If work is not started, land will be returned to owner.

2. Approval of 80% of land owners for the projects of private companies and 70% for government projects.

3. Owner can go to court against the acquisition.

4. Government can’t take the cultivable land.

5. Compensation of 4 and 3 times of prevailing price for the rural and urban lands respectively.

6. Avoids arbitrariness in calculation of the compensation by stating the methods in the first and second schedule.

7. The compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement is dealt in detail for the benefit of the land losers to exclude the power of the government authority.

8. Social Impact Assessment for all the projects.

The drawbacks of these legislations from the point of view of the land losers have not yet not been discussed anywhere. They are,

1. The prevailing price was not defined. Normally it is the government assigned rate, which is always less than the actual selling price in and around.  However the 1-2 times of the govt. declared market value being paid with reference to the schedule I of 2013 Act, will only compensate inflation rate of the actual land market value.

2. There is no time frame for settlement. In some cases, it has gone up to 30 years. The total time to decide the case should be fixed on the land acquisition by the department or by the court.

3. Ownership of land by the industrialist takes priority than the industry itself. If land is given on lease, this much noise will not be there.

4. The subsistence allowance is fixed at Rs 3000 per month and the Rs 1.5 lac money in lieu of the house, Rs 5 lakh for the family and Rs 2000 annuity for lifetime, in lieu of the job, will also lose its value after few years. The fixation of these constants by government is misconstrued error, because the values of 3000 will erode continuously.

After the enactment of this legislation by the parliament, the industrial sector felt the law was tough and leaning towards the land owners. They represented that the80% land owners coming to an agreement to sell the land is not only difficult but impossible.Realising this difficulty, the enthusiastic and dynamic new government passed the Ordinance to eliminate few important clauses in haste. The amendments among other things, propose to include 13 legislations that are currently exempted under the purview of the Act in the compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement provisions which is considered as a pro-farmer move.

The Ordinanceof 2014, proposes to remove the section of preventing the acquisition of land of multiple crops.It provided also that the acquisition of land, for the projects listed in section l0 and the purposes specified therein, are exempted from the provisions of the consent of the villagers. It also inserts a provision of the clause to exclude the application of the provisions ofChapter II and III which exempts the affordable housing and housing for the poor people and industrial corridors from the ‘Social Impact Assessment’ and special provisions of food security. This could be interpreted to apply to any real estate and industrial projects among other things. It also fails to clarify the affordable housing and the industrial corridor. With these ambiguous provisions, any land in and around 1 Km from the road or railway could be acquired by the government. The affordable housing term could be rightfully used to facilitate the acquisition to facilitate the real estate industry. The time period of 5 years, to start the project also has been deleted. Also, the new ordinance states that the government sanction is necessary to prosecute civil servants who wilfully default.

All this attempt to amend the 2013 law, only indicates the interest to acquire the land from poor farmers to hand it over to the rich industrialists and the real estate builders in the name of development without providing the land losers any benefit. It brings into light the industrialists’ interest in land more than the industry itself. If the land could be given on lease, then probably the consent could be reduced by 20% because it directly benefits the society as a whole and not the industrialist alone.

The Defence project as a special baby getting preference should be restricted to only the operational infrastructure and not five star clubs and the golf courses.The decades of delay in the final court judgement, will fade away in the tears of the suffering land losers, leaving their offspring to fight for the amount turning out to be paltry after a prolonged court battle.

The industrial corridors of one kilometre on both the side of the highways, is highly ambitious approach without any adequacy of supporting project. Providing land to the builder should not be the role of the government. In exceptional cases where it is required then the affordable housing clause could be elaborated to state that, it will be built by government and not private builders. If you visit NOIDA, you will find palatial bungalows built on the lands which provided the livelihood of the poor farmers. The horizontal growth of the cities could be stopped, giving way to the modern vertical growth. It has been noticed, especially in Bangalore, that the land allotted for the industries 3 decades ago have been sold to big builders to construct shopping mall and the high rise apartment for the rich and famous.

The industrial houses should be encouraged to start the industry on the land acquired and owned by the government, and leased to the industry till the duration of operation of the industry. After the closure of the industry, the land should go back to the government or the rightful owner. Unable to face the price rise and the debt trap, the farmers are committing suicide all across India. To protect these land losers, they may be allotted shares as per the size of their land in addition to the employment and compensation. 

Democracy is a collective responsibility, which should be carried over by all the parties in power and opposition and the citizens as a whole. The 2013 Act is reasonably a decent proposal to provide justice to the gullible villagers. The ‘Make in India’ philosophy of the present Prime Minister, is a welcome program for the investment hungry India. We need the development to go ahead on fast pace. There is no doubt about the commitment of our Prime Minister, but not all the people involved in land acquisition, will demonstrate his commitment and integrity. Being a democratic country, whatever, we want to achieve, we will not be able to beat the time. These laws are made for the lifetime of one or two generations, during which it passes through the hands of the good and bad people. Little caution will help save many families. Whether we like it or not, farmers and their land is an Indian reality, which we can’t abrogate in our path to progress.

The author is a freelance writer. Recently published a novel on land acquisition ‘Sale of Souls’.

Missing Children: What Happens To Them!?

Night has fallen on Mumbai, and monsoon fog fills the air as an aging man looks over the vast metropolis from his balcony. Rajendra Dhondu Bhosale retired earlier this year as deputy inspector at a local precinct, but still lives in dilapidated government housing with walls dampened by the constant humidity.

Humble and discreet, Bhosale only decided to speak to Le Temps of Switzerland to discuss one case: number 46/13. Mention of the case causes the expression on his face to immediately darken. This is a story he knows too well, every detail, starting with the photograph that was taken of Pooja Gaud, 7, on the day of her disappearance, January 22, 2013, just before she headed off to school.

Of the 166 cases inspector Bhosale dealt with during his three years as head of the office of missing persons in Mumbai’s Andheri district, Pooja’s is the only one he was never able to solve.

“I tried everything,” he says. “I contacted my local network of informants. I questioned her friends and family. I visited the centers for abandoned children. And I checked the unidentified bodies at the morgue.”

Sadly, Pooja’s story is just a drop in what has become a sea of child disappearances in India. Between 50,000 and 1,00,000 children are taken every year, according to incomplete statistics. Even the Supreme Court has wanted the government to tackle the growing issue, starting two years ago that “no one seems to be worried.”

The situation hasn’t improved since, and 45 percent of cases are still unresolved. Maharashtra has the highest number of disappearances in the country and Mumbai has the highest in the state. Like Pooja, 679 children are still missing out the 4,954 who disappeared between 2011 and 2013.

The authorities are slowly attempting to alleviate the crisis, and recently launched a website named “Khoya-Paya” (lost and found), where citizen can report cases of missing children and sightings.

The Mumbai police established missing children terms in each of the city’s police stations, and promised to register every single disappearance report. This was a key demand of local child protection groups who denounced the police’s lackluster response, especially for poorer citizens who don’t have the means to pressure the police to keep an investigation open.

In 2007 the government discovered a “house of horrors” in Nithari, on the outskirts of New Delhi, where a man and his domestic servant had buried the remains of 16 missing children. “Disappearances are a very serious issue,” says Dhanaji Nalawade, chief detective at the Dababhai Naroji Nagar police station in Andheri, Mumbai, where Pooja’s disappearance was first reported. “We have re-doubled our efforts, for example in the registration of the identities of child beggars and street children.”

Not far from the station in the Gibert Hill slum, where Pooja,s family lives, a poster on the wall seeking the girl’s whereabouts lies tattered under the rain. Neighbours helped pay for the posters because the meagre earnings Pooja’s father earns as a grilled peanut vendor couldn’t cover the full cost.

The father’s name is Santhosh Mahadev Gaud, and he still receives visits by ex-inspector Bhosale, who often stops by to share a cup of tea. He still keeps his daughter’s belongings in a bag, and he cannot hide his tears as he retells the events of the day she vanished.

“Pooja was last seen in front of her school on Cama Road, in Andheri. On the way there she had argued with her brother Rohit, because their grandfather had given them Rs.10 and she wanted her part, “he recalls.

“Rohit promised to give her the money later and then went to class, leaving his sister angry at the school entrance. We never saw her again.”

Smita Nair, a journalist who focuses on murder cases, was intrigued by Pooja’s story and the inspector’s determination to find her.”[Bhosale] accepted my request to publish his account in my newspaper on the day he retired, since he thought that would be the last chance to find Pooja,” says Nair. “He explored all the leads he could, but he was limited in his research into the prostitution trade because it is a very powerful and secret world.”

Clinging to hope

The police say that kidnapped children are often forced into prostitution, begging and forced labour. Ransoms are rarely ever demanded. Kailash Satyarthi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who campaigns for children’s rights, believes that child traffickers are a step ahead of the police.

His analyses show that demand for kidnapped girls has grown. Indian media reports estimate that there are around 815 trafficking gangs in the country with a total of 5,000 members.

“The majority of disappearances are cases where the child ran away,” says Bhosale. NGOs that work with street children often find runaways wandering around train stations, where they fled after escaping domestic violence at the hands of their families.

Inspector Arun Karat, Bhosale’s replacement at the station, concurs. “I see many cases where family disputes push children to leave their homes,” he says. “Teenagers also often run away with their girlfriend or boyfriend.”

In Andheri, Pooja’s story is a symbol of the suffering caused by the rampant disappearances. Her case still open, and Smita Nair calls the police station every month for updates on the investigation.

Bhosale still keeps a photo of the missing girl in his wallet. “There have been cases of children who disappeared in 2008 and were found in 2014,” he says. Pooja’s father also holds hope for his daughter safety. “Maybe someone, somewhere, is taking care of her,” he says.