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B.N.

Yugandhar Centre for Rural Studies (BNYCRS)


Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie-248 179

© B.N.Yugandhar Centre for Rural Studies, L.B.S.


NationalAcademy ofAdministration

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be


reproduced, stored, adapted or transmitted in any form or
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The views and opinions expressed in the book are author(s)


own and the facts reported by him/ her have been verified
to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way
liable for the same.

2020
Designed and Printed at
Apna Janmat, Printers and Publishers
Dehradun (India)
Concept of the Wokshop

Land acquisition refers to the process by which government


compulsorily acquires private property for public purpose. There
is a heightened public concern on land acquisition issues in India.
Despite many amendments, over the years, to India's Land
Acquisition Act of 1894, there was an absence of a cohesive
national law that may address fair compensation when private
land is acquired for public use, and fair rehabilitation of land
owners and those directly affected from loss of livelihoods.

Land acquisition in India is currently governed by The Right to


Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act,
2013) which came into force from 1 January 2014 after the
replacement of Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Additionally, there
are 16 Acts with provisions for acquisition of land in specific
sectors such as Railways, Special economic zones (SEZs),
National highways, etc. The provisions under Schedule II and III
have also been applied to some of the special acts.

RFCTLARR Act, 2013 intended to shelter a legal guarantee for


the civil rights of project affected, and authorization of larger
transparency in the land acquisition process. It also maintain the
role of local institutions and Gram Sabha, established under the
Constitution. The objective of the Act is to ensure balance of
aspirations and needs of those whose livelihoods are directly and
indirectly dependent on the acquired land and also see the side of
development and smooth facilitation of land acquisition for
various public purposes.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land


Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act,
2013 has shaped a distinguished land acquisition management
categorized by market-linked reimbursement, socio- economic
appraisal and proper rehabilitation and resettlement ways for
affected people. Since five years of its enactment, it is found to be

i
vital, in the interest of the sustainable land procurement
framework for manufacturing and infrastructural projects.

Objectives

The objective of the two-day National workshop is to put forward


a common platform for the Ministries, Public Sector
Undertakings, Corporates, Revenue Departments of state
governments, practitioners, academicians and stakeholders of
society to discuss the issues, challenges and solutions in
implementation of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and the divergence,
convergence of theAct with other SpecialActs.

Two-day session plan and sub-themes:

Session 1
The RFCTLARR Act, 2013: Provisions, legal framework,
implementation – Issues and Challenges

Session 2
Other Acts on Land Acquisition and R&R policies: Lessons to be
learnt from best practices at the state level on R&R. – Divergence
and Convergence.

Session 3
Social- Economic Appraisal under RFCTLARR: From plan to
practice

Session 4
Rehabilitation and livelihood restoration: Challenges, Solutions
and future prospects.

Session 5
Group Discussion and framing of Recommendations

ii
Contents

, IAS (Retd.)

iii
v
Land Acquisition, Governance and the State: Some Issues and
Complications around the LARR 2013 - Ajit Chaudhuri

The National Workshop on the RFCTLARR Act 2013:


Provisions, legal framework, implementation – Issues and
Challenges - Mr Aibanshngain Swer

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land


Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
(RFCTLARR Act, 2013) and other Acquisition Acts: Issues in
Implementation, Divergence and Convergence. -Binay Dayal,
Devendra Prasad &Ajay Nandan Goswami

Displacement and Rehabilitation in Mahanadi Coal Field of


Odisha - Sujit Kumar Mishra, Prajna Paramita Mishra

Rehabilitation & Resettlement Scheme of Coal Mining Project –


ACase Study - G.Kumar

RFCTLAR&R Act 2013 A Note on Certain Critical Aspects - Dr.


C. Ashokvardhan, IAS (Retd.)

The RFCTLARR, 2013: Issues in Implementation, Divergence


and Convergence and other Acquisition Acts. RFCTLARR Act
2013 - Issues & Challenges: - Vikas Raj

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ljksoj ifj;kstuk çHkkforksa ds iquokZl ds vuqHko½ & jsger
ealwjh
Application of Social Impact Assessment under RFCTLARR Act,
2013 in Urban Transport Projects: Insights from Metro Rail in India
- Sanjay K.Pradhan

LandAcquisition : The Lessons from Singur - Sandip Mitra

Updating of Land Records for Land Acquisition Purposes in Bihar


- Dr. C.Ashokvardhan, IAS (Retd.)

vi
1
Welcome Address –Shri N.K. Sudhansu, IAS

Addressing everyone he
welcomed the participants to
Mussoorie as well as the Academy
hoping their journey to Mussoorie
was pleasant. He said for the next
two days they would deliberate on
a very important topic of land
acquisition and the related aspects
of compensation, SIA, rehabilitation, etc.

This being a very new Act, not many full-fledged research and
studies are conducted in the area. In fact, not many cases related to
LA are taken up by the State also. However, things are now
picking up and one thing has happened that issues that are new to
this Act, as compared to the old Act, a lot of discussion has started
to take place and this Workshop is supposed to be a part of that
discussion. For example, issues of consent, rehabilitation,
compensation, SIA have all become the hot talks of this
discussion.

He was glad that representatives from large number of


organizations had come together for the Workshop and hoped that
during the workshop all could have a very meaningful discussion
on various aspects of land acquisition. Stating that the idea behind
the Workshop is to deliberate on the existing provisions of the new
Act and to compare those provisions with other similar land
acquisition Acts and try to find issues of divergence and
convergence with them, he said that the major theme of new land
acquisition Act has been divided into four sub-themes and those
themes will be taken up in four sessions and the fifth session will
be a group exercise where participants will deliberate on each of
the topic to make recommendations. He once again welcomed all
to the Workshop and wished them a fruitful and an interactive
participation.
1
Centre Director, B. N. Yugandhar Centre for Rural Studies, LBSNAA,
Mussoorie

01
2
Address – Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, IAS

Welcoming everyone to the cool


climate of Mussoorie, which he
thinks is quite conducive to
creative thinking and to discussing
any issue which is incredibly hot,
he said that this is the best setting
for a workshop of this sort. He
thanked everyone for accepting
the invitation and for being here to contribute to the debate of land
and management system of this country. He especially thanked
Mr. Hukum Singh Meena, the person who supported and funded
the Workshop.

He said that 34 participants from 27 institutions, creating a wide


range of diversity, will present 19 papers which will give a broad
overview of all the things of how the Acts have evolved from 1984
to 2013 and the very fact that now it’s not just about the
Acquisition, then the perceptions from Tata, Coal India, NHAI,
Metro, the impact of all this Acquisition Acts on Tribals, paper the
Bihar Act, Singur paper with two points of views – for and against,
paper on the Dal Lake which will give a new point of view, as
whenever there is a talk of acquisition it is always thought in terms
of acquisition of Land, not many really thought that acquisition is
not only of land but it could be of water bodies or other
ecosystems.

He recalled that earlier it was believed that it was the sovereign


power of the State to acquire anything but over the last 30 years the
biggest thing that happened is the change in the mindsets and a
greater sensitivity was seen amongst officers, the civil society and
even the political system has also recognized the fact that ‘you just
cannot write rough shots over people’s opinion’. The fact that we
are used to thinking in binaries is one of the big problems, that’s
the problem that we here at the Academy are trying to consciously

2
Director, LBSNAA, Mussoorie

02
point out that there are more than 50 shades of anything and it is
about understanding the different perceptions and understanding
different points of view that actually make an administrative
responsible and careful, which is very important.

He was very proud that B. N. Yugandhar Centre for Rural Studies


at the LBSNAA was breaking new ground. He said that although
he appreciate the fact that even within the Govt. the views on LA
and R&R are not the same, the same Govt. of Bengal or Bihar or
UP or the Depts. of Agriculture/Industry/Finance would all have
the different view point but the way we look at land has to change,
the way we look what is possible over land has to change. Closing
his opening remarks he wished everyone to have a splendid stay
with and hoped to learn from them in the next two days.

03
3
Inaugural Address –Dr. Nivedita P. Haran, IAS (Retd.)
She welcomed everyone to the
Academy and complemented the
respective Directors of LBSNAA
and BNYCRS for gathering all the
possible stakeholders, related to
the LA and R&R, under one roof.
She said that the 1894 Act was the
Act invoked in the earlier days of
her service and she remembers it to be a truly traumatic one.
Acquisition, she said, is a process which demands not only
balance on the part of the officer, but it also demands
understanding and empathy which no training can really teach, it
is the time spent at the Academy that gives them some kind of an
understanding of it, who after leaving here may directly have to
manage land related issues. With the 1894 Act things were truly
traumatic, so the new Act was called for and the reasons were fair
compensation, sustainable rehabilitation – the old Act had nothing
on rehabilitation leave alone sustainable, improved quality of life
– the person who was being rehabilitated should have a better
quality of life where he goes than he had where he was staying,
ensure that the trauma is reduced – which is not just socio-
economic but also the psychological part, counseling needed in
some cases, make the process more humane, reduced litigation –
the earlierAct actually forced people to go in for litigation, etc.

The issues related to compensation and the compensation process


were many. Was it fair? From when will the interest be applicable?
If somebody got it then will others also be eligible? A huge lot of
issues were involved and then the parties had to go and pay the
lawyer’s fee which usually is very high. So the question was, what
were they left with?

She cited an example of one family, in Greater Noida region that


she came across got 3 crores in 2010-11 after LA, has now almost
3
Villa 23, IFS Villas Pocket 6, Builders Area, Greater Noida U. P.

04
pauperized. And that is the kind of case the Academy needs to
study. Also cases from Kerala where the acquisition started for an
irrigation process before 1977 and the process is still not complete.
The PAFs were asked to go in for litigation and that was all that
could be done at the time. Unfortunately, it was also a system
which in some ways encouraged back door dealings, which
certainly is not a good thing, why should such a thing come into
place.

The 1894 Act, was a very one sided Act. It was always a tussle
between the un-equals, the party whose land is being acquired and
the Govt., they cannot be put on the same level and therefore the
need came for the new Act. It’s just not enough to give the
financial compensation, there has to be more to do with it. To
make the compensation fair we had to ensure that the alternate
dwelling is given to the party or the capacity to construct a new
dwelling unit. There is also a livelihood loss. Do we ensure that
wherever they go, do they get a livelihood? We have to understand
that many of the farmers whose lands we are taking are 50 years
plus. Can we think of a livelihood, if so, what kind? Skill training
of the new generation, is it happening? The place where they are
being rehabilitated, are basic civil service requirements, such as
power, road, sewerage, schools, healthcare centres, PDS, etc.,
available? These basic requirements that are needed to ensure the
movement less traumatic for the party.

In 2009-10, the Govt. of Kerala had issued a set of guidelines and


she was the Revenue Secretary among the conditions they
incorporated the need for social impact assessment which she
feels is much more important than environment impact
assessment. The rights of the tenants have to be accepted.

IIM Kozhikode gave an idea of having LA bonds, they did an


Impact Assessment for one of the Lands and they had said that the
way the financial compensation was being given to the party by
putting in the bank account was not working and it becomes

05
convincing after seeing the case of Greater Noida where 3 crores,
God knows where it had gone.

In the case of the Jewer Airport which is coming up in Delhi, a


proposal was made to the authorities that instead of getting people
from elsewhere we can have educated, trained persons in and
around the surrounding villages and they could be employed,
because they have after all lost their lands, they are unemployed
and they cannot go back to agriculture because their land is
fragmented and they don’t have enough lands now. It seems that
the authority is working on this and is very positive about it.

For LAOs it’s a tight rope walk as they have to maintain the perfect
balance between Public interest and Govt. interest. They have to
be very practical as these are lands required for projects, time
bound projects, they can’t go around indefinitely negotiating,
arguing, trying to bring them around because there is a time limit.
Therefore there is a need for SIA. She said that it is a wonderful
idea but unfortunately we’re going in the right direction, SIA
should be done by agencies or persons who understand both sides,
but that is not happening. SIA study needs to take care of the facts
that the new generation children are going to school, there is a
school nearby, the women in the family are being given some
amount of training or skill development training to go into some
kind of employment, livelihood

The people should be taught or counseled on how to manage the


finances, because instead of putting the money in the bank
accounts for the education of their children or for their old age,
they go and buy cars. We can have banks, local NGOs talking to
them, making them understand that this money that has come to
their bank account is for their future which is not meant for them to
spend it right away.

We also have to use this occasion to bring about social


transformation in these societies as I mentioned we are talking

06
about building back better, and not only the houses but these
societies and they would benefit from the LA and the projects that
are coming up if we ensure that these societies are hand-held to
move in a direction that would improve the profile of the society,
rather than letting them remain where they were.

She concluded by thanking the Director to provide her this


opportunity.

07
Technical Session – I
(The RFCTLARR Act, 2013: provision, legal framework,
implementation- issues and challenges)
Chairperson: Shri Hukum Singh Meena, IAS

Speaker 1: ShriAjit Chaudhuri4


The presentation was about certain
issues and complications around
RFCTLARR Act, 2013. In the
beginning an introduction to
‘Private Property’ was given. The
evolution of property rights in
I n di a e s p e c i a l l y t h e 4 4 t h
amendment was discussed.
Property denotes certain rights (and not material things); most
importantly ‘my right to exclude others from interference with my
enjoyment of that which the Law recognizes as mine’. Despite its
criticality, right to property is not always a fundamental right in
India – 44th amendment of the Constitution removed it from
fundamental rights. The concept of eminent domain which is the
basis for land acquisition by the state in most parts of the world
was discussed. The state enforces property rights, places
restrictions and duties on property owners and can deprive a
person of his/her property with/without compensation. Eminent
domain represents a controversial and politically sensitive
instrument of state power which – can enable economic and
technical progress, can trample on property rights, economic
interests of vulnerable citizens, and fundamental principles of
justice. The corresponding rights to compensation losses should
be imposed on the community. Then the term ‘Public Purpose’
was discussed. ‘Public purpose’ is an admirably flexible term that
affords most users a measure of identification – no agreement as
what it constitutes; this flexibility facilitates room for maneuver
4
Assistant Vice President – Community Services, Tata Sustainability Group,
Army and Navy Building, 2nd Floor, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Mumbai,
Maharashtra

08
for policy makers. A comparison of the definition of ‘public
purpose’ in 1894 Act and 2013 Act was discussed. The
presentation was concluded by outlining the major differences in
the 1894 Act and RFCTLARRAct, 2013.

09
5
Speaker 2: Dr. Namita Wahi
Land is not only an economic
resource and source of livelihood it
is also a central element to
community identity, history and
culture. In that way, it makes for a
very different kind of resource.
The rule of law says that all land
acquisitions must only be pursuant
to valid enactive law, for a public purpose and upon payment of
just compensation. The Land Acquisition Act of 1984 itself was a
Law which was enacted following a series of colonial laws that the
British tried; outstating with the Bengal Regulation Act of 1894.
Issues associated with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 were the
following. The Act only recognized title holders of land and not
livelihood holders who depended on land but had no title. The
definition of public purpose was broad and inclusive which in turn
resulted in not having a clear definition of public purpose. The
procedure for acquisition for land was completely non
participatory, there was widespread misuse of the urgency clause
and there wewre multiple Laws of Land Acquisition in different
states with differential procedures. This led to the enactment of
Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and
RFCTLARR Rules, 2015. The Act came about to redress the
issues associated with 120 years of the functioning of the 1894 Act
which have led to widespread public outrage and to create culture
of justification. Essentially the Land Acquisition Act of 1984 was
a colonial Law and there are many colonial Laws which are
applicable to us because the constitution has actually
grandfathered the colonial Laws. The philosophy behind the
introduction of RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and the important changes
brought about by the Act were discussed in detail. The
RFCTLARR Act recognised a legal right to rehabilitation and
resettlement as opposed to ad hoc policies. Contentious issues
5
Director, Centre for Policy Research, land Rights Initiative, Dharma Marg,
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

10
associated with the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 were discussed
in detail by reviewing the Supreme Court cases form 1950-2016.
Similarly, litigations under the RFCTLARR Act, especially
Section 24 of the Act, were discussed in detail. Comparing these
two it was concluded that RFCTLARR Act only partially
redresses the imbalance of power between the state and private
individuals.

11
Speaker 3: Shri Charanjit Singh6, IFS

The discussion was on sustainable


land procurement. A definition by
HUGO GROTIUS in 1625 about
the principle of eminent domain
says that “The property of subject
is under the eminent domain of the
state, so the state or he who acts for
it may use and even alienate and
destroy such property, not only in cases of extreme necessity ….
but for ends of public utility to which ends those who found civil
society must be supposed to have intended that private ends
should give way. But it is to be added that when this is done the
state is bound to make good the loss to those who lose their
property”. The components of eminent domain are right to acquire
private property, acquisition for public purpose and the payment
of compensation. The important stakeholders in land acquisition
and their roles were discussed. The first stakeholder is the state
and its role is infrastructure development, housing and
industrialization. The state itself is the second stakeholder through
its role in food, ecological security and fair distribution of
resources. The third stakeholder is the industry/service providers
and its role to ensure easier availability at reasonable costs. The
other stakeholders are pressure groups, judiciary and media. The
few key milestones of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 were discussed.
In order to make land acquisition sustainable following thongs are
necessary. There should be a clear cut definition of public purpose.
Payment of Compensation should be scientific & reflect ground
realities. Land records need to be updated real time.Innovative
Models of land procurement such as Land Leasing, Land Pooling,
and Land Purchase by Mutual Consent Policy etc. need to be
looked into.

6
Joint Secretary, Rural Skills Division, Ministry of Rural Development, New
Delhi

12
Speaker 4: Shri Jaideep Singh Kochher7
The presentation was regarding the
issues related to RFCTLARR Act,
2013, specific to the Scheduled
Tribes. The scheduled tribes, as per
2011 census, are 8.6% of total
population and are present as over
700 communities, the highest in
Madhya Pradesh. The North east
accounts for 10% of ST population. 82 % of population is within
10 states. They are the most marginalized, isolated and deprived
population. They have suffered land tenure insecurity right from
the centuries and this is sought to be rectified by the government.
Forest is an important source of livelihood and means of survival
for forest dwelling scheduled tribes. The report shows 40% of the
total displaced people in the country are tribals. Only 25% of the
displaced tribal people are provided resettlement avenues. The
other studies points to lesser percentage. Basically it leads to loss
of rights, displacement leads to loss of livelihood, identity and
resources and this in turn leads to unrest and conflicts in forest
areas. To take care of the historical injustice to the forest dwelling
communities of tribal communities the Forest Rights Act, 2006
was enacted. and basically the tribal communities have been
living in the forests for lot many years but they have faced
insecurity of forcible evictions to give recognition to their state,
their habitat this important legislation was enacted in 2006. Rights
of forest dwelling communities could not be recognized in
colonial period and in the first half in the 50 years of after
independence so then this legislation was brought into. The
sustainable use of biodiversity this is important objective of the
Act also. Section 2, Section 3, Section 4 (5) and Section 16 (4) of
the FRA, 2006 were discussed in detail. Then PESAAct, 1996 was
also discussed in detail. Section 31 of the Act, Section 41 which
deals with special provisions to SCs and STs and Section 42 of the
Act were discussed in detail.
7
EconomicAdvisor, Ministry of TribalAffairs, Shastri bhawan, New Delhi

13
8
Speaker 5: Dr. C. Ashokvardhan , IAS (Retd.)
The presentation was about the
salient features of the Bihar Land
Lease Policy. This policy was
formed in the year 2014 and this
policy is with reference to public
purposes only. Instead of going
i n t o l a nd ac q ui s i t i o n, t h e
government is now going into
perpetual land leasing. For lease of land also there is a need for
public purpose. This is the first condition and the second is that
there needs to have a registered agreement and the land users will
be paid four times the market value in the rural areas and two times
in urban areas plus the value of assets. Departments of the
government, PSUs, private companies etc. can avail the benefits
of these policies and it is seen that they are availing these policies.
They will be following transparent procedures because while the
drafting of the policy was carried out, it was made sure that
transparency is not sacrificed, quality is not sacrificed and
grievance redressal procedure is not sacrificed. The policy was
formulated by keeping intact these three pillars of public policy.
The competent authority is the collector of the district and he will
prepare a proposal for land lease. The proposal will include all the
details of the land like the name of the village, how many people
are going to affected, what lands are going to affected and the
public purpose which is going to be served, what is the possible
value/approximate value of land which is going to acquired and
the collector will form the site selection committee which will be
headed by the next man in the hierarchy. Since the entire process
of land lease is done after following a transparent and accountable
process, the Bihar Land Lease Policy can be considered as a model
policy which can be replicated by other states in India.

8
Member, Bihar Land Tribunal, II off. Polo Road, Patna, Bihar

14
Session – II
(Other Acts and Land Acquisition and R&R policies: Lessons
to be learnt from best practices at the state level on R&R
–Divergence and convergence)
Chairperson: Shri Yudhvir Singh Malik, IAS (Retd.)

Speaker1: ShriAjay Nandan Goswami9


Coal mining is a site specific
industry where depending on the
location of the coal reserve Open
Cast Mining or Underground
Mining method is adopted. For
coal mining operation, two Rights
are required i.e. Surface Rights and
Mining Rights. Surface Rights are
acquired, where mining lease exists, under different modes of
acquisition by virtue of various Acts through State Code, Direct
Purchase through execution of Sale Deed and long term transfer/
lease of Govt. land.

He said that the subsidiaries of CIL always maintained good


relationship with the people affected by the Coal Mining Projects
and took responsibilities for their R&R which also evolved over
time. The compensation and benefits offered to the affected
people were in line with the provisions of applicable Laws &
Guidelines prescribed by the Central and the State Govt. In 2000
Coal India formulated R&R policy and subsequently reviewed it
in 2008 and 2012 according to the changing conditions over the
years.

He cited the example of ECL for going beyond the provisions for
providing low-cost housing to poor Tribal PAPs even after the
compensation was paid, also since 2011 they have practiced
transparency in processing employment proposals against land
and uploaded relevant details on the company’s website of each
9
Chief Manager (Min.), Coal India Limited, Coal Bhawan, New Town,
Kolkata, West Bengal

15
claim. Similarly, WCL has undertaken different programmes, like
Chaupals, Sampark, Nishkarsh and Utsav to build a strong
relationship with the local villagers, all these helped in addressing
the complaints and taking suggestions which in return helped in
maximizing the impact of resettlements and smoothening the
process of acquisition. He said Geospatial technology is also
being used to resolve disputes related to R&R.

16
10
Speaker 2: Shri Aibanshngain Swer
He started his presentation stating
that the Meghalaya Institute of
Governance (MIG), one of the
institutional support mechanisms
of the Integrated Basin
Development and Livelihood
Promotion Programme (IBDLP),
has a vision to explore, share and
promote good governance in Meghalaya by assisting the
government, the private sector, the voluntary sector and the
communities in putting good governance into practice for the
well-being of citizens and society with special emphasis on
traditional institutions, cultural organizations and village-heads.
The focus areas of MIG are in the field of management of human
resource, finance, performance and change. The process
interventions are by simplifying procedure of service delivery and
creating new core competencies in government service by
improving governance environment in administration and
designing governance mechanisms to match the needs and
aspirations of the public.

Meghalaya, being an ST area, has very small percentage of land


with the State Government and the Autonomous District Councils
hence land acquisition and R& of Project Affected families (PAF)
is a concern for the government. With the implementation of
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 the need for appropriate changes in the
process of implementation mechanisms to improve the situation
on equity and social acceptability by providing greater
transparency and benefits for the affected families has emerged.

The state government has already complied with the requirements


like the appointment of a Commissioner for R&R, creation of an
R&R cell, formation of State monitoring committee for evaluation
and monitoring of SIA implementation and setting up of the
10
Director, Meghalaya Institute of Governance, Bishop cotton Road Shillong,
Meghalaya

17
LARR authority for dispute settlement and all this has given
confidence for implementation of SIA in the state. With the
implementation of the Act and the transparency that is brought
about through the SIA, many issues could be addressed locally
and resolved within the village and community level. This has
earned the Government enormous goodwill and even NGOs and
pressure groups have acknowledged and toned down their dissent.
The active participation of the indigenous traditional institutions
across the state has paved the way for ease in implementing the
various components of the Act though the challenges faced by the
Project Affected Families and Project Implementing Agency for
R&R is how to move from the policy provisions to actual
implementation. This will require a better understanding of the
dynamics of R&R options, taking into account the social, cultural
and economic constraints and the opportunities in the new micro
economic situation and political environment in which the
affected persons are living.

18
11
Speaker 3: Dr. Reshmy Nair
After giving and overview of the
progressive provisions of
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 she said
that there are mandatory R&R in
statute but the implementation
practices are varied in different
projects and states throughout the
country. Similarly, there are
uniform applicability standards for Central legislation but the
interpretations and the practices involved are varied. Many
provisions of the law are yet to be implemented in spirit and
require effective monitoring & capacity building.Amendments
are also required for typos and errors in the Act. There are certain
terms, applicability of some sections and legality of certain
actions which are needed to be interpreted unambiguously by the
judiciary.

She said there are other alternatives to land acquisition like Land
Lease, Land Pooling, Land Purchase and Negotiated Settlement
could be used for various Infrastructure Projects in India. And that
we could learn from the experiences of some states where these
alternatives were implemented. She also discussed the advantages
and the challenges while implementing these methods and that the
improvement of the policies through effective planning is required
for sustainability.

11
Professor and Director,Administrative Staff College of India, Bella Vista, Raj
Bhavan Road, Khairatabad, Hyderabad, Telangana

19
12
Speaker 4: Shri Gaurav Kumar
He mentioned that the
hydroelectric power plants in our
country, by and large, are situated
in remote areas where people are
living marginally and deprived of
b as i c ci vi c am en i t i es and
infrastructure facilities, and
hydropower projects for such
areas act as vehicles of development. For these projects mainly
Government, Forest and Private lands are acquired, sometimes
Defence, Panchayat and Community land may be involved and
proper clearances and permissions are taken accordingly. Private
land is acquired through negotiation or RFCTLARR Act, 2013 but
it is found that for some people it is not easy to part with their land.

The project proponent faces certain challenges while acquiring


land – either there are no or outdated or inaccessible land records,
inadequate institutional capacity, dependency on State Govt. for
implementation, no standard criteria to assess the land value, lack
of uniformity in providing the replacement cost. All these factors
complicate the land acquisition process, cause delay in project and
R&R Plan implementation, which may develop mistrust among
the PAFs towards the project proponent. Once the land is acquired
they engage with the affected communities. He spoke about the
steps they took for the proper implementation of R&R of the PAFs
and gave suggestions for an effective R&R like -

• Transparency and peoples’participation


• Up-gradation of skills and creating new livelihood avenues.
• Confidence building measures
• Adopt a responsible and cautious decision-making attitude.
• R&R should be taken up as an opportunity rather than an
obligation.
• Holistic approach
12
Dy. General Manager (Env.), NHPS Limited, NHPC Office Complex. Sector
– 33, Faridabad, Haryana

20
13
Speaker 5: Shri Avaya Kumar Nayak
He presented the salient features of
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and the
differences between the old land
acquisition Act of 1894 and this
new Act and then the timelines for
different activities which come
under different sections of
different provisions.

He said that the process of acquisition for Govt., Private, Forest


and Deity land is different for every category and mainly gave an
overview of the current process of land acquisition that is being
followed in Odisha for private land. He mentioned the issues of
convergence and divergence, like there is no timeline under CBA
Act for acquisition as in RFCTLAR&R Act, 2013 and there is
varied amount of compensation under PMP Act, Electricity Act
and under RFCTLAR&R Act. There is also no provision under
RFCTRLAR&R Act for underground pipelines for sewerage or
water supply.

He said the completion of SIA study, conducting Gram Sabha and


taking people’s consent (especially in Scheduled area) is not an
easy task. Updation of land record, calculation of market value of
land and identification the affected families are some challenges
that are being faced while implementation of the Act. However the
use of technology has proved to be advantageous, Revenue & DM
Department have prepared a blue print for development of an
online Work Flow based MIS for Land Acquisition and R&R for
all LA Projects in sync with RFCTLAR&R Act, 2013 and it will
automate the LA process with less paper work, provide an
immediate access to any Letter/Notification/Report and real-time
Physical and Financial Monitoring of LA in the state for various
projects like NHAI, Railways, Irrigation and Others.

13
PAdditional Secretary, Revenue & Disaster Management, Department,
Government of Odisha, Odisha Secretariat, Bhubaneswar, Odissa

21
Session – III
(Social – Economic appraisal under RFCTLAAR Act: from
plan to practice)
Chairperson: Shri V.K.Agrawal, IAS (Retd.)14

Speaker 1: Shri V. K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.)


The discussion was on certain
issues related to the RFCTLARR
Act. There are factors which are
wrong with this Act. It was treating
Land as a property it was not
treating Land as a source of
livelihood. So when it was
acquired the property value was
paid as compensation. The land though provided the discretionary
powers to the directors the bureaucrats group failed this particular
responsibility because when the has to issue a notification he is
supposed to go into the necessity of the acquisition of land
whether the public purpose was served or not served and we failed
to do the exercise because we could promote the government or
because of our inability to withstand the political master who
wanted the land to be acquired quickly but we failed. The term
public purpose was misused by political executives to promote the
crony capitalism in many places. Tens or thousands of acres of
land was acquired on behalf of some industrialists under this Act
and when it will be used and when it will be put to use nobody can
guess. Many a times government officials colluded with land
grabbers and fake land acquisition notifications were issued to
people to force them to sell their land. Another issue with respect
to LARR Act is that it does not prescribe a way to draw the line
between government’s interests and people’s interests. Also there
is a need for creating separate authorities for land acquisition and
for deciding compensation. The present scenario, wherein there is
only single authority for both can be considered as a case of
conflict of interest. He concluded the discussion by suggesting
that there is a need to create an independent agency to assess the
affected population and create a rehabilitation plan.
14
139, Road No. 17, Prashashan Nagar, Jubilee Hills, Hyderbad, Telangana
22
Speaker 2: Dr. Sanjay K. Pradhan15
The presentation was based on a
case study. It was on the
Application of Social Impact
Assessment (SIA) under
RFCTLARR Act,2013 in Urban
Transport Projects: Insights from
Metro Rail Project in India. The
metro rail project is between
Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar which are 32km from each other.
The population of both the cities in 2014 when the SIA was done
was 6 million and by 2020 it is expected to reach 8.5 million. Due
to the increasing pressure of growing population the need for
transportation system to accommodate them, the government
identified different modes of transport. One of the important
components of the public transport system that they identified was
metro rail system. Metro rail system is an eco-friendly and eco-
viable and comfortable mode of transportation to meet the future
transportation requirement and in 2014 the government identified
two corridors for implementation of metro and that was approve
by the cabinet in 2015. The first corridor is the east west corridor
and its total length in 20.7 km and north south corridor whose total
length is 18.5 km. The need of social impact assessment is that the
project requires 90 ha land and requirement of RFCT LARR Act
2013, and JICA policy. The objectives of SIA to quantify land and
properties to acquired for the project, to present adverse impacts
associated with land acquisition and loss of other assets, to
quantify number of impacted population due to the project, to
create socio-economic demographic and family profile of project
affected people, to enlist and quantify socio-economic impacts of
the project. The positive impact of the project were - Increase in
business and employment opportunities, increase in social well
being, increase in mobility, better access to markets, workplace,
higher education, health facilities and job opportunities, increase
in property value, reduced road traffic and road stress, air
15
Professor and Director,Administrative Staff College of India, Bella Vista, Raj
Bhavan Road, Khairatabad, Hyderabad, Telangana

23
pollution, travel time, fuel consumption, road accidents and
improved aesthetics and image of the city. Social mitigation
measures were taken keeping in mind the following: Adequate
compensation for loss of property and R&R Assistance,
Resettlement by Social Relationship, Provision of Income &
Livelihood Restoration Assistance, addressing gender issues,
Provision for Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe, Provision for
mobility of Disabled people, Provision of training for skill
development, Provision for institutional strengthening and
capacity building and a robust Monitoring and Evaluation
Programme.

24
16
Speaker 3: Dr. Sandip Mitra
The presentation was based on the
Land Acquisition for Singur
project. Land is owned by
governments. Initially, a few
issues related to land acquisition
was discussed. In Singur the large
corporate TATA was resisted by a
political party even though the
leading party in power supported land acquisition for
industrialisation. The study tried to figure out the nature of Singur
uprising: whether it is a less compensation story or it is a political
movement. The large scale sample survey had six villages where
land was acquired and six villages where land was not acquired.
The objective was to find out who are primarily affected;
agricultural households or non – agricultural households. Also
attempt was made to compare the compensation status. In 5,056
households 90 % were landless and marginal landowners. It shows
that 72 % of land acquired are plots and those unwilling to accept
compensation the average proportion of land acquired was higher
and proportion was somewhat higher for household and we also
taken the occupational characteristics of the people who have
directly or indirectly from the land acquisition. The majority of
plots acquired were non-negligible in size, compared to the
average in Singur. Most of the land was acquired from marginal
landowners, and from those engaged in cultivation on the acquired
plots. For most affected owners, more than half the land they
owned in 2005 was acquired.Did the government offer
compensations at the market value of the lands acquired? While
the government offered compensations at the market value of the
lands acquired on average, a signicant fraction of landowners
were under-compensated owing to mis-classication of their plots
as sali rather than sona in the ofcial land records, besides inability
of the latter to incorporate other sources of plot heterogeneity.
Owners with under-compensated types of plot were signicantly
16
Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, C.D. Deshmukh Bhaban, 203
Barrackpore Trunk Road, Kolkata
more likely to reject the compensation offer. Those whose
livelihoods were more tied up with cultivation and those with
possible speculative motives (absentee landlords or those who
purchased the plots rather than inheriting them) were more
inclined to reject.Acquisition of land resulted in 40% lower
income growth for owners and half that for tenants. Consumer
durables grew more slowly for undercompensated affected
owners, compared to others in the same village. Agricultural
workers that were directly affected experienced signicant
reductions in employment earnings compared with unaffected
agricultural workers, who in turn, experienced smaller earnings
growth compared with non-agricultural workers. Hence, land
acquisition in Singur imposed signicant economic hardships on a
large fraction of affected owners, tenants and workers. A large
fraction of owners were undercompensated relative to market
values. Tenants were undercompensated and agricultural workers
were not compensated at all. While it is difcult for us to say how
much local reactions were politically motivated, these economic
hardships provide a plausible explanation for some of the
observed refusals and protests.

26
17
Speaker 4: Dr. Shashi Ratnaker Singh

The presentation was a review of


the five years of implementation of
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and the
way forward. Though the Act is an
ambitious Act the institutions that
are responsible for implementing
the same in the right manner are
weak. There is a need to work on
our institutions. The country has coal, we have generated power
but can’t establish one resettlement and rehabilitation department
at the district level and we expect that we are able to transform
lives in the post displacement period. There are two agencies that
are actively involved in mapping the land conflict across the
world. The conflict has been defined between company and the
state government , company and the community so there are
different layers of conflicts and all over the world India is on rank
one when it comes to land conflict it means we have a vibrant
functional democracy where the civil society has been the space to
demonstrate, participate and record. Some of the findings of the
289 ongoing projects which are the part of the pragati at the PMO
office is going to acquire 12 lakhs ha of land affecting 32 lakhs
people across the country. Infrastructure projects accounts half of
the land related projects. Three quarters of lands involve common
land either forest or revenue. 40 % land conflicts involve forest
lands. It is becoming very important for the SIA agency to be
capable of determining and recording whose sources of primary
hood is being affected. In the implementation of land acquisition,
the following were identified as major challenges:

• Determination of Compensation & Application of Multiplier


(Case of M.P. Multiplier factor of 1 can’t be uniform for the
entire state)
• Entitlements & Eligibility (Inclusion & Exclusion)
• Determining ‘Primary Source of Livelihood’ where rural
17
Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place,
Cambridge CB2 3EN

27
households have ‘diversified livelihood portfolio’ who is
‘affected’and who is NOT?
• Identification of share croppers and dependents
• Land records updation and determining eligibility- Social
reality vs Tehsil Land Records (GIS & Super imposing data,
assessing the deviations
• Challenges in Land records Updation; Geo spatial data vs
Actual Tehsil Records; Super imposing data sets- possible
option ?; Establishing Parameters for Entitlements; Land
Claims and Rights Recognition Framework
• Utility of SIAin designing successful RAP
• SIA: Timing, Process and Obtaining Consent
• International Standards & Framework- World Bank, ADB, IFC
• Capacity of Institutions Conducting SIA’s
• Approach towards Collecting Qualitative and Quantitative
Data
• Data Collation and Making ‘Sense’ of Data before Presenting
Reports
• Utility of SIAin Designing Compensation Framework

28
Session – IV
(Rehabilitation and livelihood restoration: challenges,
solutions and future prospects)
Chairperson: Dr. Nivedita P. Haran, IAS (Retd.)

Speaker 1: Dr. Nivedita P. Haran, IAS (Retd.)

She started her presentations by


showing some photos of Dal Lake,
she said that between 1850 and
1900 tracks of lakes were assigned
to individuals for creating
“floating gardens”, lotus plants
were grown by those people for
commercial use. After 1960-70
large areas which were meant to be water lands was filled up and
vegetables are cultivated there and many of these areas are now
been constructed with houses starting with small shacks to pakka
houses, thus reducing the size of the lake by 30%. She stated that
the night soil and solid waste from the people living beside the lake
is now settled within the lake, she showed photographs of sewer
pipes opening in the lake. She mentioned that in 1990s the state
government started the process of acquiring these lands but the
acquisition did not move forward much because the lake dwellers
had records of these lands and petitions, court cases, etc. were also
responsible. The land acquisition act does not apply to the Dal lake
as it has a separate J&K land acquisition act which has no
provisions for resettlement & rehabilitation which was an issue,
she said that they were in process of finding methods for proper
rehabilitation of the lake dwellers. She said that the court had said
that as the lake dwellers are the legal holders of the land,
compensation must be given and they have to be moved out
through a regular acquisition process, she pointed out that a
committee, that she is a part of has insisted the court for
rehabilitation of the lake dwellers because the families of the land
dwellers are from the economically weaker section of the society.
She then raised some questions for the members present in the
room:

29
1) Should there be an R&R in such a case?
2) The court has control over the lake, so does the state
government has no responsibility for conservation of the lake?
3) Is this the fate of other water bodies in India? She said that
most water bodies are suffering the same fate and the time has
come to find out some solutions in order to protect them.

30
18
Speaker 2: Dr. Preeti Jain Das

She started her presentation by


saying that it was based on a field
research conducted by her and two
other researchers in March 2019.
She stated that they went to many
villages in Gurgaon to find the
alternatives that they can come out
with while paying compensation
to the project affected families. She then mentioned that they all
were aware of the fact that rehabilitation of the project affected
families is a major issue and it leads to impoverishment of the
people. She said that findings has shown that the compensation
money that is given to the people is mostly spent on unproductive
things, livelihood regeneration is also an issue as employment
opportunities are limited and skill training provided to people does
not result in longtime economic returns. She said that they took a
look at the KMP Expressway project to find out and understand
the components of compensation package, she said that the project
was initiated in 2006 and in November 2018 it was declared open
to public. She said that they focused their study to Gurgaon
because a large amount of compensation package was given to
Gurgaon and two villages namely Sultanpur village and Kasil
village both of them are dominated by Rajputs. She said that the
objective of the study was to understand the utilization pattern of
the cash compensation, long term economic outcomes, role
played by women in decision making, she said that they wanted to
obtain the perception of the recipients, that what should be the
components of compensations other than cash to come out with
policy suggestions.

She said that they conducted detailed interviews with 45


households, focused group discussion with men and women and
also interviews of key informers like members of panchayat,
sarpanch, etc. She then showed the details of the payment
18
Senior Fellow TERI, Darbari Seth Block, India Habitate Centre, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi

31
schedule and explained it’s various components, she stated that in
2012, 25% of the compensation was paid in cash, 25% was placed
in fix deposits of 555 days and the remaining 50% was dispersed
in 2014-15. She also mentioned that may people were not able to
encash the FDs because they had to obtain court orders and
theyare not able to do that, some of the respondants added that they
did not get the second portion of the enhanced compensation. She
mentioned that an annuity of Rs 15,000 per acre was agreed upon
for a period of thirty years and that it would go up by Rs 500 per
year but many respondants did not receive the annuity, some said
that they only received it for couple of years. She then showed the
utilization of the money that was compensation in that she pointed
out 19% was spent on marriages, 17% was spent on
reconstruction, she stated that about 50% of the amount was spent
in productive activities. She then said that the recipients wanted to
receive the cash of the compensation in one go and that the amount
should be credited directly to their bank account and none of them
were interested in payment by installments, because the small
amount of money which came was spent in household expenses
but if entire money comes then they can invest it in land. She also
said that some people agreed to get land in place of land on some
conditions like the land that they get should not have a value less
than they lost and it should be close to where they live and it should
come as a single plot, she said that the people wanted that the
project affected families should be placed in the same locality and
not distributed over different districts and villages. The findings of
the study were that they preferred one time compensation which
should be credited directly to their bank accounts, they were fine
with the compensation being dispersed in the joint accounts of
husband and wife only if their wives did not go to offices and
courts as they were not allowed to go out in public, they did not
want the intervention of the government body but financial
counseling can be provided to them so that they can decide how to
spend their money, all people were satisfied by the compensation
and said that it enhanced their lives and improved their status. She
mentioned that she has worked with Gujjar community and Yadav
community and both communities have a distinctive approach

32
which needs to be understood, this information can be useful for
R&R projects in improving outcomes.

She provided some policy suggestions:

Constituents of compensation package to be tailored in


consultation with PAFs, assured ease of accrual.
Financial counseling camps prior to disbursement of
compensation
Long term income earning opportunities for PAFs in
projects–allotment of shops, local procurement of goods and
services etc.
Building trust and creating communication channels for early
redressal of compensation-related grievances. Social impact
assessment provides a valuable entry point to communities
Induction of Sociologists on R&R teams
Utilization of existing land in Land Banks, unutilized land
with Government agencies, PSUs etc.
Exploring the feasibility of alternate procurement options-
pooling, leasing, direct purchase

33
Speaker 3: Shri Tapas Roy19
He started his presentation by
saying that the implementation of
reforms and also the interpretation
that leads to land disputes. He said
that averaging of land for
compensation is a problem, he also
mentioned that the state
government and the supreme court
has also identified the averaging problem of the land. “The
concept of averaging of the sale price of the similar lands unless
they fall in a narrow bandwidth is not acceptable”. This clearly
stated the inadequacy of the process in Indian conditions. He
mentioned that it is argued that the amount of compensation
should be in consonance with the degree of public interest to make
it just. In cases there were lower public interest, the compensation
should be higher (Epstein, 1985). He mentioned that land prices,
like any other commodity are determined by their qualitative and
quantitative attributes. In the Western world with the large plots,
many of the attributes get averaged. In Indian condition such
holdings are few. Plots here are generally small and attributes
vary. Unless suitable adjustments in the sale value of the small
plots (in India) are made for the attributes, averaging does not
meet the statistical rigor. Compensation based on such averages
fails to meet the robustness demands and conflicts arise. He also
highlighted how LARR 2013 has tried to address the inadequacy.
He mentioned that he act has tried to make the landowners
‘willing’ by increasing the compensation through more solatium.
This ignores the fact that land prices are determined more by
comparison, not typically on absolute terms. Use of same solatium
as multiplier makes the landowners feel cheated even more,
especially when her land can fetch higher price in the open market.
He mentioned that LARR 2013 has further compounded
confusion by introducing sliding rule for rural lands. It has
19
Professor & HOD, Department of Management and Mechanical Science, ST.
Thomas College of Engineering and Technology, 4 DH Road, Kolkata, West
Bengal

34
assumed that people in remote rural areas are less prepared for
non-agricultural livelihood. He also mentioned that distance from
the urban centers does affect land prices, but not alone. Urban
influence varies depending on population, affluence and growth
of the nearby urban center/s, apart from its distance and
connectivity. Sliding rule considers only one of the many to derive
the computational basis. This has made the assumption weak.
Stuck in this inadequacy, many of the States and Central
Government agencies have switched over to flat 4 times the
average market value for compensation, thereby defeating the
spirit and rationality of the Act to pay compensation based on a
sliding rule. As a result agricultural lands bordering urban centers
have become gainers by twice as high as on the urban side. “This is
not only absurd but also violates a basic principle of land markets-
that land closer to urban centers is more expensive than land
further away” (Chakravorty S. , The Price of Land- Acquisition,
Conflict, Consequence, Page 181, 2013).

As a result the new act has only increased the compensation


amount but has failed to meet the test of rationality.He mentioned
that this paper attempts to identify the attributes and to build a
suitable model to estimate the change in price of the acquired land
with time. This when added to the past sales price, can provide a
more realistic estimate of the current price of the acquired land. He
then mentioned some steps

Step-1: Identification of factors

Variables that influence land price to change individually and


collaboratively need to be identified to determine the factors as
attributes. Variables have been identified in Indian context based
on literature reviews and discussions with the subject experts.
These can broadly be classified into internal and external
variables. Internal variables are agricultural production and
government subsidy, if any. External variables include variables
describing the market, macroeconomic factors and urban pressure
indicators (current population density, population growth, rurality
etc.)

35
He then showed a Land Valuation Model and explained regression
equation and price change per year as percentage. He then came to
a conclusion that in India the plot sizes are small and the attributes
vary. This makes the price also to vary even in adjacent lands.
Hence averaging should not be a straight average of the sale
figures. It should be rather for ‘comparable’ land sales to keep
them in “narrow bandwidth”. To make the plots ‘comparable’ it is
necessary to adjust the local sale prices for the differences in their
attributes with the acquired land. In the conclusion it is argued that
an arbitrary addition of ‘solatium’ is not logical. The present
system of multiplying with solatium only multiplies the inequity.
This adds discontent. What is needed is a computation basis to
convert the local area land sales data into comparable land sales
data, which then can be used for averaging to get the fair value of
the acquired land. The value so derived can be rationally defended
to arrive at a ‘just’compensation metric with or without solatium.

36
20
Speaker 4: Shri Sujit Kumar Mishra
He started his presentation by
acknowledging two people Mr.
Thibu and Mr. Thakur who were
affected by Ultra Mega Power
Plant in Odisha located in the
district of Sundargarh which
provided him motivation for his
field work. He mentioned that the
potential of the mining sector to generate huge revenue has been
linked with a large number of negative externalities. He then
mentioned that Sundargarh is the district with highest mineral
deposit in Odisha and also the poorest district in Odisha. He said
that the argument of his present work was distributed into two
aspects, “push for mining” and “push against it’s impact”, during
his study he came across a lot of problems at the community level.
He mentioned that he took the Mahanadi Coal Field as his case
study, concerning the issue of livelihood he highlighted three
issues, firstly the land loser who got a job, secondly this job
allocation to one member reduces the others to dependents since
they do not possess agricultural land and nor do they have a job
and the third category of people were the ones whose patches of
land were taken and they were indulged into illegal mining. He
mentioned that on 10 August 2013, at least 14 labourers were
killed and some others injured when a portion of the coal
overburden suddenly collapsed at the Kulda Opencast coal mine
in the Basundhara-Garjanbahal area of Sundargarh district,
Odisha. This area comes under the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
(MCL).The victims were locals from the nearby villages. For the
residents of the area, scavenging coal is a source of livelihood. The
management claimed that they had been warning people about not
getting closer to the dump. He mentioned that the people used to
scavenge coal and take the less productive coal for about 8-10 km
in their bicycles and sell them as this was the only source of their
livelihood. He mentioned that the women working in the coal
20
Processor, Council for Social Development (An Institute of ICSSR), 5-6-151,
Rajendranager, Hyderabad, Telangana

37
fields were affected if their workplace was at a distant place, as she
could not efficiently contribute in her work and her household. He
also highlighted the impact of health hazards on water sources,
diseases like eye Allergy, skin diseases, malaria, GSI, arthritis,
fever, asthma affected 61.04% of the people.

He mentioned that extensive field surveys, in depth interviews and


interactions were conducted, the study involved a three-pronged
approach to collection of information: (a) conducting a field
survey; (b) collection of data from secondary sources like reports,
awards of Land Acquisition Officers, various investigative reports
and magazines from time to time; and (c) discussions with
officials and local leaders in the area. Apart from this, focus group
discussion was also conducted among different categories of
people. He mentioned that the focus group provided insightful
information on specific vulnerabilities of those sections of the
people, who experienced greater vulnerabilities due to
construction of the project. He stated that petitions related to
Mines and Dams are very less with High Courts and Supreme
Courts. He said that he asked one of the petitioners of the Rengali
Multi-purpose Dam Project, that how he got enhanced
compensation to which the petitioner said that he used to get
irrigation facilities from the village sources and now it is not
available so he went to the court and got enhancement. He further
stated that when he asked the people who lived next to the people
who got enhanced that why didn’t they go to the court for
enhanced compensation provided that the irrigation facilities were
not available to them now, they said that they didn’t knew about
the legal procedure. He also mentioned that the people from the
rural areas do not have trust on the legal system. He mentioned that
the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 Law is very ambitious and
identification of some of the very important indicators must be
done to make it more robust.

38
21
Speaker 5: Dr. Renu Modi
She started her presentation by
saying that she was a social
development consultant with the
information panel of the World
Bank on issues of accountability
and other issues. She said that they
were focusing on the issues of
resettlement and rehabilitation and
livelihood restoration project. She said that the project was a
builder driven and rehousing project, the focus of the project was
technical and it had two components a rail component and a road
component, she said that it happened in 2001-2010 and things
have changed considerably over the last decade. She mentioned
that in this project they saw joblessness, marginalization and
social discontent; she showed some photos of the people who
came out and protested as their grievances were not addressed by
the government. She said that the PAD of the World Bank 1995
made with the government of Maharashtra told that 99% of the
people affected were squatters, which was not the case and there
was heterogeneity in the people who were to be displaced and
there was no transparency, disclosure or public information centre
and the MMRDA website only displayed some random
information. She mentioned that when she went to the field to find
out why that why people were not aware, she realised that the two
NGOs that had been working had employed young girls and boys
of 18-21 years of age who were graduate and could speak Marathi,
so they were unable to read the documents which were made
before 1960 as they were in Gujarati and they had put the people
with the Gujarati documents in the list of squatters. She mentioned
about the problems of the padgi land holders that they were not
accounted for in the rehabilitation scheme. She mentioned that
when people travel in rail in Mumbai, a lot of poor people live
beside the rail track and when they got a free housing worth Rs 4
21
Professor, Centre for African Studies, Behind Marathi Bhasha Bhawan,
University of Mumbai, vidyanagai, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, Maharashtra

39
lakh they were very happy, she said that the rail component project
was a success.

She mentioned that the problem of the road component project


was that there were middle income shop keepers and they lost
business, she mentioned that people had not disclosed their
income during the survey thinking that it was an income tax
survey, while some thought that the surveyors were polio-drops
volunteers. She showed an image showing big shops and hotel
owners and said that those people could not be relocated as per the
slum policy, she mentioned that the place where the people were
being relocated did not had a good environment for the
businessmen and shop keepers. She mentioned that the Times of
India had highlighted the news that hen coops had also been given
the identity of a house, she also said that it was an exaggeration,
but there were allegations of corruptions and people were unaware
about their displacement. She mentioned that livelihood
restoration did not take place in a good way and many women lost
jobs as their distance from work place was increased due to
displacement, the distance was 4km which was against the norms
of the World Bank as it allows the distance to be a maximum of
2km. She said that livelihood of the people was not an issue for the
officials and the people had to fend off for themselves.

40
Technical Session –V
(Group Discussion and Framing of Recommendation)
Chairperson: Dr. C.Ashokvardhan, IAS (Retd.)

Group I: The RFCTLARR Act, 2013: Provisions, Legal


Framework, Implementation – Issues and Challenges

1. Land records in each state must be updated in accordance


with reality on the ground, and respecting existing tenure
systems of each state;
2. Overlap between revenue land and forest land on the one
hand, and coastal land within CRZ line and ambiguities on
the ground w.r.t implementation of RFCTLARR Act in
such cases should be removed;
3. Biggest need of the hour is regular training & capacity
building of government officials, civil society and media
in order to resolve ambiguities w.r.t RFCTLARR Act
including particularly the application of forest laws (FCA,
FRA), CRZ Notification, and the LandAcquisitionActs

They also provided some Reforms - Legal Framework


recommendations:

1. The provision of SIA and consent should be applicable to


all enactments listed in section 105 (2), Schedule 4
2. Delete proviso to Section 6 (2) – Exemption from SIA to
irrigation projects
6 (2). Wherever EIA is carried out, a copy of the SIA report
shall be made available to the Impact Assessment Agency
authorized by the Central Government to carry out impact
assessment.
Provided that, in respect of irrigation projects where the
process of EIA is required under the provisions of any other law for
the time being in force, the provisions of this Act relating to SIA
shall not apply.
3. Harmonize SIA under this Act with EIA to be conducted
pursuant to the EIAnotification w.r.t to all projects.
4. The amendments suggested by state government which
are against the spirit of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013,
41
particularly relating to consent, SIA, compensation and
resettlement & rehabilitation should not receive the
concurrence of the central government. Already existing
amendments of seven states should be reviewed by central
government, if possible.
5. J & K Land Acquisition Act should be brought in line with
RFCTLARR
6. Pursuant to section 104, Department of Land Resources
should circulate a model land lease policy for public
purposes, as an alternative to Land Acquisition
(Ref: Bihar Land Lease Policy, 2014)

They also provided some other recommendations which are as


follows:
1. Department of Land Resources should commission
research studies on challenges being experienced w.r.t
implementation of RFCTLARR Act, 2013 in each state
with engagement of diverse stakeholders including
government departments and ministries involved in land
acquisition, civil society, researchers from diverse
academic backgrounds. Suggested issues
Compensation – computation/disbursal
SIAand EIA
R&R and similar issues

Group II: Other Acts on Land Acquisition and R&R policies:


Lessons to be learnt from best practices at the state level on R&R.-
Divergence and Convergence

They provided some suggestions as follows:

Deletion of some important words of sub section (3) of


section 105 of the RFCTLARR Act 2013 through the
Removal of Difficulties Order 2015 is legally not tenable
as it amounts to making a change which only parliament
can do.
Whether the benefit under section 30 (3) is part of
compensation or not – need to made a part of the First
Schedule.

42
The Multiplication factor for rural areas has to be 1 to 2 as
notified by the appropriate government. It has to be on a
graded scale like 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc. linked with the distance
of the project from the urban area:
There is no confusion about the definition of urban area as
is being made out. Urban area means the notified
municipal limit. The distance measurement in a
linear/aerial fashion can always be prescribed/specified.
Fourth schedule Acts have their own respective provisions
regarding competent authority. The RFCTLARR Act
2013 needs to recognize the same :
Applicability of section 96 of the RFCTLARR Act,
including the fourth schedule Acts – to all forms of
Acquisition, including consent procurement
The central rules notified under the Act do not cover all
aspects covered under the parent Act. There is need for
exhaustive rules to be notified covering all provisions of
theAct.
The STs and OTFDs who have lost any of their forest
rights under the Forest Rights Act 2006 due to acquisition
of land are the Affected families as defined under the Act.
There should be clarificatory Rules/ Guidelines on the
compensation for the rights taken away as a result of
acquisition/displacement.
PESA need consultation where as RFCTLARR Act needs
consent for acquisition of land in scheduled area – needs
clarification.

Group III: Social-Economic Appraisal Under RFCTLARR: From


plan to practice

They recommended some policy matters:

SIA must be mandatory for all projects, with strict


adherence to law.
No evidentiary literature to show that SIA delays land
acquisition.

43
There should be room to incorporate SIA mitigation
measures in project designs.
Cut-off date should be from the date of notification of
Section(4).
Videography and GIS recording of year marked land
should be conducted immediately after notification of
Section(4).
A standing SIA expert committee should be formed with
provision to induct project specific personnel
SIA agency after preparation of draft SIA report should be
shared through district collector to the people and
community.
Preparation of broad Terms of Reference (ToRs) for key
sectors.
Capacity building of SIA Units, SIA agencies, district
administration.
R&R plan should be linked to the national skill
development mission for new sets of livelihood options.
Updation of land records.
Section 13 of the RFCTLARR rules, 2014 regarding
dedicated website for SIA related reporting should be
strictly adhered to.
Empirical research to assess the validity of SIA report
must be supported.
Social audit should be conducted after implementation of
SIMP.
Establishment of dedicated R&R Department in every
District Head Quarter
Due dilgence should be done before empanelment of SIA
agency
Entitlement Matrix & Categorization (Title & Non Title
Holders)
Challenges in Land records Updation; Geo spatial data vs
Actual Tehsil Records;
Super imposing data sets- possible option ?; Establishing
Parameters for Entitlements;

44
Land Claims and Rights Recognition Framework
Entitlements & Eligibility (Inclusion & Exclusion)

Determining 'Primary Source of Livelihood' where rural


households have 'diversified livelihood portfolio' who is 'affected'
and who is NOT?
Group-IV: Rehabilitation and livelihood restoration: challenges,
solutions and future aspect

They had come up with the following points:

1. Overarching principles
• Social license to operate
• Go beyond compliance
• Making better what they were before – Social lives,
livelihood, future.
• Data needs to validate the impact by a third party.

2. Suggestions
- Consultation with the host community
- There should be no gap b/w acquiring body and affected
people. Direct interactions.
- Institutionalization of created infrastructure. The government
bodies- local or district/ state level.
- Task force – Groups of PAPs hamlet-wise (with local
community) for negotiations including political
representatives
- Rehab - moholla-wise/hamlet-wise – giving them the option /
choices of their groupings
- Open public meeting for transparency
- Women – Child Care, Signatory literacy
- Financial literacy (before compensation is released)- a must
(Kudumbashi Kerala – Banking Sakhi in Bihar)
- Maintenance of the infrastructure, should remain with the
acquiring body for sustainability

45
3. Safety and security
- Proper demarcation and fencing of project area, e.g mining.
- The activity which involve displacement should start after an
infrastructure for rehabilitation is established

4. Skilling
- Market based
- Multiple categories – age, gender, education level
- Site specific/ local context specific gainful employment
options
- Mandatory task force to take care of skilling – counselling
- Evaluation (M& E) framework- R&R
- Evaluation done by third party
- Positive reinforcement, e.g., scholarships, mid days meal
schemes for children, group health insurance for the senior
citizens
- All the award should be disbursed in one instalment and not
staggered.

46
Valedictory: Dr. Nivedita P. Haran, IAS (Retd.)

After greetings, she said she was


really happy that they had some
very good discussions over the last
two days with probably all the
stakeholders, more or less, who are
involved in LA, dispute redressal
etc. the representatives of Govt.,
the NGOs, the activists, corporate,
institutions, the entire gamut of all the stakeholders were covered.
She wanted a lot of things which were discussed to be taken
forward and lackings needed to be removed, how from ecology
and environment we have now moved to social impact, socio-
economic impact, the need for livelihood, infrastructure etc., the
need for considering the senior citizen's requirement, people who
are 50-60 plus now totally feeling lost and unwanted. The youth
could turn to criminality in places where LA has been done
without taking care of all the requirements. Unless the land
records are modernized we are putting all the issues on the back
burner, modernization mean proper updated land records and
unless we do that we cannot move towards a conclusive titling. It
is time to take the first step that we're yet to take for so many years.
Inventory of public land, water bodies and the inventory of unused
acquired land is extremely important. There are thousands of
acres of acquired unused land which is lying in different places
and not being utilized. There are thousands of acres of unused land
lying, causing of lot of criminality to happen in our country
because such land become the source of encroachment, winning
favors, etc. Acquired land for a particular purpose cannot be used
for another purpose. That is why it is needed to get all those
present and not present agencies together in one place recorded
making LA balanced and the balance can only come when we see
both sides, and that ability to see both sides has to be taught to us
and that starts from the Academy. BNYCRS has a crucial role to
play and SIA that is being done now is not up to the standards and
it needs to be improved. Unless somebody takes the responsibility
to teach and coach the people who are doing it, it will not improve

47
and then have an empanel group of these agencies who are doing
SIAs, because otherwise what had happened, and to some extent it
is better now, for EIAs will happen for SIAs, they will be agencies,
fly-by-night operators who will come and do these EIAs and SIAs,
and nobody would know what is contained in it but it would be
totally vacuous. We don't want that to happen to SIAs, SIAs are
much too important to us, for our society to be left, if we do not do
our SIAs truthfully, we're actually destroying the society and
therefore we just cannot take chances and therefore BNYCRS will
have to take the responsibility. This is one of the reasons why
BNYCRS was set up, they'd be a lead in this, they'll be able to take
forward the entire country and build a set of organizations that
would understand the meaning of SIAs and ensure that the SIAs
that are done are genuine, honest and really help in the LA process.
She said that she learnt a lot from here and that they all have a lot to
learn from each other.

48
LANDACQUISITION, GOVERNANCEAND THE STATE:
Some Issues and Complications around the LARR 2013

Ajit Chaudhuri

I. Introduction

Land acquisition by the state is a topic fraught with complications,


strong opinions, and diverse and conflicting viewpoints,
anywhere in the world. It is a contemporary topic given the focus
upon economic growth as a means of development and poverty
eradication, and the consequent pressures upon land for
industrialisation, infrastructure development, urban expansion,
raw materials and energy. In India, there has been increasing
public awareness on the issue of land acquisition, especially
because of widespread protests and agitations against such
exercises that have been highlighted by the media and because of
its negative consequences in the form of social unrest, Maoist
violence, and a general climate of suspicion regarding the state
using its powers to enhance the well-being of a well-connected
few to the detriment of the majority. Weaknesses in the laws
relating to land acquisition, especially around public purpose and
just compensation, and the exploitation of these weaknesses by
the state, has played up these consequences, leading to discussions
for a new and contemporary law that walked the line between the
needs of economic growth, equitable distribution, and human
rights. The outcome of these discussions, the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (the LARR), came into
force in India on 1st January 2014.

This paper is about land acquisition by the state from a governance


perspective. It begins by enquiring into the concept of 'eminent
domain' (Section II) that provides a basis for the state to
appropriate private property, delving into its philosophical
22
Assistant Vice President- Community Services, Tata Sustainability Group,
Army and navy Building, Mumbai

49
underpinnings and relating it to the Indian situation, specifically to
the LARR and its differences with its predecessor, the Land
Acquisition Act of 1894. It expounds on the state's power to
acquire private land, the source of this power, and the justice of its
use of this power. It examines the matter of public purpose around
land acquisition, and the issue of just and fair compensation.
Section III describes the shifts in thinking from government to
governance and asks whether the change from the Land
Acquisition Act to LARR epitomises these shifts. It also addresses
broad questions such as whether the LARR could be an enabler
towards better governance, whether it requires the state to
relinquish or devolve some of its powers, and whether the
administration retains the ability to manipulate land acquisition
outcomes under LARR. In the process, this essay seeks to discuss
the complications around land acquisition and the complex
interdependencies within them.

The paper does not go into a description of the LARR– the author
prefers to assume, in the interest of brevity, that the reader is
already familiar with it. For those who are not, and in order to
preclude a reading of the Act itself, a brief description has been
included in Appendix I. Appendix II contains a list of the 16 other
laws by which land is acquired in India.

II. Eminent Domain

The basis for the LARR, its predecessor the Land Acquisition Act
of 1894, and for land acquisition by the state in most parts of the
world, lies in a concept called 'eminent domain' or the power of the
state to acquire private property for a public purpose with
reasonable compensation. This is a controversial and politically
sensitive instrument of state power because it can enable
economic and technical progress and inclusive growth, and it can
also trample on property rights, the economic interests of
vulnerable groups of citizens, and fundamental principles of
23
While the US Constitution rejects confiscation without compensation as a
measure of justice, it contains no rules and standards regarding compensation –
these are left to the courts.

50
justice (Ghatak and Ghosh, 2011). The right to private property is,
after all, basic to liberal democracy, market principles, and
economic growth. This section of the paper examines the origins
and philosophical underpinnings of eminent domain, questions it
from a justice and fairness viewpoint, and explores whether a law
based upon it, such as the LARR, has a place in modern society.

At the outset, and especially for those who believe that a state
taking away the property of its citizens is an act of robbery and
also treachery and therefore the act of a weak, kleptocratic or less
evolved state because the state exists to protect property rights, let
me clarify that the state can acquire, confiscate and appropriate
private property with or without compensation and frequently
does so, even in advanced countries with sophisticated legal
systems. Eminent domain is as old as political society itself and is
deemed necessary because 'public projects cannot be blocked by
the recalcitrance of persons who happen to own property in the
path of improvement' (Kratovil and Harrison, 1954). When it is
exercised, a corresponding right to compensation arises. A
civilised society tends to believe that the losses inflicted as a result
of the state's acquisition of private property should be imposed, as
far as is practical, on the community rather than on adversely
affected individual property owners, and tends to place
limitations, therefore, on the state's power to evade the payment of
compensation. In the US, for example, the 5th Amendment
prohibits the government from taking private property without
compensation, and the 14thAmendment says that no person shall
be deprived of life, liberty or property 'without due process of law',
which has come to mean 'without just compensation' in cases of
23
eminent domain .

II.A. Property, Sovereignty and Power

To explore eminent domain one would need to delve into the


history of property and its relationship with sovereignty.As a legal
term, property denotes certain rights (and not material things),
24
The TV serial ‘Downton Abbey’ brilliantly captures the social effects of
changes in land taxes in the UK leading up to the Law of PropertyAct of 1925.

51
most importantly 'my right to exclude others from interference
with my enjoyment of that which the law recognises as mine'
(Cohen, 1927). This right is not a relationship between an owner
and a thing, it is one between an owner and other individuals with
reference to things. The distinction between property and
sovereignty goes back in history to Roman law and its
discrimination between dominium or the rule over things by the
individual, and imperium, or the rule over individuals by the king
or state. Yet, most other earlier laws did not make this distinction
and feudal law, which was widely prevalent in much of the world
until relatively recently, saw ownership of land and political
sovereignty as one. Dominium over things was also imperium over
fellow human beings; land was power and the landlord was, to the
tenant, an agent of the state. The modern world changed this by
seeing land as a mere factor of production and seeking to simplify
and modernise laws in order to commoditise it, make it
marketable, and take it out of the hands of the landed aristocracy
signalling, thereby, the end of their political power and control.
Today's laws around property and the rights to it have a basis in this
modernisation process.

Cohen (1927) observes that no individual rights can be exercised


in a community without public regulation and, in the case of
property rights, the state enforces an owner's right to exclude
others and places restrictions and duties upon owners on matters
such as usage of the land and what will be done with it upon the
owner's death. The state can also deprive a person of his/her
property, justly so when done in public interest, and there is no
absolute principle of justice that requires the payment of
compensation for this (although Cohen says that it is generally
advisable to do so). In fact, history is full of examples of valuable
property privileges being abolished without compensation and it
is absurd to suggest that all such acts have been unjust.

What is the source of the state's power in eminent domain?


Traditional thinking on this was divided between two answers- the
first being God, as He set up the state and it therefore derives
25
The privy purses of erstwhile Indian royal families come to mind here.

52
authority from His sanction, and the second being might, because
might is right and the state is powerful and has the authority to
govern. It was left to the philosopher Hugo Grotius who, in his 'On
the Law of War and Peace' in the 17th century, set out a rational
foundation for state power in his recognition of the transferability
of rights. Rights, according to Grotius, are powers and faculties
that humans possess and are, therefore, commodities that may be
traded away like all other possessions. People may transfer rights
to a ruler and receive a peaceful and stable society in return. Rights
come to the state from private individuals through collective
agreement- innumerable, separate, and sequential decisions that
occur over a protracted period of time during which individuals
agree to form the institutions that govern society by imbuing them
with some of the power that they naturally possess (Miller, 2011).
These institutions gel into a single coherent entity, the state. The
state's power is thus the product of wilful transference of
individuals' powers or rights to it. Once a state has acquired this
power, and because its actions are not subject to the legal control
of another, it is praiseworthy but not imperative that it take the
needs of its subjects into account in its actions. It can, in fact,
override them if and when it so wishes. Grotius's willingness to
allow people to transfer their rights is not entirely uncontroversial.
Rousseau is quoted as saying that 'Grotius spares no pains to rob
the people of all their rights and invest kings with them' (in The
Social Contract, Book II, Chapter 2) while others contend that
certain basic rights should be inviolable and not subject to
political bargaining or the calculus of social interests (such as
John Rawls, 1971). However, Grotius's analysis does provide
adequate foundation for the existence of eminent domain.

Eminent domain is particularly controversial because it overrides


individuals' right to property which, in liberal democracies,
translates to wealth, income and a means to livelihood, and is thus
a base upon which other rights are built and also a foundation for
democracy, market principles, and economic growth. Yet, despite
its criticality to the system, the right to property is not always
recognised as a fundamental right. In India, for example, the
constitution had designated the right to property as a fundamental

53
right (along with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right
to equality, minority rights, and the right to constitutional
remedies). The 44th Constitutional Amendment of 1978 changed
this, reducing the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property
from a fundamental right under Article 19 to a constitutional one
under Article 300-A, for which legal remedies and protection
moved from the powerful Article 32 to Article 226.Even in the US
th th
(via the 5 and 14 Amendments) and the EU, the right to property
may be overridden by the state using due process of law and by
providing just compensation.

The move from the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to the LARR
does not change the fundamentals of the power of the state to
acquire private land for a public purpose with reasonable
compensation, i.e. of eminent domain. The state continues to have
the power to acquire land from private owners if it so wishes. The
key changes with respect to eminent domain between the two laws
lie in the clearer definitions of public purpose and compensation
(both of which are delved into in subsequent sub-sections), in
restrictions around the acquisition of multi-cropped land (which,
according to several commentators including Ghatak and Ghosh,
reflect a concern for aggregate food production and prices and not
the property rights of land owners), in procedural safeguards (in
the form of adequate notification, social impact assessments, use
of Gram Sabhas in obtaining consent, etc.), and in narrowing the
urgency clause to national defence, security, and natural
calamities. Some of the inadequacies of the previous law around
eminent domain continue into the LARR, especially the
obfuscation around the scope of LARR when land has been
acquired under the 16 other laws that are also used to acquire land
(Appendix II). This issue is particularly pertinent because the state
acquires a bulk of its land using the Land Acquisition (Mines) Act
of 1885, the National Highways Act of 1956, the Coal Bearing
Areas Acquisition and Development Act of 1957, the Railways
Act of 1989 and, more recently, the Special Economic Zones Act
of 2005.

54
II.B. The Issue of Public Interest

The power of the state to forcibly acquire land from private


individuals is generally widely (albeit grudgingly) accepted when
carried out in public interest, for a public purpose. The public
purpose or public interest (and I use these terms as synonyms)
objective is critical to the justification of the use of eminent
domain, at least for a democratic government and at least in the
public eye. This begs the question- what is public interest?

An examination of the literature on public interest suggests that


this is one of those admirably flexible terms that affords most users
a measure of identification; that there is no clear agreement as to
what it constitutes and that this flexibility around the term
facilitates considerable room for manoeuvre for decision takers
and policy makers. Dahl and Lindblom (1963, cited in Fagence
1977) suggest that 'often, a precise examination shows that it is
nothing but the speaker's own view as to desirable public policy'.
Schubert (1960, cited in Fagence 1977) says that 'the concept of
public interest makes no operational sense' while others consider
the term as among those on a list of ambiguous words and phrases
that would never be missed.

Fagence (1977) suggests that flexibility is not a desirable attribute


in a concept such as public interest that is central to civilised polity
and is cited as justification whenever the state lacks a democratic
basis or popular support for an action. Among those who do
attempt to define it are those who equate it with private interests
and others who eschew the association. Bentham (1823, cited in
Fagence 1977) has a utilitarian viewpoint, suggesting that 'public
interest is the arithmetically derived total of individual interests'
and that 'the purpose of government is to maximise satisfaction of
individual self interests'. Bentley and Truman (1951, cited in
Fagence 1977) say that it is the outcome of an exchange between
competing interests and that the principle benefit of democracy is
the multiplicity of points of access for the many conflicting
interests that inevitably and necessarily arise in pluralistic
societies. Friedrich (1950, cited in Fagence 1977) warns that

55
public interest should be conceived as the genuine interest of the
whole community and not the camouflaged interest of an elite or
minority. Others suggest that public policy cannot be based upon
the sum of demands of organised special interests because public
interests are vital common interests that cannot be organised by
pressure groups. Appleby (1950:34-35)) says that 'public interest
is never merely the sum of all private interests, nor the sum
remaining after cancelling out their various pluses and minuses. It
is not wholly separate from private interests, and it derives from
citizens with many private interests, focusing in government some
of the most elevated aspiration and deepest devotion of which
human beings are capable.' Redford (1954) sees public interest
defined as 'the best response to a situation in terms of all the
interests and of the concepts of value which are generally accepted
in society'.

Fagence himself laments the vagueness and immeasurability of


these definitions of public interest and suggests four reasons for
the difficulty in articulating the term more precisely; that
individuals have interests that they may not be fully aware of, that
the interests of generations yet to be born need consideration, that
interests are only maximised in and through society, and that
private and public interests need to be coincided. In the real world,
he says, public interest is identified with organised minority
interests or with organised majority expressions through the ballot
box. Its genius lies not in its clarity but 'in its perverse and
persistent moral intrusion upon the internal and external discourse
of ruler and ruled alike'.

Schubert (1957) takes the onus of discerning public interest away


from the legislature and places it firmly upon the executive. He
says that, while textbooks posit an array of external (from
legislatures, courts, political parties, popular sovereigns, and non-
political groups) and internal (through patterns of organisation
and rules of procedure) constraints upon administrative decision-
making, 'administrative decisions are the mosaics of the
particularistic choices of discrete human beings'. He identifies
three groups of theories on how administrative officials recognise
public interest when making choices.

56
He terms the first group as 'administrative rationalism' wherein
the goals of the administration are given, the decision-making
process is value neutral, and the authority of the administrator is
the authority of expertise. Here, public interest is found in the
rationalisation of the decision-making process so that it will
automatically result in carrying out the public will. Human
discretion is minimised or eliminated by defining it out of the
decisional situation. This group of theories sees a robotic
'“administrative man” taking his place alongside the classical
(and equally mythical?) “economic man”'.

The second group is termed as 'administrative platonism' and


consists of idealists who view the legislature as an inadequate and
incompetent source of public policy because it defines public
interest incompletely and unsatisfactorily, and who look to
expanding administrative autonomy and discretion by placing the
executive at the heart of decision-making. This group recognises
some interests as more public than others, especially those of the
unorganised, inarticulate, underprivileged and other underdogs;
and adapts, manipulates, fuses and directs group pressures
towards such recognition. It sees administration as a political
function- 'the weighing of forces, the subjective identification of
the narrow area within which these forces may be balanced, and
the exercising of discretion concerning the point within that area
at which acceptability and public interest may be effectively and
properly maximised' (Appleby, 1950:163). It sees the moral
satisfaction of responsible administrators as dependent upon the
degree to which they inject consideration of public interest in the
face of the natural inclination of private interests to project
themselves as the undiluted public interest. Opponents of this
viewpoint insist upon official subservience to the public will as
expressed by political parties and legislators. Finer (1941)
expresses this by saying 'who would define the public interest?
Who could define it? Only the public, I believe, or their deputies. I
shall insist upon the subservience of the permanent civil service
for I am of the belief, with Rousseau, that the public can be unwise
but not wrong.'

57
The third group constitutes the 'administrative realism' category
composed of sceptics and realists who dismiss notions of public
will and public interest as childish myths and who see the
administrator as a catalyst who transmits the conflict among
multiple special interests into public interest which, in turn, is
found in the satisfactory peaceful adjustment of these conflicting
interests. Public interest is served by the self-awareness of the
administrator who plays his/her role self-consciously and
recognises the full implications of his/her choices. A sub-category
in this group includes the process theorists who find public
interest in the proper structuring of the decision process but,
unlike the rationalists of the first group, do not exclude non-
rational elements from the process. Among the realists is Bentley
(1949), who considers public interest as a chimera because 'the
political interests and activities of a group are always directed
against other activities of men. Political life will always divide
society along lines that are real, though of varying degrees of
definiteness. Society itself is nothing except the complex of
composite groups.'

Despite being vague, flexible, un-measurable and difficult to


define, public interest is the standard that guides the execution of
law and introduces objectivity, order, and unity into an
administration. It is to bureaucracy what 'due process' is to the
judiciary- its abstract meaning may be vague but its application
has far-reaching effects. The task of government in a democracy is
to adjust competing and conflicting economic and social forces.
The public interest is the standard that should determine the
degree to which the government lends its forces to one side or
another. Without this standard, the scales would simply be
weighted in favour of victory for the strongest.

Relating public interest and public purpose back to the original


topic of land acquisition, they feature in most eminent domain
acquisitions worldwide and are the cause of considerable
controversy because governments tend to take interpretive
liberties while using them and courts generally refuse to second-
guess executive judgement on these matters. In India, for

58
example, much of the recent conflict around land acquisition has
been centred on the issue of whether the government can forcibly
acquire land on behalf of private companies, corporate interests,
and other private profit-making entities while claiming that this
has a public purpose. It is worth delving into this debate.

The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 stipulated public purpose


behind land acquisition and left the interpretation of public
purpose to the state, thus allowing for the use of eminent domain
on behalf of private entities. There is a sense that this developed
into a means by which powerful industrialists, bureaucrats, and
politicians used their leverage with the state to grab land
arbitrarily, unfairly, and without paying just compensation. The
heightened public concern around this has been a factor in the
formation of the new LARR. The LARR defines a set of activities
as coming within the realm of public purpose and this includes
activities for strategic purposes, infrastructure, and housing. And,
while it continues to permit the use of eminent domain for private
entities, it requires the consent of 80 percent of the affected
families in these cases (and 75 percent for public-private
partnerships) through a prior informed process before eminent
domain can be exercised for the remaining land. The prior
informed process includes a social impact assessment that
determines the public purpose in a particular land acquisition
exercise and the LARR specifies that this assessment is to be
undertaken by an independent entity (i.e. other than the state, the
sellers and the buyers). The social impact assessment uses
participatory mechanisms and elicits opinions from a wider cross-
section of people than those directly affected (for example, the
social impact process recognises the role of Gram Sabhas in
Schedule V and VI areas and involves the indirectly affected, such
as agricultural labourers, as well). The LARR is thereby also
compliant with the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas)
and the Forest RightsActs of 1996 and 2006 respectively.

The moral question of whether the definition of public purpose


could include private gain and, therefore, whether the state is
justified in using its powers to acquire land for industry, was the

59
subject of considerable debate in the formulation of the LARR.
Ms. Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal and the force
behind the Singur and Nandigram agitations, was of the view that
the government should have no role in land transfers between
private parties, as was the head of India's largest private land
development company, the DLF Group. NC Saxena of the NAC
Advisory Group was of the opposite view, suggesting that reliance
on open markets would leave small farmers at the mercy of the
land mafia, prevent industry from locating in tribal areas, and
cause delays in acquisition due to incomplete land records. The
LARR ultimately takes the view that while the market works well
in bilateral transactions its effectiveness drops exponentially as
the number of parties to a transaction increase, especially where
property rights are poorly defined, land records are fuzzy and
courts work at a glacial pace, and the likely outcome of large-scale
land acquisition through the market would be a legal quagmire
(Ghatak and Ghosh, 2011). The LARR sees state participation as
necessary in such cases because of the reduced transaction costs
and expedited processes that occur, because of the value the state
attaches to equity and justice, and because the state has an interest
in enabling socially useful projects to succeed.

Ghatak and Ghosh (2011) raise the issue of whether the focus on
public purpose in land acquisition is misplaced. If land is acquired
for a golf course or a Formula One racetrack and the acquiring
entity pays the affected landowners sufficiently, why should
anyone object to such a transaction? Alternatively, if the state
cannot muster up sufficient tax revenue to adequately compensate
landowners where land is acquired for a proposed defence facility
or to resettle victims of an earthquake then, despite the clear-cut
case of public interest, can such an act be considered just?
Ultimately, they suggest that if the state is to violate property
rights, for whatever reason, it 'should put its money where its
mouth is'. Such a viewpoint effectively bypasses the controversy
around the public purpose element of eminent domain and shifts
the onus of justice on to the issue of just compensation.

60
II.C. The Issue of Compensation

To many, the entire brouhaha around land acquisition is not about


the role of the state and the source of its power, nor about the
adequacy of definition of public interest. It instead, boils down to a
single and rather more mundane issueto that of whether the owner
is adequately compensated for the loss of his/her land. Kratovil
and Harrison (1954) identify two irreconcilable theories of
compensation. The first is 'owner's loss' – that compensation
should aim for the owner to be in as good a pecuniary position as
s/he would have been in if his/her property had not been acquired.
The second is 'taker's gain'- that the state should pay for only what
it gets, not the larger losses suffered by the owner as that would
impose an inordinate drain on the public exchequer.

In India, the old Land Acquisition Act of 1894 was aligned with
the second theory- it laid down the principle that compensation
should be equal to the local market price for land and that the
market price should be calculated based upon the average price of
all land transactions completed in the area in the previous three
years. This was grossly unfair to those whose land was being
acquired for various reasons (Ghatak and Ghosh 2011) including
that, in many regions, land transactions are few and not very well
documented and leave room for officials to manipulate figures
through selective sampling or fake deals, that the full value in land
deals is often concealed in order to evade stamp duties, and that
distress sales often constitute a bulk of previous transactions.
Moreover, given that land acquisition often leads to appreciation
in local land prices, the dispossessed landowner is usually unable
to buy back land with compensation money, leading to land
alienation.

The LARR changes this situation by aligning itself with the first
theory. It combines acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and
resettlement into a singleAct, specifies the compensation amounts
and the basis for their calculation clearly (LARR Schedule I),
recognises the claim for compensation of those who have not lost
land but whose livelihoods have nevertheless been affected,

61
outlines rehabilitation and resettlement entitlements of land and
livelihood losers (LARR Schedules II to VI), and prescribes
mandatory procedures for these to mitigate the negative impact of
displacement. It also includes all private purchases of land above a
threshold level within its ambit while requiring prior consent and
evidence of public purpose in these transactions. In the process, it
aligns itself with the loser of the land. Involuntary land
transactions are now much more difficult, compensation is much
higher, and procedures around rehabilitation and resettlement are
clearer and cover more people within their ambit. By doing so, it
makes land acquisition much more expensive, burdening the
taxpayer and possibly placing a brake on the industrialisation
process. LARR's critics suggest that it has sought to make up for
historical injustices perpetrated through the weaknesses of its
predecessor by coming down too far on the side of the land owner.
They also cite weaknesses in the form of unclear rules and
multiplicity of laws (Appendix II lists these) and authorities in
land acquisition, and the continued scope for exploitation of the
land rights of tribal populations outside scheduled areas.

Ghatak and Ghosh (2011) raise an entirely different question on


one point of continuity between the LARR and its predecessor; the
use of market price as a basis for determining compensation
amount. They suggest that the use of a market price for a voluntary
transaction as a proxy for owner's value in forced acquisitions of
land is fundamentally flawed. It is worth recounting their
arguments in support of this proposition. The value of a plot of
land to its owner, they say, is not tangible or subject to objective
measurement- it is subjective and whatever the owner deems it to
be. There is substantial heterogeneity in owners' valuation of land
and many potential sources of the land's value; crop output,
collateral for loans, assured source of employment for family
labour, insurance against food price fluctuations via self-
consumption, social prestige, inter alia. A market transaction
arises when the owner of an asset meets a person who values the
asset more and together they negotiate a price in between their
respective evaluations. In a perfect asset market (which the
market for agricultural land is not; it is thin, fragmented, and

62
riddled with friction) all current owners value their asset more
than the prevailing market price, otherwise they would sell and not
hold. Market price is, thereby, a lower bound on valuation and not
a good estimate of compensation in case of assets that are forcibly
seized. At the other extreme, any system of compensation
involving a negotiated price provides incentives for landowners to
make exaggerated claims. Any acquisition process, therefore,
must feature a formula for determining compensation amounts
that reflect the dispossessed owner's own valuation of the asset in
the absence of well-functioning land markets. The stipulated
compensation formula in LARR is weak in this aspect because it
uses no inputs from landowners with respect to their own
valuations
.
There are merits to this argument from the perspective of market
failure in the form of inefficiencies from transaction costs, agency
problems, and informational asymmetries in incomplete markets.
Yet, alternatives to market price in some form or other as a basis
for just compensation are not clear. The LARR does reasonably
well in providing a set of transparent and fixed rules regarding
compensation (though this is based upon market price) and in
leaving less scope for the discretion of officials and experts in this
matter.

III. Government, Governance and the LARR

The LARR is significantly different from its predecessor, the Land


Acquisition Act of 1894. It combines acquisition, compensation,
rehabilitation and resettlement into a single Act and includes
procedural safeguards (such as adequate notification,
transparency provisions, social impact assessments to ascertain
public purpose, social impact management plans to mitigate
negative effects of displacement, and the use of Gram Sabhas for
obtaining consent, inter alia) to enable the integrity of the
acquisition process. It recognises the claims of those who have not
lost land but are nevertheless affected by the acquisition, specifies
compensation amounts and their basis clearly, and outlines
rehabilitation and resettlement entitlements of affected

63
populations. It defines a set of activities as constituting public
purpose and has a narrow urgency clause in place. In the process,
it makes involuntary land transactions much more difficult and
the compensation for loss considerably higher. It also uses local
people's institutions in the acquisition process and brings more
people within its ambit.

Are the differences between the two Acts, and the changes that the
LARR is likely to bring about, reflective of the shift in thinking
within administrative circles from 'government' to 'governance'?
This section examines the question by outlining the theoretical
differences between 'government' and 'governance' and looking
again at the LARR and its changes from its predecessor that have
been described above using this lens.

III.A. 'Government' to 'Governance'

According to Anglo-American political theory the term


'government' is associated with formal institutions of the state and
their monopoly of legitimate coercive power. It is characterised
by an ability to make decisions, a capacity to enforce them, and
the formal and institutional processes that operate at the level of
the nation-state to maintain public order and facilitate collective
action. It seeks to enable the state to cope with external
challenges, to prevent conflict among its members, to procure
resources, and to frame goals and policies to achieve goals
(Stoker, 1998).

The term 'governance' is related to, but is not a synonym of,


government. It originally referred to the action or manner of
governing, guiding or steering conduct, and its usage was limited
to constitutional and legal issues concerning the conduct of
'affairs of the state' (Jessop, 1998). Interest in governance enjoyed
a revival in the mid-1970s, coinciding with the rejection of
simplistic dichotomies informing the social sciences such as
market versus hierarchy in economics, market versus planning in
policy studies, private versus public in politics, and anarchy
versus sovereignty in international relations; it is now a buzzword
that can mean anything (or nothing).

64
According to Jessop (1998), governance has two (closely related
but nested) meanings. In the first, governance can refer to any
mode of co-ordination of interdependent activities, of which the
three most relevant modes are the anarchy of exchange (or
markets), the organisational hierarchy (in this context, traditional
government), and self-organising 'heterarchy'. The second
meaning is heterarchy itself, which involves the self-organised
steering of multiple agencies, institutions and systems, each of
which are operationally autonomous from one another (and
cannot rely on a single hierarchy as a mode of co-ordination) and
yet are structurally coupled due to their mutual inter-dependence
(and are, therefore, ill-suited to simple co-evolution based on the
invisible hand of the market).

Each functional system within the state (for example, the


economic, political, legal, scientific, or educational systems, the
private and non-profit sectors and civil society organisations, inter
alia) has its own complex operational logic and cannot be
effectively co-ordinated and controlled from outside the system
(for example, the political and legal systems cannot control overall
economic development through coercion, taxation, legislation,
judicial decisions, etc.). There are better prospects for 'steering'
such systems- taking account of a system's own internal codes and
logics, modifying the structural and strategic contexts in which the
system operates, and co-ordinating these contexts across different
systems in the light of their substantive social and spacio-temporal
inter-dependencies. Such steering is mediated through the
symbolic media of communication such as money, law or
knowledge, and direct communication oriented to inter-systemic
'noise reduction' (i.e. reducing mutual incomprehension in the
communication between different institutional orders through
enhanced understanding of and sensitivity to their distinctive
rationalities, identities and interests), negotiation, positive and
negative co-ordination (i.e. taking account of the possible adverse
repercussions of one's actions on third parties and other systems
and exercising appropriate self-restraint), and co-operation in
shared projects.

65
The rise of heterarchic governance points to fundamental shifts in
state-market-society relations and the emergence of new
economic and social conditions and attendant problems that
cannot be managed or resolved through top-down state planning
or market-mediated anarchy. These shifts reflect the
intensification of societal complexity, which in turn flows from
growing functional differentiation of institutional orders in a
globalising society, which leads to greater systemic
interdependencies across various social, spatial, and temporal
horizons of action. Heterarchic governance has an advantage as a
mode of co-ordination in its capacity to innovate and adapt in a
changing environment, especially in circumstances involving
multiple institutions and functions (each with operational
autonomy, but with reciprocal inter-dependence) with shared
interests and complex spacio-temporal horizons, and in its ability
to realise joint products (such as a city plan, a strategy for
collective action, or a problem solution in public policy).

Governance, therefore, includes other actors (in addition to


government, such as civil society organisations and the private
sector) that do things such as providing voice and accountability,
enabling political stability and containing violence, promoting
government effectiveness, ensuring regulatory quality and rule of
law, and controlling corruption. Governance is associated with the
modern state; a state that has welfare and developmental functions
as well as administrative responsibilities, a state that is responsive
and accountable, that provides for public goods; a state that meets
the quest for a good life and justice for its citizens. It seeks
outcomes that are similar to those of government but with
processes that blur the boundaries between public, private and
voluntary sectors, and with mechanisms that are without the
authority and sanctions of traditional institutions of government.

III. B. The LARR and Governance

The conflicts and controversies around land acquisition under the


earlier Land Acquisition Act, and its consequent social unrest,
extreme left violence and widespread climate of suspicion, may be

66
seen as failures of both market mechanisms and hierarchical
command and control structures - failures that multiple
amendments to the Act were unable to address. A new Act, as
opposed to further amendments to the existing Act, was seen as
necessary because the fundamental principles underlying the law
on land acquisition needed to change in keeping with the
requirements of the times. The objectives of the LARR reflect
these changed requirements; in addition to providing just and fair
compensation to affected families and making adequate
provisions for rehabilitation and resettlement, the LARR also
looks to enabling, in consultation with institutions of local self-
government, a humane, participative, informed and transparent
process for land acquisition and to ensuring that the cumulative
outcome of compulsory acquisition is for affected persons to
become partners in the development process. These objectives are
in keeping with heterarchic governance rather than anarchic
exchange or hierarchic government.

The actors and institutions involved in the land acquisition


process under the LARR include state SIA units, independent
practitioners, social activists, academics, technical experts, public
functionaries, requiring bodies, CBOs, CSOs, NGOs, the media,
political representatives at different tiers of government,
environmental agencies, institutions of local self-government,
Gram Sabhas, governments at district and sub-district levels, and
various other public forums- each operating with its own internal
code and logic, in its own strategic and structural context, having
its own values, visions, and missions. This too is reflective of
heterarchic governance. The steering of these actors and
institutions towards common agendas that heterarchic
governance necessitates is envisioned through processes outlined
in the LARR including notifications, social impact assessment,
public hearings, and appraisals by expert groups. The attached
table (Table 1) contains a summary of the actors, institutions, and
processes as outlined under the LARR.

67
Table 1:Actors, Institutions and Processes under LARR
Actors/Institutions Processes
State SIA Unit Notification
Qualified SIA In local languages
Within outlined time frames
Independent Use of public places, Internet
practitioners and government offices
Social activists
Academics Collecting and analysing
Technical qualitative and quantitative
experts information
Public Undertaking field visits
functionaries Using participatory methods
Requiring body To ensure adherence to public
CBOs, CSOs and purpose as outlined in LARR
NGOs To do a detailed land
Media assessment
Political Area of impact
representatives at Land prices and recent
different tiers of changes in ownership
government Total land requirement
Environmental Is it minimum?
agencies Is it
Expert groups demonstrable
Panchayats and last resort?
equivalents No. of affected families
Gram Sabhas To ascertain consent
To assess nature, extent and
Government
intensity of positive and
State
negative social impacts
District
Sub-district To prepare an SIMP with
ameliorative measures to
Line
address identified social
departments
impacts

68
III. C. Three Questions

Looking at the LARR under a 'government to governance' lens


raises several basic questions. The author identifies the important
ones in this subsection before attempting to address them with the
support of subjective assessment.

Would the LARR enable better governance? The LARR


involves a large swathe of society in decisions regarding land
acquisition including NGOs, CBOs, CSOs, and institutions of
local self-government. Would this result in better governance or in
more chaos?

It is the author's considered opinion that, by virtue of devolution


of decision-making processes, the involvement of more
stakeholders within the processes, the creation of decentralised
forums for debate and discussion that are accessible to a larger
number of affected people and the transparency provisions as
envisaged in the Act, the conflicts around land acquisition stand a
higher chance of being played out in open spaces and resolved
through democratic means. There will be less recourse to
violence, to underground anti-state movements, and to other
unconstitutional disruptive mechanisms. The LARR can be seen,
therefore, as a move towards better governance.

Does the LARR require the state to relinquish power or to


devolve power to decentralised entities? This is dependent upon
the way power is defined- whether it is 'ego' or 'other' oriented, and
whether it permanently exists or exists only in relation to specific

69
acts. The use of the political scientist Robert Dahl's (Dahl, 1957)
intuitive idea of 'A having power over B to the extent that A can get
B to do something B would not otherwise do', i.e. power as 'other'
oriented and related to a specific act, would lead to the possibility
of the LARR devolving power on land acquisition from the state
to various decentralised forums and institutions. It is, however, the
author's considered opinion that the state's power under eminent
domain is of an 'ego' oriented and permanent nature and that this
has not been relinquished or decentralised in any way under the
LARR despite its provisions of transparency and participation.

This may be seen in the manner in which the LARR envisages the
participation of stakeholders and affected communities; in the use
of 'invited' participatory spaces wherein the preliminary agenda is
controlled by planners and policy-makers, which can preclude
alternate perspectives, re-enforce existing privileges, and lead to
the de-politicisation of participation and the possibility of co-
optation of the agenda. While the LARR legislates the use of
participatory spaces (and this is a positive step) it does not
guarantee the empowerment of affected communities at the cost
of the power of the state.

Does the administration retain its ability to manipulate land


acquisition outcomes under LARR? The rules regarding LARR
processes (listed in Table 1) are remarkably detailed and they
make involuntary land acquisitions considerably more difficult
compared to the earlier Land Acquisition Act. Despite this, in the
author's opinion, there is scope for manipulation of LARR
outcomes even in cases where the urgency clause is not invoked.
Land acquired under hydroelectric and irrigation projects, for
example, bypass the SIA process under the rules- an
environmental impact assessment conducted by a state agency is
deemed sufficient to meet the objective of assessing social impact.
The SIA process too contains possibilities of manipulation owing
to the fact that the requiring body pays for it and acquires the
power, thereby, to influence who is on the SIAteam, what its terms
of reference are, and which of the SIA processes have adequate

70
financial provisions. This ability is not necessarily negative-an
administration requires flexibility to function effectively and this
includes the ability to influence land acquisition outcomes where a
clear sense of public purpose is discernible.

IV. Conclusions

While opinions around eminent domain may be varied, eminent


domain itself is a fact. The state will always have the power to
acquire private land for any purpose it sees fit and societal,
governmental and constitutional checks and balances on this
power will never be sufficient to entirely prevent it. Nor should
they! The needs of society as a whole will always require a delicate
balance with the rights and requirements of individuals within it
and eminent domain, though fraught with the complications
described above, ultimately enables this. The LARR reflects these
complications and attempts to maintain this delicate balance. The
'government to governance' line of thought is seen as applicable to
the differences between the LARR and its predecessor, especially
in its wider objectives and clearer definitions of public purpose
requirements and compensation amounts, and in the involvement
of a larger section of society in decisions and processes around
land acquisition.

Is the LARR a 'good' Act? The very fact that no commentator is


entirely happy with the Act – it is either too generous to
dispossessed landowners or tramples on their rights, defines
public purpose too vaguely or does not give the state necessary
flexibility in this matter, brings too many people within its ambit
or leaves out some categories of affected populations, inter alia –
can be seen as a point in its favour. After all, to quote Pranab
Bardhan, the greatest challenge facing Indian democracy is that of
finding a way to balance the needs of economic growth, equitable
distribution and human rights, and this requires rescuing these
complex and sometimes conflicting objectives from the
demagoguery of single issue advocates (Bardhan, 2011).

71
Acronyms:

CBO Community Based Organization


CSO Civil Society Organization
EU European Union
LARR Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in
LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Act 2013
NAC NationalAdvisory Council
NGO Non Governmental Organization
SIA Social ImpactAssessment
SIMP Social Impact Management Plan
USA United States ofAmerica

Readings:

Appleby, PH; Morality and Administration in Democratic


Government; Baton Rouge; 1950
Bardhan, P; Our Self-Righteous Civil Society; Economic and
Political Weekly, 46(29); 2011
Bentley, AF; The Process of Government; Bloomington, Indiana;
1949
Cohen, Morris R; Property and Sovereignty; Cornell Law
Quarterly 8; 1927
Dahl, R.A; The Concept of Power; Behavioural Science 2, pp 201-
215, 1957
Fagence, M; Citizen Participation in Planning; Pergamon Press;
1977
Finer, H; Administrative Responsibility in Democratic
Government; Public Administration Review 1(4), pp 335-350;
1941
Ghatak, M and P. Ghosh; The Land Acquisition Bill: A Critique
and a Proposal; Economic and Political Weekly, 46(41), pp 65-72;
2011
Jessop, R; The Rise of Governance and the Risks of Failure: The
Case for Economic Development; International Social Science

72
Journal, 50(155), pp 29-45; 1998
Kratovil, R and F.J Harrison Jr.; Eminent Domain: Policy and
Concept; California Law Review, 42(4), pp 596-652; 1954
Miller, J; Hugo Grotius; in ed. Edward N. Zaita 'The Stanford
En cycl op ae d ia of Phi l osop hy' F al l 2 0 11 e d it i on ;
URL=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011entries/Grotius/
Rawls, J;ATheory of Justice; Belknap Publishers; 1971
Redford, ES; The Protection of Public Interest with Special
Reference to Administrative Regulation; The American Political
Science Review, 48(4), pp 1103-1113; 1954
Schubert, Glendon A; “The Public Interest” in Administrative
Decision-Making: Theorem, Theosophy or Theory; The
American Political Science Review, 51(2), pp 346-368; 1957
Stoker, G; Governance as Theory: Five Propositions;
International Social Science Journal, 50(155), 17-28; 1998

73
The National Workshop on the RFCTLARR Act 2013:
Provisions, legal framework, implementation – Issues and
Challenges
Aibanshngain Swer

The State of Meghalaya is situated on the north east of India. It


extends for about 300 kilometres in length and about 100
kilometres in breadth. It is bounded on the north and on the east by
Assam, and on the south and west by Bangladesh. It is blessed
with abundant rainfall, sun-shine, virgin forests, high plateaus,
tumbling waterfalls, crystal clear rivers, meandering streamlets
and above all with sturdy, intelligent and hospitable people.
Emergence of Meghalaya as a full-fledged State on 21st January
1972 marked the beginning of a new era of the geo-political
history and the triumph of peaceful democratic negotiations,
mutual understanding and victory over violence and intrigue. It is
subjected to the vagaries of the monsoon and the climate varies
with altitude. The climate of Khasi and Jaintia Hills is uniquely
pleasant and bracing. It is neither too warm in summer nor too cold
in winter, but over the plains of Garo Hills, the climate is warm and
humid, except in winter. The Meghalayan sky seldom remains
free of clouds. The average annual rainfall is about 2600 mm over
western Meghalaya, between 2500 to 3000 mm over northern
Meghalaya and about 4000 mm over south-eastern Meghalaya
with Sohra (Cherrapunjee), having as high as 12000 millimetres.
Shillong, the capital, at an altitude of 1496 metres above sea level
was made Assam's capital in 1874 and remained so till January
1972, following the formation of Meghalaya. Meghalaya is the
homeland mainly of the Khasis, the Jaintias and the Garos. The
Garos inhabit western Meghalaya, the Khasis in central
Meghalaya, and the Jaintias in eastern Meghalaya. The Khasi and
Jaintia collectively known as the Hynniewtrep people are known
to be one of the earliest ethnic group of settlers in the Indian sub-
continent, belonging to the Proto Austroloid Monkhmer race. The
26
Director, Meghalaya Institure of Goernance, Bishop cotton Road, Shillong,
Meghalaya

74
Garo belong to the Bodo family of the Tibeto-Burman race and are
said to have migrated from Tibet. The Khasis, the Jaintias and the
Garos have a matrilineal society where descent is traced through
the mother while the father plays an important role in the material
and mental life of the family.

The Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG), notified by the


Government of Meghalaya as the State Social Impact Assessment
Unit on the 24th June 2015, was created in 2011 as one of the
institutional support mechanisms of the Integrated Basin
Development and Livelihood Promotion Programme (IBDLP)
with a vision to explore, share and promote good governance in
Meghalaya by assisting the government, the private sector, the
voluntary sector and the communities in putting good governance
into practice for the well-being of citizens and society with special
emphasis on traditional institutions, cultural organisations and
village heads. Its goals and objectives are

- To act as a think tank and facilitate translate government goals,


objectives and policy priorities into tangible reform actions for
good governance
- To work with government departments and other stakeholders
to analyse key issues in governance and identify solutions,
help develop action plans and support implementation of the
plans
- To undertake capacity building of stakeholders, including
local governance institutions and community based
organisations
- To provide technical support and advisory services to the state
in the areas of action research, change management, design
and implementation of governance reforms, including
governance reforms
- To identify those areas of change that can impact in improving
performance and enable in responding better to the needs of
the people
- To create a repository of best practices, methodologies and
tools in governance, including successful e-governance
applications

75
The focus areas of MIG are in the field of human resource
management, financial management, performance management,
change management. The process interventions are by simplifying
procedure of service delivery and creating new core competencies
in government service by improving governance environment in
administration and designing governance mechanisms to match
the needs and aspirations of the public.

The Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG) has now


completed 40 Social Impact Assessment studies till date on land
acquisition for setting up the Integrated Facilitation Centre- (Entry
& Exit Points) along the Meghalaya-Assam border, International
Border Outpost for BSF along the Indo-Bangladesh border,
Compensatory Afforestation, widening of National Highways,
setting up of Fire Service Station, Integrated Check Post for
international border trade and Industrial Training Institute. (
Annexure A) The state government has already complied with the
requirements for appointment of a Commissioner for R&R ,
creation of an R&R cell, formation of State monitoring committee
for evaluation and monitoring of SIA implementation and setting
up of the LARR authority for dispute settlement which has given
confidence for implementation of SIAin the state.

The issues and challenges that emerged during the SIA studies can
be summarised as follows:

i) Meghalaya is fully a Scheduled Tribes area where majority of


the lands belongs to community and individual land owners
with only a small percentage of land belonging to the State
Government and the Autonomous District Councils. Hence
land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement of Project
Affected families (PAF) is a concern for the government.

Large scale rehabilitation of local population has not yet


happened so far as most of the projects are circular projects
with only a few linear projects. With the implementation of
the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR)

76
Act, 2013, the first legislation that links Land Acquisition
with Resettlement and Rehabilitation in planning and
implementation for both land and livelihood losers,
appropriate changes in the process/implementation
mechanisms to improve the situation on equity and social
acceptability by providing greater transparency and benefits
for the affected families has emerged.

ii) The local land tenure system with multiple authorities in the
state makes land governance a complicated process.The
people of Meghalaya have their own traditional socio
political system since their earliest days. The self-governing
institution in a particular village at the grass roots, functions
in a democratic manner. All the three major tribes of
Meghalaya follow their own customary laws, traditions and
practices to govern their land resources.

iii) The absence of proper land records where majority of the


landowners do not have proper documents as proof that the
lands belongs to them. The state of Meghalaya does not
possess a set of Land records, though it has forged ahead of
most other hill states of India in other spheres of
development. To some extent, even development efforts have
been hampered due to absence of land records. For, without
land records, financial institutions and even government
organisations find it extremely difficult to accept claims to
title over and to advance development loans on the security of
such land.

iv) The legislative, executive and judicial functions and local


administration of the State are vested in three elected
Autonomous District Councils set up under the provisions of
the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India viz.,

The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council :- East Khasi


Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and Ri- Bhoi
Districts fall under their jurisdiction. Its headquarters is at
Shillong.

77
The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council :- North Garo
Hills, East Garo Hills, WestGaro Hills, South West Garo
Hills and South Garo Hills Districts fall under their
jurisdiction. Its headquarters is at Tura. The Jaintia Hills
Autonomous District Council :- East Jaintia Hills and West
Jaintia Hills District fall under their jurisdiction. Its
headquarters is at Jowai. The three separate Autonomous
District Councils are responsible for framing the rules of
procedures to how these lands would be occupied or used.
District council is the authority to dispose of land on behalf of
people. It is on the above consideration that under the Sixth
Schedule, the District Council have been invested with the
powers of allotment, occupation, used or setting a part of land
for purposes of agriculture and certain other matters. It's still
remain true that the lands belong to the people as a whole, but
it is the District Council which is responsible for framing the
rules of procedures to how these lands would be occupied or
used, and not according to the individual wish or capacity.

v) There are restrictions on the transfer of land by the tribals to


the non-tribals or non-tribal to non-tribals in Meghalaya
which is of crucial importance as it relates to the very
survival of the tribes. In 1948, after independence, the new
government of Assam, framed a set of rules for protecting the
interest of indigenous inhabitant of Shillong and Khasi states
which stated that “No land belonging to a Khasi shall be sold,
bartered, mortgaged, leased, given, or otherwise transferred
or caused to be sold, bartered, mortgaged, leased, given, or
otherwise transferred to a non Khasi except with the previous
sanction of the Provincial Government.” The Meghalaya
Assembly passed the Meghalaya Transfer of Land
(Regulation) Act 1971, which states that “No land in
Meghalaya shall be transferred by a tribal to a non tribal or by
a non tribal to another non tribal except with the previous
sanction of the competent authority.” This had emerged from
the fact that it is the land which keeps the people rooted to the
territory of their habitation. If there is even a shadow of
insecurity to this basic factor, then the entire fabric of the

78
society is shaken. The history and experience of tribal
society everywhere shows that if there is a free right of
transfer of land, the tribals gradually lose their lands and
shifts to more and more interior regions, and the fruits of
development are enjoyed by other people.

vi) Lack of registered land documents as majority of the


landowners does not have their proper patta or any supported
documents for registering their own lands in the office of the
Syiem or ADC's or in the office of the Deputy
Commissioner.Inheritance customs in Khasi Hills, Jaintia
Hills and Garo Hills areas while similar has no uniform
system in place leading to complications.

vii) The right of permanent sale or mortgage of community land


is not permitted by the traditional institutions but nowadays,
even this right is assorted. Transfer does takes place in a little
round about way on payment of what is known as
development cost of a plot of land.

So from the stand points of land rights, the difference


between permanent cultivation land and jhum land is losing
its sharpness rapidly. Both are permanently occupied and
both are becoming heritable and transferable according to
custom. Jhum cultivation and permanent cultivation are only
two different modes of use of land but are not different
tenures.

Issues faced by the State of Meghalaya while implementing the


(RFCTLARR)Act, 2013:

1. The Commissioner for R&R in the state works closely with


the State Revenue Department.
2. Since all the land acquisition projects have not yet been fully
completed, the State Monitoring Committee for evaluation
and monitoring the SIAimplementation of projects
3. Absence of LARR Authority for Dispute Settlement:
inheritance of land is a common practice in the State of

79
Meghalaya. As such there are cases of conflicts on claims of
ownership among family members. Another practice is most
of the land is a community land so cases over conflicts in
village administrative jurisdiction has frequently been
identified by the SIAteam.

4. The challenges faced for the resettlement of people in the


projects was how to move from the policy provisions to
actual implementation. In the state of Meghalaya the project
affected families relocate themselves on their own
convenient and needs.As most of the project affected villages
are small cluster villages, usually relocation happens within
the village itself.This is particularly important since R&R
measures need to be appropriately planned in relation to not
only the type and extent of losses but should also correspond
to the ability of those affected to accept and adapt to the
alternate livelihood opportunities. Further, this requires a
better understanding of the dynamics of R&R options, taking
into account the social, cultural and economic constraints and
the opportunities in the new micro economic situation and
political environment in which the affected persons are
living. Therefore, to improve effectiveness of the R&R
policy and enhance planning and implementation of
resettlement programs, one needs to learn more from the
experiences in implementing resettlement plans to help
evolve strategies to improve its management.

Conclusion:

With the implementation of the Act and the transparency that


is brought about through the SIA, many of the above issues
could be addressed locally and resolved within the village
and community level. This has earned the Government
enormous goodwill and even NGOs and pressure groups
have acknowledged and toned down their dissent. The active
participation of the indigenous traditional institutions across
the state has paved the way for ease in implementing the
various components of the Act though the challenges faced

80
by the Project Affected Families and Project Implementing
Agency for R&R is how to move from the policy provisions
to actual implementation. This will require a better
understanding of the dynamics of R&R options, taking into
account the social, cultural and economic constraints and the
opportunities in the new micro economic situation and
political environment in which the affected persons are
living.

81
“The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in
Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
and other Acquisition Acts: Issues in Implementation,
Divergence and Convergence”.

Binay Dayal, Devendra Prasad & Ajay Nandan Goswami

Abstract

Coal Mining is a sites specific industry. Mines / Projects of CIL &


its subsidiaries are situated across eight states. Land is a major
resource for mining projects. Taking physical possession of land
and rehabilitation & Resettlement of villages have been identified
as a major challenge for any coal mining project. Coal India and its
subsidiaries, by virtue of its humane approach in dealing with
project affected persons & progressive rehabilitation policies,
have earned the confidence and goodwill of the project affected
people. This has been the enabling factor for CIL to be able to meet
energy needs of the country by producing planned quantity of
coal. This paper highlights the other Acts, CBA (A&D) Act 1957
in particular, on land acquisition and R&R policies: Lessons to be
learnt from best practices at the state level on R&R.

27
Chief Manager (Min.), Coal India Limited, Coal Bhawan, New Town,
Kolkata, West Bengal

82
Sustainable Land Procurement
Abstract

Land acquisition by the Government is based on the concept of


“Eminent Domain”. Oxford dictionary defines it as “The right of
a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public
use, with payment of compensation”. Constitution of India has
provisions on the similar lines only. However, the struggle for a
long time has been to strike a delicate balance between the right of
State to acquire land and the individual's prerogative to own &
enjoy land/property. This struggle has intensified in the recent
years as the value of land has increased appreciably and the
people have become more aware of their rights. The enactment of
the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act,
2013 by replacing 'The Land Acquisition (LA) Act, 1894' was a
historical step in this struggle. However, acquiring land for
“public purpose” has different connotations in various stages of
development of a country. India also faces renewed challenge on
this issue as it enters an era of vigorous growth. The challenge is to
determine extent of Government intervention in land
procurement for any development project & the process has to be
transparent and participatory. In nutshell, the objective is best
possible land use with win – win situation for all the stakeholders.

Key Words: Land Acquisition, Compensation, Government,


Market, Property, Public Purpose

Introduction

Eminent Domain is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the right


of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for
public use, with payment of compensation”. Historically, the term
"eminent domain" has been taken from the legal treatise De Jure
Belli et Pacis, written by the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius in 1625,
which used the term dominium eminens (Latin for supreme
lordship) and described the power as follows:

83
"... The property of subjects is under the eminent domain of the
state, so that the state or he who acts for it may use and even
alienate and destroy such property, not only in the case of extreme
necessity, in which even private persons have a right over the
property of others, but for ends of public utility, to which ends
those who founded civil society must be supposed to have
intended that private ends should give way. But it is to be added
that when this is done the state is bound to make good the loss to
those who lose their property."

However, it is to be noted that the following are three important


components of “Eminent Domain”:

Right to acquire private property


Acquisition for Public Purpose
Payment of Compensation

As the above components have come to be accepted as the core of


“Eminent Domain”, this paper discusses these issues in Indian
context.

Constitutional Provisions

There are several provisions related to the concept of eminent


domain in the Constitution. “Land and its management” is Entry
18 in List II (State List) of Seventh Schedule. “Acquisition and
Requisitioning of property” is Entry 42 in List III (Concurrent
List) of Seventh Schedule. So, land and its management is in the
domain of the States but the issues concerning its acquisition are in
the domain of both the States and the Union government. There
have been debates at various fora on this issue that when the land is
in the domain of the States then the Union Government should not
have any role in its acquisition. However, at the moment the
aforesaid provisions stand intact and the enactment of the new
land acquisition law by the Union Government, i.e., “The Right to
Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013 was due to these
provisions only.

84
The crucial provision related to concept of eminent domain can be
found in Article 31A. It states "Any land can be acquired by the
State by paying compensation at market rate". Another related
provision is in Article 300Awhich makes property a Legal right. It
states “No person shall be deprived of his property save by
authority of law”.There is interesting history behind the
development of these provisions. As the Constitution was
originally adopted in the year 1950, the right to property was
enshrined as a fundamental right. This was a threefold right.
Article 19 (1) (f) guaranteed citizens the right to “acquire, hold &
dispose of property”. Article 31(1) provided that no person shall
be deprived of his right to property save by the authority of law.
Article 31(2) provided that if the State wants to acquire the private
property of an individual or to requisition (that is to take over the
property for a temporary period), it could do so only if such
acquisition or requisition is for a public purpose and that
compensation would be payable to the owner.

A series of amendments to the Constitution, e.g., First, Fourth,


Seventeenth, Twenty Fifth and the Forty Second Amendments
consistently diluted the aforesaid provisions (Basu, 2013).
However, the 44thAmendment to the Constitution rang the death
knell for the right to property. Article 19(1)(f) was repealed.
Article 31 (1) was taken out of Part III, i.e. Fundamental Rights
and made a separate Article 300A. Clauses 2A to 6 of Article 31
were omitted. The result is right to property has been removed as a
fundamental right, so there is no remedy available directly under
Article 32 from the Supreme Court. It is pertinent to mention here
that the Fundamental Rights especially the Right to Property have
been a source of long tussle between the Supreme Court and the
Legislature. The basic issue has been interpretation of power to
amend the Constitution including Fundamental Rights. In the
celebrated decision of Keshavanand Bharati vs State of Kerala
(AIR 1973 SC 146), the extent to which Parliament could restrict
property right in pursuit of land reforms and the distribution of
large landholdings to cultivators was decided. It over ruled
previous decisions that suggested that the right to property could
not be restricted. However, it laid the “Doctrine of Basic

85
Structure” which was strengthened by the decision of Minerva
Mills Ltd. and others vs Union of India and others (AIR 1980
SC1789)

It is pertinent to mention Article 21 and 39 of the Constitution also


here. These are powerful Articles and their interpretation in
coming time will certainly hold significant value on the whole
paradigm of land acquisition and rehabilitation & resettlement.
Article 21 is related to protection of life and personal liberty. It
states "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
except according to procedure established by law". Various
Courts have become very liberal in recent times in interpretation
of this Article. Right to life does not mean living in vegetative state
only; it includes right to health, right to environment and
enjoyment of certain means of livelihood also. So, the issue of
providing livelihood security and comprehensive compensation
to the families affected due to land acquisition becomes important
in view of the interpretation of this Article also. Supreme Court of
India in Narmada Bachao Andolan vs Union of India [2000] and N.D.
Jayal and Anr vs Union Of India and Ors (1 September, 2003) has
observed that the Rehabilitation is not only about providing just
food, clothes or shelter, it is also about extending support to
rebuild livelihood by ensuring necessary amenities of life.
Rehabilitation of the oustees is a logical corollary of Article 21.
The oustees should be in a better position to lead a decent life and
earn livelihood in the rehabilitated locations. In another case of
Narmada Bachao Andolan vs The State of Madhya Pradesh
(2008), Madhya Pradesh High Court has observed that the
Rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced persons being
part of the fundamental right of the displaced persons guaranteed
under Article 21 of the Constitution are thus constitutional
obligations of the State. The State Government has to rehabilitate
and resettle the persons displaced on account of the construction
of a dam in such a manner as to place them in a better position to
lead a decent life as part of its constitutional duty.

There are certain Articles related to Directive Principles in the


Constitution. The provisions contained in the directive principles

86
are not enforceable by any court, but the principles therein laid
down are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the
country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these
principles in making laws. One such Article related to the topic
under discussion is Article 39. It states that "the State shall, in
particular, direct its policy towards securing— (a) that the
citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate
means of livelihood; (b) that the ownership and control of the
material resources of the community are so distributed as best to
sub serve the common good (c) that the operation of the economic
system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of
production to the common detriment". The land acquisition entails
taking land/property from one person and giving it to others. So, in
view of the aforesaid policy directive, it has to be ensured that the
Policy/law with regard to land acquisition lead to common good of
the society and the resources are not usurped by the powerful few.

Interventions of the Government

A purview of various Policies/Laws promulgated down the years


in the field of land acquisition gives the real perspective of the
developments in this field. The first piece of legislation in India in
respect of acquisition of property was the Bengal Resolution I of
1824. It provided rules for enabling officers of Government to
obtain, at a fair valuation, land or other immovable property for
roads, canals or other public purposes. Then followed a series of
Acts, e.g., Act I of 1850, Act VI of 1857, Act X of 1870 and XVIII
of 1885 etc. However, the major Act in this regard is 'The Land
Acquisition (LA) Act, 1894' which was promulgated on the first
day of March, 1894 and stayed in operation for around 119 years.
It has been amended 17 times by the central government. The
major amendments in the Act were made in the year 1962 & 1984.
These changes were made in part due to expanding role of the
private enterprises in the economic development of the country.
As “land acquisition” is a concurrent subject under the
Constitution, different State governments have also amended
various sections of this Act as per their specific requirements.
Further, several Central Acts, e.g., The Metro Railways

87
(Construction of Works) Act, 1978, The National Highways Act,
1956, The Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development)
Act, 1957, and the Railways Act, 1989 etc.were promulgated by
various Ministries of the Union Government, on land acquisition
as per their specific requirements. Furthermore, various States
have put in place various State Acts, e.g., The Maharashtra
Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, The Odisha Municipal
Corporation Act, 1954, The Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for
Industrial Purposes Act, 1997 and The West Bengal Estates
Acquisition Act, 1953 etc. to deal with specific land acquisition
issues in their States. There are a variety of provisions relating to
acquisition process and land compensation in these Acts.
However, the main provisions in these Acts are broadly in line
with provisions of the LAAct, 1894. For the sake of convenience
of this paper, various ramifications of land acquisition are
restricted with respect to the LA Act, 1894 only which may be
considered as the umbrella Act. One major lacuna to be observed
is that none of the aforesaid Acts has provisions for Rehabilitation
& Resettlement (R&R) of the affected families.

The consistent effort in the above mentioned developments has


been to balance the right of State to acquire land for development
purposes and the individual's prerogative to own & enjoy
land/property. However, the balance seems to have been disturbed
somehow as protests against indiscriminate land acquisition, poor
compensation and rehabilitation increased a lot in the past few
years. The agitations/demonstrations related to land acquisition at
Singur in West Bengal, Niyamagiri in Odisha and Noida in Uttar
Pradesh in the past few years are just a few instances of these.
Further, as per Working Group on Human Rights in India & the
UN Report, 2012 there has been displacement of 60 to 65 million
people since the year 1947 due to “developmental” projects. The
disturbing thing here is that of all the displaced people, 40 % are
tribal's, 40 % are dalits and other rural poor.

The issue has been occupying mind space of the Policy makers for
a long time. The first major initiative in this direction was the

88
National Policy on Resettlement & Rehabilitation for Project
Affected Families-2003 notified by the Ministry of Rural
Development (MoRD), Government of India. This Policy for the
first time recognized that the R & R were integral part of the land
acquisition process and the Requiring Body was required to
properly rehabilitate the land losers. This Policy was revised by
the MoRD in the year 2007 with the National Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Policy (NRRP), 2007. It was approved by Cabinet
th st
on 11 October, 2007 and notified in the official Gazette on 31
October, 2007. It covers cases of families affected due to land
acquisition or involuntary displacement due to any other reason. It
provides for the basic minimum requirements that all projects
leading to involuntary displacement must address. However,
Requiring Bodies are free to provide benefits higher than those
prescribed under this Policy.

Policies are in the form of guidelines only and not enforceable by


law, but the aforesaid Policies had a positive impact on various
developments in the field of land acquisition, land compensation
and R & R. The first major impact was formulation of Policies by
various Public Sector Undertakings of the Central Government,
e.g., the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. etc. These Policies are
broadly on the lines of the NRRP 2007. Various States have also
notified Policies or executive instructions to ensure adequate R &
R of the affected families. Odisha Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Policy, 2006; Haryana Government notification of the year 2010
regarding Floor Rates for acquisition of land under the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894; Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy
nd
2010 of Uttar Pradesh and instructions dated 2 June, 2011; and
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of Government of Kerala,
2011 are just few examples of these. Further, these
Policies/executive instructions helped guide the discourse on land
acquisition and R & R in the country and laid ground for the future
legal enactments. These were also frequently quoted in various
petitions presented to courts demanding better land compensation
and R & R.

89
However, landmark milestone was the enactment of “The Right to
Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation & Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013”. It was
published in the Gazette of India on 27th September, 2013. The
notification for commencement of the Act was published in the
Gazette on 19th December, 2013 and it has come into force from 1st
January, 2014. In the LA Act, 1894, R & R was not part of the
compensation, public purpose was not defined properly, there was
no provision of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and consent of
the affected families. The RFCTLARR Act, 2013 has addressed
all the aforesaid issues to a considerable degree.

However, in a developing country like India, the issue of land


acquisition throws up new challenges as the country progresses.
To address these new developments, attempt was made to amend
st
the aforesaid Act. On 31 December, 2014, the RFCTLARR
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 was issued. In this regard, the
RFCTLARR (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 has been passed by
Lok Sabha on 10.03.2015 and sent to Rajya Sabha. However, due
to disagreement between different political parties over the Bill, it
has been referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament for
examination. The major changes proposed in the above mentioned
Bill are: - exemption from SIA, "Special Provisions for
Safeguarding Food Security" and exemption from the "Consent"
provisions of the Act for specific projects; and time period of
return of the unutilized land etc. In the meanwhile on 3rdApril,
2015, The RFCTLARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 and on
30th May, 2015 the RFCTLARR (Amendment) Second Ordinance,
2015 have been issued. However, after lapse of the last ordinance
on 31st August, 2015, no new ordinance was issued. Even after
more than three years, the abovementioned Bill, is still pending
with the Joint Committee.

Eminent Domain & Sustainable Land Procurement

The whole concept of 'Eminent Domain' boils down to three


issues: Right to acquire private property, Acquisition for Public

90
Purpose and Payment of Compensation. The lacunae concerning
these core issues in the LA Act, 1894 were addressed to a large
extent in “RFCTLARR Act, 2013” which replaced the LA Act,
1894. However, the recent controversy over the amendments to
the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 has reopened the debate on the
fundamental issues of eminent domain. The basic objective of the
usage of principle of eminent domain has to be acquisition of land
in such a way that it leads to a win-win situation for both the land
owners & the agency for whom the land is being acquired. The
solution to this intricate & delicate problem of land acquisition lies
in the concept of eminent domain itself. Accordingly, the above
mentioned three fundamental issues of eminent domain are
discussed below in detail.

Right ofAcquisition

The right to acquire private property is being exercised by various


Governments since the year 1824 as discussed earlier. The LAAct,
1894 was inherited by us from the colonial period at the time of
independence in the year 1947. It had provisions mainly for
acquisition of land for various governmental purposes. The
acquisition for companies was facilitated through the
amendments in the year 1962 and 1984 to the abovementioned
Act. At that time a need was felt to leverage private sector for
industrialization of the country. There has been substantial
acquisition for companies through these provisions down the
years. In fact, the opposition to land acquisition in recent years has
been particularly against land acquisition for various private
companies. This exercise of right of the Government to acquire
private property for private companies has become a contentious
issue nowadays. On one hand there is a persistent demand that the
Government should facilitate investments in the country by
providing land to entrepreneurs. However, there is contrary view
point that in a free market economy, why should government favor
certain companies? This provides scope of corruption also as
discretion is with Government to favor a specific company or not.
There have been many instances in recent times where charges
have been flung regarding nepotism, favoritism, corruption with
regard to this discretion only.

91
The other pertinent issue in the land acquisition process is that the
Government is deciding that “A” is not competent to utilize his
properly, so it should be taken away from him and given to a more
competent person “B”. In a free market, the market forces should
decide, who is the right person to own and use a particular piece of
property? In a developing economy, such government
interventions are alright in the beginning, so that economy is
given a push and moves in the desired direction. However, as
India overtakes China in growth rate, such policies appear to be
anachronistic. It is prudent that the market forces are given full
freedom to play out. This will ensure that the valuable resource of
land is put to its most efficient use by the most competent person.
Further, the related corollary is that only the "minimum quantity
of land" required for establishing the project will be used. The
emphasis on 'minimum land' in recent times has started showing
results. A panel set up by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India, to determine the area of land
required to set up centrally funded institutes has concluded that an
IIT could be set up within 260 acre of land, which is 50 per cent
less than the existing requirement. Likewise, the land required to
set up a central university could be brought down to 250 acre as
against the present requirement of 500 acre and the optimum land
required for setting up an NIT would be 150 acre as against the
present requirement of 300 acre. In case of IIMs, the committee
has proposed that such institutes could be set up in five to 10 acres
in urban areas and within 60 acres in non-urban areas instead of
present requirement of about 200 acres. This discourse will
certainly give a push to vertical expansion instead of the
horizontal as is being already seen in most of the metro cities. In an
era of competing demands with value of lands shooting up, it is
prudent that the right to acquire land is used judiciously &
cautiously by the government.

The issue of “Fundamental Right to Property” has also not been


given its due importance. The right to own, enjoy and dispose of
property is vital to any society. Constitution of India adopted in
the year 1950 had provisions in this regard but after many
amendments to dilute it, 44th amendment in the year 1978

92
completely omitted it from the Fundamental Rights. Paradox is
that even Constitution of China and USSR have provisions in this
regard. In a burgeoning economy, it is very important that
individuals invest in land/property and exchange it frequently.
This will certainly contribute significantly to the economy. If this
right is not enshrined properly in the statute and the sword of land
acquisition is left hanging, the message to the investors in the
global market is indeed confusing.

Public Purpose

Second issue is “Public Purpose” for which the land is to be


acquired. The eminent domain is based on the fact that the interest
of the public at large is more important than the interest of the
individual. Two maxims are often used in this regard: salus populi
est suprema lex (regard for the public welfare is the highest law)
and necessitas public major est quam private (public necessity is
greater than private necessity). Theoretically, these concepts are
solid but the problem arises when everything under the sun is
given the color of “Public Purpose”. Then there are concerns that
in a densely populated country like India, continuous diversion of
agricultural land may lead to insecurity on food security front. In
fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural
th
Development in its 39 Report on the Land Acquisition
(Amendment) Bill, 2007 in its Recommendation number 3.28
inter alia recommends to the Government to bring some
legislation on the lines of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, so
that the prime agricultural land can be protected like forest land.

Therefore, who is going to decide the activity for which land is


sought to be acquired serves the “Public Purpose” or not is equally
important. Further, this concept should not only be crystal clear
but people at large should accept it. In every project, it should be
tested in a transparent and participatory manner that there is a
valid “Public Purpose” for which land is proposed to be acquired.
Furthermore, it should also be scrutinized how much land is
legitimately required for a specific project and the land proposed
for acquisition is most suitable for this purpose. In fact, to

93
encourage vertical expansion instead of horizontal expansion,
standard limits may be prescribed for various types of projects
after thorough studies. There are concerns that these interventions
may delay the land acquisition process. To address these concerns,
strict time lines should be prescribed and be adhered to strictly.
Further, to ensure faster & smother implementation, training &
capacity building of all the stakeholders should be taken up.
Appropriate Institutes may be strengthened & leveraged in this
regard. Further, India being an Information Technology (IT)
powerhouse, use of IT in various aspects, e.g., mapping of
wastelands, water availability, agricultural productivity &
unutilized acquired land etc. will help facilitate decision makers in
taking appropriate decisions in various land acquisition cases.

Compensation
The last ingredient of “Eminent Domain”, i.e., Payment of
Compensation is critically important to the families who are
affected by land acquisition. Ideally, the compensation should be
such that it places the affected families effectively in the same
position in which they were before displacement or better. Further,
it should be kept in mind, it's tough for a person who is uprooted
from a locality to shift to a new place and start life afresh with a
new vocation and house to reside in. So, the community which gets
benefitted from a project has a moral duty to ensure that just
compensation is awarded to the affected families.

The subject of adequate compensation has been a constant source


of heartburning/agitations/court cases among the affected
families. They feel that they are paid pea nuts while a large share of
the benefit is cornered by the entity who acquires the land. One of
the reasons for inadequate compensation is that the market rate for
the land to be acquired is calculated on the basis of registrations of
property in that area in a particular period. These registrations are
usually around the circle rate/floor rate/jantri rate etc. of that area
fixed by the appropriate government. These rates are usually
below the actual market price of the land/property. Further, the
rates of stamp duty are still high in most of the States/Union

94
Territories (UTs) and the parties to a deal want to save on this, so
the deal is shown around circle/floor rates only. Rest of the money
is exchanged in black. This is a serious malaise and needs to be
addressed as it leads to loss of revenue to Government and
encourages illegal activities. India has progressed a great deal in
the IT sector. So, besides lowering the stamp duty rates, the IT
sector needs to be leveraged to capture the exact land/property
prices of the area.

The aforesaid issue has been tried to be addressed in some way in


the RFCTLARR Act, 2013. Several provisions, e.g., scientific
formula for calculation of market value of land/property, factor of
1 to 2 to multiply the market value, increase in Solatium to 100 per
centum etc. have been incorporated in the new Act to ensure
comprehensive land compensation to the land losers. However,
determination of the right price of the land being acquired is a
knotty issue & if this is resolved well, it will lead to a win-win
situation for all. Slightly large land compensation may increase
the monetary burden on the Requiring Body in short term but will
benefit it in the long run. Improper compensation usually lead to
agitations, court cases which usually result in inordinately long
delay in the completion of projects consequentially hiking the
project cost. Thus paying some extra upfront will be a win-win
situation for both the land owners as well as the project authorities.

Up-to Date & Real Time Land Records

A pertinent question to ponder here is why Requiring Body comes


to Government for land acquisition. It has been observed that the
major reason for this is poor land records data base in most of the
States & UTs. Requiring Bodies are skeptical to deal with a large
number of land owners where the titles to land are not sure. The
land purchase from dubious owners may lead to disputes & court
cases etc. Further, the land acquired and provided by the
Government is clean of such disputes and all the headaches are
handled by the Government. So, a system of up-to date and real
time land records is not only a necessity for the ordinary land
owners but will also facilitate better land procurement.

95
Conclusion

The RFCTLARR Act, 2013 has been a major leap forward in the
settlement of the three core issues of “Eminent Domain”, i.e.,
Right to acquire private property, Acquisition for Public Purpose
and Payment of Compensation. However, there are still some
loopholes left to be plugged before finality is reached on these core
issues. As we mull over the changes in the amendment Bill to the
aforesaid Act, there should be thorough and unbiased public
discourse on the matter. In a vibrant democracy like ours, such
issues which touch lives of millions of people, not a single issue
can be left unresolved. Considering land is a limited resource, the
objective has to be most appropriate usage of land with the
transparent & active participation of all the stakeholders. This will
ensure sustainable land procurement with a win-win situation for
all. There is also a need to have a fresh look into the issue of
“Fundamental Right to Property” and providing it appropriate
place in the Constitution as per the aspirations of a young &
ambitious India. Further, the system to usher in up-to date & real
time land records database needs to be put in place on top priority.
In nutshell, as country moves into the higher growth trajectory, it is
our bounden duty to settle all the aforesaid issues amicably, so that
the economic growth story is not impacted in anyway.

References:

1. 39th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on


Rural Development on the Land Acquisition (Amendment)
Bill, 2007, Lok Sabha Secretariat, 2008
2. Basu, Dr Durga Das (2013): Introduction to the Constitution
of India, Gurgaon:Lexis Nexis
3 Working Group on Human Rights in India & the UN Report,
2012, New Delhi

96
Displacement and Rehabilitation in Mahanadi
Coal Field of Odisha

Sujit Kumar Mishra28 & Prajna Paramita Mishra29

Abstract

The rehabilitation policy adopted by the state in the Mahanadi


Coal Field project, Jharsuguda cannot be condemned blindly. All
the households are allotted with the provision of shelter (either in
rehabilitation colonies or homestead land or money in lieu of
homestead land). There was no trace of equity in the entire process
of regulatory mechanism with the issue of compensation; the
same practice has been noticed across all the issues, i.e., health,
livelihood, structure of a family, social disarticulation and
awareness of the institutional mechanisms; The major hindrance
found in this study is lack of proper consultation of the state with
the communities. This article is an empirical study of the socio-
economic changes that have resulted from the policy hitherto
followed by the state Odisha.

Introduction

The Indian State has undertaken a large number of development


projects - in irrigation, power, industries, mining, forest and
wildlife after the planned development programmes were
launched in 1950-51. Most of the development projects however
have been set up in rural areas and on the lands owned or inhabited
by rural and tribal communities.The intergenerational uprooting
of millions of people consequent on this programme thrust has
resulted in profound socio-economic and cultural disruption for
the people directly affected as well as the disturbance of social
fabric of local communities that have been torn apart (Cernea,

28
Associate Professor, Council for Social Development, Rajendra Nagar,
Hyderabad. Email: sujitkumar72@gmail.com
29
Prajna Paramita Mishra, Assistant Professor, School of Economics,
Gachibowli, Hyderabad. Email: prajnasujit@gmail.com

97
1988). Against this backdrop, this paper describes the path taken
by these actors in different stages (described through different
issues) of the development process and points to the regulatory
mechanisms available to safeguard their interest.

Much has been said and written about the impact of so called
“development” on local communities in India. “Mining
communities” around the world – a subset of the
development–displaced–share several common characteristics.
The vulnerabilities of the communities given the externalities in
terms of displacement, loss of agriculture, ill-health, livelihood,
accident and closure are somewhat the same. The practice of
resettling the development communities “alone” continues to be a
reality in India despite strong institutional interventions to prevent
such measures. Figure 1 offers a diagrammatic presentation of the
inter-linkage different issues faced by mining communities.

Figure 1: Issues that Confront Mining Communities

It can scarcely be forgotten that the cost of development is borne


entirely by the mining communities. Our study has made a review
of both positive and negative impacts of development. Positive
impacts include livelihood, whereas negative impacts include like
health, agriculture, displacement, mining accidents and death. In
addition to this, an important issue is the homogeneity in the
character observed among the mining communities that leads to

98
mining closure and the concerned socio-economic impact.
Within this backdrop the research questions raised in this paper
are: (i) what went wrong in translating the resettlement policies of
Odisha into practice? And (ii) what are the key factors (policies,
institutions and information) that determine differences in
outcome of Rehabilitation?

Data, Sample and Methodology

The study has been carried out in Odisha (Map 1). The primary
motivation for the choice of geographical areas was that Odisha
exemplified the displacement scenario of the country. Therefore a
proper analysis of the situation and an effective consultation with
the affected communities as well as with project authorities may
provide a better understanding of good and adaptive rehabilitation
package, focussed on restoring the equity of the people.

Map 1: Location Map of MCL, Jharsuguda, Odisha

There are two coalfields in Odisha-Talcher and Ib Valley. MCL, a


subsidiary of Coal India Limited regulates the coalfields in
Odisha. When the MCL was started in the year 1992-93, the
production of coal was 23.14 million tons, which increased to
100.28 million tons by 2010-11. Profit before tax of the company
increased from Rs. 193.97 crores in 1992-93 to Rs. 4039.30 crores
in the financial year 2010-11 because of constant growth in

99
production and sales. Ib Valley coal field (MCL, Jharsuguda) is
one of the two coalfields found in Odisha. As on 01.01.2004, coal
reserve of this valley amounted to 22.34 billion tons which
constitute 36.63 percent of the total coal reserve of the state. The
Ib Valley is an amalgamation of different areas such as, Ib valley
area, Orient area, Lakhanpur area, Basundhara area and
Garjanbahal area. This project, in this way, acquired a total of
1456.90 acres of private land (agriculture), 431.66 acres private
land (homestead), 671.23 acres of forest land and 2234.67 acres of
government land (other than forest). The sample households from
the present study have drawn from 07 villages affected by MCL,
Jharsuguda, namely (i) Charla, (ii) Ghanamal, (iii) Kairkuni, (iv)
Khunta Mahul, (v) Kudalai, (vi) Ladanga and (vii) Tingismal.
Finally 153 households were selected from these 07. The report
pointed at a set of multi-faceted issues through various methods,
which are lucidly discussed below:

Data Collection

Extensive field surveys, in depth interviews and interactions with


sample constituted the core of the study methodology. The study
involved a three-pronged approach to collection of information:
(a) conducting a field survey; (b) collection of data from
secondary sources like reports, awards of Land Acquisition
Officers, various investigative reports and magazines from time
to time; and (c) discussions with officials and local leaders in the
area. Apart from this, focus group discussion was also conducted
among different categories of people.The focus group provided
insightful information on specific vulnerabilities of those sections
of the people, who experienced greater vulnerabilities due to
construction of the project.

Hence the data collected for this study consists of (i) household
for both displaced as well as affected; (ii) data on village profiles
of sample villages; (iii) secondary data; (iv) reports on FGDs on
30
Infraline Energy (2008)
31
MCL (2011)

100
different themes and issues. The interview aimed to capture the
effects of construction of the project on the studied community,
the strategies adopted by local displaced and the affected people to
deal with the situation as well as the direct and indirect effects of
the projects on their social economic lives. The qualitative data
were condensed and analyzed thematically.

The household schedule is designed to collect a detailed


information regarding the socio-economic condition of the project
affected households, details regarding their landholding status,
asset status, compensation received and the way of spending,
structure of house, health, agriculture and etc. The village level
information regarding the number of landless household, BPL,
infrastructural facilities, health facilities and the distance of these
facilities from their villages, the changes occurred in cropping
pattern due to construction of the site was collected through the
village schedule. The instruments were piloted and sharpened
subsequently before the data collection procedure.

Interview Schedule

Three sets of instruments were used to collate information for this


study. The interviews aimed to capture the effects of mining on the
studied community, strategies employed by the people to deal
with the situation. For this analysis, the qualitative answers were
coded into a set of defining variables. For example, answers to
questions concerning the household's current income, the number
of working days, the wage rate, the different sources of livelihood
for each household was set e.g. a household may earn income from
agriculture, agricultural wage labour, petty business, daily wage
labour and etc. All variables were cross-checked against each
other to search for potential trends in the material. Having done
that, another layer of analysis was added, where the defining
variables were grouped into a few broader categories. Given that
32
According to the major themes of the present study- impoverishment,
landlessness, homelessness, joblessness and loss of livelihood security, social
disarticulation, gender, vulnerability, health hazard, loss of biodiversity,
psychological trauma, dropout and child labour.

101
this type of analysis is sensitive to the coding, results have to be
interpreted carefully. In this study, it is primarily used as a
complement to the qualitative data (Table 1).

Table 1: Examples of variables and categories used

102
3. Results and Discussions

Demographic Details

A population of 153 households which were badly affected


because of the project were taken as the sample of this study. The
sample was distributed on various attributes and the results were
presented (see Table 2), in order to discern the composition of the
sample. According to religions, 99.3 percent of the sample stood
for Hindus and only one was Muslim.The importance of caste as
an attribute in Indian studies is undeniable because of its pervasive
nature which can be experienced across the society, particularly in
the rural scene. From the given data, 43.8 percent households
represented Scheduled Tribe, whereas 13.7 percent, 30.1 percent
and 12.4 percent represented Scheduled Caste, Other Backward
Classes and General category respectively. The Scheduled
Tribes and Scheduled Castes, the most socially vulnerable groups
together constitute the majority of those badly affected 56 percent.

Another significant and explanatory factor is Education. Our data


indicate that while 11.8 percent are illiterate, just a marginal 9.8
percent are literate. In particular, 24.2 percent, 33.3 percent, 13.1
percent and 3.9 percent have received primary, middle,
matriculate and intermediate level of education respectively. Only
103
a marginal 3.9 percent of the samples are educated up to degree
level.

Table 2: Distribution of Sample on Various Attributes of the


Displaced Households- MCL, Jharsuguda

Occupational Pattern

Before being displaced, 61.4 percent of the households were


depending upon cultivation and other allied activities such as
horticulture, dairy farming, and pisciculture. But after
displacement, 62.1 per cent of the displaced households were
employed in the MCL. The decline in the number of agricultural
laborers is noticeable from before to after situation. A serious issue
comes to the fore from this data that as a result of MCL's
employment to nearly 62.1 per cent of the households, cultivation
in all categories has been ruined. However, rest of the land
categories have seen a drastic fall in numbers. Moreover, the
households belonging to artisan, dairy, goatery, fishery and
cottage industry are not observed in the after situation (Table 3).

104
Table 3: Primary Occupation of the Displaced Households

79 percent land of the study households are acquired by the govt.


at different levels. But surprisingly, only 62.1 percent of them
reported to be employed by MCL. It means, in brief, almost 20
percent of the households have not been offered a job and
therefore they fell in the self-employment category.

An adverse impact is found on the livestock population such as


cows and buffaloes, goats and poultry because of the pollution
caused by mining activities. This situation is more precarious for
those who possess goats and poultry. Basically, two factors are
responsible for these impacts: (i) coal dust on all the green
vegetation because of which they are suffering from toxicity; and
(ii) these livestock are forced to drink contaminated water from
sources like river, ponds and bore-well. As a result of these
factors, a large number of livestock succumb prematurely to
diseases.

Land and Politics of Compensation

Land is the base on which the productive systems, commercial


activities and livelihoods are constructed. Expropriation of land

105
means a severe jolt for all these activities to take place. This is the
principal form of recapitalization and pauperization of displaced
people, through the loss of both physical and man-made capital
(Cernea, 1997). To analyze the nature of landholding in both pre-
and post-displacement stages, in terms of economic class and
caste, legal landholding has been taken as the sole variable. The
sample population of MCL, Jharsuguda has a mixed population,
so far as social composition is concerned, of which ST population
constitute more than 40 percent.

From Table 4, it can be seen that 20.9 percent of the total number of
households did not own any land before displacement. Out of the
total number of 32 landless households, 19 belonged to ST, 07 to
SC, 05 to OBC only one belonged to the General Category. These
people neither own a piece of land, nor make their living by selling
their labor. Of the total households surveyed, 12.4 percent
belonged to large farmers (5 ST, 5 OBC and 5 OC) category. The
large farmers usually cultivate their lands by employing
permanent and casual laborers who directly participate in the
production process. As if having signed a contract, they do not sell
their labor to other peasants. Before displacement, most of the ST,
SC households were landless and marginal farmers (except 5 large
farmers), while theOC households were economically better-off
in comparison to the former communities. Thus, it is apparent that
there was economic disparity between the OC and the other two
groups (SC and ST).

There can be seen a decrease in the average legal landholding of


the displaced households from 2.17 acres to 0.14 acre in total,
whereas 2.31 acres to 0.62 in the case of ST; 1.89 acres to nil in the
case of SC; 1.86 acres to 0.20 acre in the case of OBC and 2.71
acres to nil in the case of general households. Similarly, the
average legal landholding of the displaced people has been
squeezed in this case. The percentage of such households has
increased from 52.1 to 91.7 (Table 5).

Rs. 20,000 per acre has been fixed as the market value of the lost
agricultural land. Apart from that, a shifting allowance worth Rs.
2000 has been given to each affected household. The survey
reveals that only 25 households (i. e. 16.3 percent) had the
knowledge of the valuation process and the rest were ignorant.
Just a 9.4 percent of the households questioned the concerned
authority, whereas 3.3 percent of the households were complacent
with the received compensation. This study tries to find out the
grievances of the people who were unhappy with the
compensation amount. All the three chief grievances found in the
present study are: (i) inadequate compensation; (ii) ignorance
about the land valuation process; and (iii) employment in MCL.
Apart from this, there was a gap noticed between the date of 4(1)
acquisition and the date of final payment. Basically, the data were
collected from seven villages namely, Charla, Ghanamal,
Kairkuni, Khunta Mahul, Kudalai, Ladanga and Tingismal. Most
of the respondents, however, belonged to the villages namely,
Charla, Ghanamal and Kairakuni. The details of land acquisition
procedure in the above three villages are presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Land Acquisition Process in the Study Villages

Only a marginal 12.9 percent households complained against


injustice met by them to the land acquisition officer (LAO) or
collector. The chief reason for this was their poor knowledge
about the land acquisition procedure. A gap of at least 8 years had
been observed in all the above cases (except few cases of the
village Kairakuni). It was the toughest time for the victims to
survive since they were not supposed do any productive activities
once they had received the 4(1) notice.

107
Table 5: Land Holding Pattern MCL Jharsuguda

Source: Field Work

Compensation and Pattern of Utilization

An arbitrary amount of Rs 2,30,000 was paid as house building


assistance to the affected people to construct their houses in the
rehabilitation colonies as well as in the self-resettlement colonies
by the MCL. This money was paid in addition to the compensation
for land acquisition. Some people got addicted to drinking and
died, being ignorant of how to invest their money. Our study tried
to enquire whether any financial planning workshop was
organized to train them how to invest their money in a fruitful way,
and 96 percent of them denied that anything of this sort to have
taken place. However, some others were duped by banks by false
promises of handsome interest on their deposits and eventually
decamped with all the money leaving the people penniless and as

108
such they have now taken to daily wage earnings. Their sudden
exposure to a monetary economy where the entire medium of
exchange was in-terms of money was the cause of their misery.
Furthermore, lack of experience in financial matters was another
reason for their failure.

The displaced people used the compensation money for a number


of different purposes namely, (i) purchase of agriculture land; (ii)
purchase of homestead land; (iii) purchase of house; (iv)
construction or renovation of house; (v) invested in business; (vi)
education; (vii) health; (viii) saving; (ix) consumption; and (x)
others. It is apparent from Figure 2 that a large number of
households (54.9 percent) spent the entire money on
consumption.

Figure 2: Spending of the Compensation Money

Source: Field Work

It was not only the MCL, Jharsuguda victims who spent a major
portion of their compensation money to purchase daily
necessities, but also almost all the people across other
development projects did the same thing. The studies like

109
Economic and Political Weekly Report (1968), Gajarajan (1970),
Muthayya and Mathur (1975), and Reddy and Chattopadhyay
(1986) informed that the compensation amount was mostly spent
on domestic and living expenses, clearing of debts, performance
of religious and marriage ceremonies. About 28.1% of the people
invested the compensation money on their homestead land since
they did not like to live in the rehabilitation colonies. Apart from
that, compensation money was not enough for getting a piece of
homestead land on par with the previous land in terms of quality
and productivity and nearly 50 percent people spent a lot for the
construction of their houses. Mining pollution badly affected the
health of the people living in the surroundings. Hence, 24.2
percent people spent a large share of their compensation money on
health purposes.

By and large, from the above analysis, it becomes evident that a


substantial portion of the compensation money was spent for
consumption, purchase of household goods, marriage, and other
social functions. In addition to it, they purchased a number of
valuables such as bicycles, wrist watches, scooters and
motorcycles which were likely to be unnecessary at that time.

Resettlement Issue

According to the policy, 0.10 acres of homestead land to every


oustee was provided in the respective rehabilitation colonies to
each member of all the affected households to build their houses
themselves. But, some did not like this. So, they chose self-
resettlement. Kairakuni is a self-resettlement colony which comes
under the study village of MCL, Jharsuguda. The people of this
colony negotiated with the gountia (head of a village with land) to
be provided land and he was ready for it. However, they were
forced to buy only on an average of 7.6 cent of land in the village
(Table 6) owing to crunch of resources. To stay together, to keep
the cultural ethos intact, they were forced to buy small pieces of
land with limited resources.

110
Table 6:Unequal Distribution of Homestead Land

Source: Field Work

In we look at other colonies, only a few basic amenities like


drainage, electricity and water supply have been provided by the
MCL. Unfortunately, some of the important basic amenities like
school and primary health centers were not available. The people,
who got a job in MCL, shifted their parents to MCL quarters
renting out their houses for a good amount every month. There is a
rise in underemployment in this area and it is all due to land
acquisition. Earlier, the families derived their livelihood from
agriculture and allied activities like horticulture, goatery and diary
activities. Lack of good maintenance and proper monitoring has
resulted in dilapidated condition of drainage system, water supply
and electricity. However, in the absence of employment
opportunities, the youth are forced to involve in antisocial
activities like stealing of coal and diesel. In the present economic
scenario, a sense of inequality is created out of the situation as
there are all sorts of benefits available for the one who is directly

111
associated with the MCL on behalf of the whole family. In this
way, the whole family becomes dependent on the member who is
employed. This is also to be noted that all the allied activities are
completely stopped in the new environment.

4. The Issue of Employment in Policy

According to the Uniform guidelines, the rehabilitation of the


displaced people / families because of S.E.C.L. Projects at
Sambalpur and Dhenkanal districts, clause 4 contains the
following provision of employment:

Employment:
a) One member from each family sustaining loss of
dwelling houses, homestead land and agricultural land
not less than 1/3rd of the total holding shall be provided
with employment on a priority basis.
b) One member of each family having sustained loss of 3
acres of non-irrigated land or 2 acres of irrigated land
shall be provided with employment on second priority.
c) In case of families having lost only homestead land or
the total agricultural holding, one member from each
family shall be provided with employment according to
availability.
d) In case of families who have lost 1/3rd of the total
agricultural holding, one member from each family
shall be provided with employment according to
availability.
e) Rehabilitation of other displaced families shall be made
through self-employment schemes.
Source: Government of Orissa (1988).

33
In the mining sector, uniform guidelines for rehabilitation of the displaced
persons/families due to SECL (South Eastern Coalfield Ltd.), presently
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, 1989, popularly known as R&R Policy of MCL,
1989.

112
Out of the five conditions, the first four are applicable for those
people who lose their land during the process of acquisition.
However, only component (e) mentions about “self-employment
scheme”. And it is only the livelihood losers who can take benefits
under this category. Ironically, though MCL provided a job to one
of the family members, the other members were rendered jobless.
There is a discrimination observed against the landless laborers,
artisans, sharecroppers, and encroachers in the policy documents.

The definition of a “family” is given in the clause 3 of the policy.

“A family in the aforesaid context shall include the husband and


wife as the case may be and their un-married children but does not
include a major son who has been separated from the family on or
before the date of notification under section 4(1) of the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894 in respect of area / village. He shall be
treated as a separate family”.

There is a clear male-female discrimination in the policy. It talks


only about the major sons. There is no mention of dependent
sisters, widows and divorcees in the policy document.

5. ImpactAssessment

5.1 Inequality among the displaced people

An apparent difference between the displaced people in


accordance with the annual income can be seen in (Table 7).
Before displacement, differentiation among the people on the
basis of the possession of land (as they belonged to different land
strata) was clearly defined. There was a great homogeneity
existing within the same strata. However, after displacement, 94
households were employed in the mines which resulted in the
tremendous rise in the earning of the concerned person. In
addition to this, he and his immediate family members (spouse,
kids and parents) qualified to take benefits of the medical facilities
of the MCL. This distinction made the rest of the family members

113
more vulnerable. These people are gradually losing their social
position within the family since being financially weak and all
attention shift to the bread winner in the family thus leading to a
hegemonic change even within a family itself. Before
displacement, there was an equal right of all the family members
over the joint property of the family they inherited from their
forefathers. The study used the statistical tool coefficient of
variation to test the variability of income of different categories of
people.

5.1.1 Coefficient of Variation

As mentioned earlier, Coefficient of Variation (CV) is a measure


of inequality. It is used here to identify income differential of
different categories of households before and after displacement.
The income of different categories of households has been taken
into account to find out the CV. The income of a household
depends upon certain factors like, the structure of land holding,
resource position, size of the household, ratio of earners and
dependent and, wage rates. However, a precise calculation of
income and earnings is difficult because of the diversified nature
of income.

The average annual income of the different households before and


after displacement is shown in Table 7. It is clear from the table
that the annual average income of the OC households was much
higher than the other categories of people. The SC were the least
earning members in the study area. There were disparities among
different castes as they belonged to different land categories. But,
due to land acquisition, all were rendered landless and 61percent
got permanent employment in the MCL with a regular salary. A
considerable increase can be noticed in the income of the people
across all categories in the post-displacement period. One of the
chief reasons being the major share of the income coming from the
salaries of the people employed in MCL. Almost no income was
derived from agriculture and allied activities.

114
Table 7: Income Differential of Different
Categories of Households

Income is Estimated at 2004-05 Constant Prices

It can be clearly seen from Table 3.6 that CV of all the households
(irrespective of caste) has increased considerably. The OC people
have been the greatest beneficiaries of it followed by the OBC.
Since there was the provision in the rehabilitation policy of the
MCL to employ only one member of every family, the rest of the
members started exploring different earning sources, gradually
became financially independent and started living separate. This
issue of separation is more prominent in OC households than SC
and STs because the latter categories were largely nuclear by
nature since the beginning. But, OC households used to be more
joint family type. The financial stability of the family is the sole
responsibility of the employed person in the post-displacement
situation. There is a huge gap in income seen between the people
who have a permanent source of income and the people with no-
permanent income.

However, it can be concluded from all the evidences that a


structural change has taken place within the communities, i.e. the
previous system was more equal for everyone irrespective of
caste and community, whereas the present system is favorable
only for the people directly associated with the MCL.

5.2 Joblessness

One of the major factors is joblessness which is highly


responsible for theimpoverishment of the displaced people

115
caused due to land acquisition which resulted in immense loss of
employment opportunities (Ota, 1996; Cernea, 1997). This
study has taken four indicators to assess to what extent
joblessness has been overcome and how much the displaced
people at the relocated sites have been benefited out of the
development schemes. Table 8 has the details.

Table 8: Status of Livelihood

The same exercise has been tried out alternatively with a


reference to a gender. The reduction in the number of days of work
from more than 180 days to 120 days has brought a great change in
the lives of women. Similarly, the distance of workplace has also
increased on an average from 2 km. to 6 km. Even though wage is
paid in time, it never matches with their male counterparts (Table
9).

Table 9: Status of Livelihood with a Gender Glance

116
5.3 Homelessness
A great change can be observed in the size of the homestead plot
after displacement, with more than 30 percent rise in homesteads
measuring over 1,500 sq.ft. The percentage of plots measuring less
than 500 sq.ft, 500-1000 sq. ft and 1001 to 1,500 sq.ft fell from
24.8 to 11.1 percent, 15.7 to none and 5.9 percent to none,
respectively.

There is, however, a significant change in the size of the


constructed area, with the percentage of houses measuring
between 500-1000 sq.ft rising from 17.6 percent before
displacement to 53.6 percent post-displacement. At the same time,
the percentage of houses measuring less than 500 sq.ft and 1001 to
1,500 sq.ft fell from 48.4 percent to 28.1 percent and from 26.8
percent to 9.2 percent.

A minor change can be observed in the number of rooms. The


decrease in the percentage of houses with two-rooms from 30.1
percent to 9.2 percent is remarkably great. On the other hand, the
percentage of houses with more than two-rooms has risen
considerably from 67.9 percent to 90.1 percent.

Basically, before displacement, most of the houses had earthen


floor, whereas only 11.1 percent households have earthen floors,
the remaining have cement floor. There is a huge rise of the
percentage of houses with cement flooring from 7.2 percent to
81.0 percent. However, the percentage of earthen floor houses has
seen a huge fall from 90.8 percent to 11.1 percent.

There is a great change in the percentage of thatch- and tile-roofed


houses. While thatch-roofed houses have fallen from 52.9 percent
to 3.9 percent, tile-roofed houses from 11.1 percent to 9.8 percent.
Moreover, the RCC roofing houses percentage has gone up from
6.5 percent to 61.4 percent. In the pre-displacement period,
people used either asbestos or tin for roofing, but after
displacement, things have changed. While 17.0 percent have
asbestos roofs, 7.8 percent have roofs of other materials (Table
10).
117
Table 10: Dwelling Conditions among the Displaced
Households-MCL, Jharsuguda

118
In comparison to the pre-displacement situation, the housing
condition of all the ST, SC, OBC and OC have improved as they
have pucca houses and it containing more rooms. t indicates that
less number of people are rendered homeless. 83 percent
households have electricity in the new location. Housing
determines one's position in the society (Nath, 1998).

5.4 Social Disarticulation among the people

The displaced people used to follow several social practices and


marriage within a less distance was one of them. Now, after the
displacement the distance was increased to more than 25 km.,
though earlier it was within10 km. And sometimes, the distance
increase to 60 km also. The reason being the displaced people
generally get their children married within the same community,
and when they were displaced, they were isolated from their
communities. But, the distance of the place of worship remains
almost the same. People, at times, go out of the village for
worship. Kartika Purnima and Janmastami used to be two major
festivals for the displaced people. Now, they are not celebrated
anymore in the new colonies. But, Nuakhai, Makara Purnima and
Dola Purnima are still celebrated with the same religious fervour.
Apart from that, people seem to be uninterested in certain folk
practices like drama, pala, and daskathia (Table 11).

Table 11: Social Disarticulation among the Displaced Households

119
1.5 Structure of the Family

Forcible displacement heavily damages the existing social fabric


by disturbing the patterns of social organization and interpersonal
ties (Cernea, 1997). The most serious aspect of displacement is the
eviction of the people from their original habitats and resettling
them in a new environment. Being deprived of these natural
settings in the new settlement colonies, the physical and social
bonding tend to weaken. Nayak's (1986) study on Rengali Dam
discovered a lot of changes in the lifestyle of people after
displacement. The effect could be seen on manifestations of social
disarticulation within the kinship system such as the loosening of
intimate bonds, growing alienation and anomie, the weakening of
control on interpersonal behavior, and lower cohesion in family
structures. The nature of families in the study village before and
after displacement has been presented in Table 12.

Table 12: Structure of the Family

It is clear from Table 3.11 that in the pre-displacement situation,


people had joint families. The percentage of ST, SC, OBC and OC
having joint families were 48, 59, 73 and 94 respectively.
However, after displacement, it has fallen. While 62 percent OC
and 58 percent OBC have joint families, it is quite negligible in
case of SC and ST, i.e., 13 percent SC and 4 percent ST families are
joint in the new settlement. Thus, it becomes apparent that the
social cohesion between the members of the families has been
heavily damaged because of displacement.

120
1.6 Loss ofAccess to Common Property Resources

For the poor people, particularly for the landless and otherwise
asset-less, loss of access to non-individual, common property
assets belonging to communities that are relocated represents a
cause of income and livelihood deterioration and usually
overlooked and not properly compensated in government projects
(Cernea, 1997). Table 3.12 is indicative of a substantial loss of
common property in the post-displacement situation in
comparison to the pre-displacement situation. In the pre-
displacement situation, every household had free access to the
common grazing land. But in the post displacement situation, the
access is limited having granted access to 14.2 percent of ST, 16.9
percent of SC, 34.0 percent of OBC families to grazing land. It is
noteworthy that OC families do not have any access to grazing
land. Before displacement, there were a specific places meant for
burial grounds, but, in the new colonies, there is no such specific
place. Cremation is now done in their own lands. Even more,
earlier forest was a free for the movements of people, but now it is
highly restricted in the relocated sites.
Table 13: Common Property Resources

Rainfall has been scanty during the last few years. Its cumulative
effect can be seen in the form of absence of grass and pasture and
failure of crop. That is why, paddy stalk, which is a staple food for
the cattle are no more available in the rehabilitated villages (Table
14).
121
Table 14: Fodder Sources and Terms of Access

5.7 Health Hazard

Out of the total 153 households surveyed in the study, about 90


percent reported some or other health issues during the last one
year. Several villages situated adjacent to the mining sites, register
a complaint about the air and water pollution caused during
loading and unloading of coal in dumpers. Dust particles blow
away in the air and mix with the air and water to make them
polluted. In consequence, the nearby villages are badly affected by
the polluted air and water. It leads to the villagers suffering from
diseases like sin diseases, arthritis and joint pain. On the contrary,
most of the people are suffering from air-borne diseases like eyes
infection, malaria, cold, and fever. Eyes infection, skin diseases,
malaria, gastro-intestinal disease, arthritis, fever, and asthma are
the commonly found diseases in the mining villages (Table 15).

Table 15: Health Hazard

122
The table shows that a huge percentage of households depend
upon the private doctors. It has two chief reasons, namely, (i) none
of the family members of the employee, except his/her parents, is
allowed medical facilities in the hospitals; (ii) most of the times,
the staffs are not efficient enough to diagnose the proper disease.
Therefore, people are highly dependent upon private hospitals
which incur a large amount of their spending. Moreover, the
sources of drinking water and the toilet habit are two other major
determinants of the health status of the people.

At the rehabilitation colonies of MCL, Jharsuguda, the chief


source of water is well. 45.1 percent households have their own
wells. On the other hand, households dependent upon tube-wells
have decreased from 26.1 percent to 17.6 percent. Open
defecation was a great issue earlier. The earlier percentage of
open-defecation has gradually declined from 77.8 percent to 49.7
percent. However, the percentage of people using the community
toilets and own toilets have remained 26.8 percent and 23.5
percent respectively (Table 15).

123
5.8 Food Insecurity

It was easily predictable that there would be a sudden decline in


food crop availability for the victim households in the relocated
site (Cernea 2000). It may be a time-consuming process to
reconstruct the food production capacity at the new relocated site.
People used to cultivate rice both in Kharif and Rabi seasons
before they were displaced. But, all of them are left landless now
on account of the land acquisition for the development project.
The vegetables grown in their kitchen gardens were adequate for
their families. And the surplus vegetables were sold in the market.
But, now all the families have to depend upon the vegetable
market for their necessity.

6.Awareness about Institutional Mechanisms


Creation of awareness about institutional mechanisms is the most
significant aspect of any development process. The growth of
institutional mechanisms has been outstanding over a period of
time. Indian government also hugely spends in this regard. The
receiving end awareness is the most important indicator to support
an effective institutional framework for a national programme that
guarantees sustainable outcome. A sound policy of a government
always ensures the pledge of the government for sustainable
resettlement. It is always the development communities who fall
victims to the entire process since being ignorant of the policies
and mechanisms to follow to get a compensation or expect what
from whom in lieu of their livelihood, lands and home (Mathur,
2011). This study too tried hard to find out the level of awareness
of the displaced people about the institutional mechanisms.
Surprisingly, it found that none of the displaced people was aware
of the rehabilitation policy of the MCL. However, some of the
victims discussed this issue with the village leaders and it was all
in vain since they did not have any idea about it. They were just
speculating how to meet the project authorities in the village and
discuss the matters like the determination of compensation
amount for different varieties of land. Another most important
element of a resettlement plan is socio-economic survey. It was

124
sad enough, none of the people involved in this study had
knowledge of it. While enquiring, they asserted that they were at
the receiving end. They simply accepted whatever was offered to
them by the authorities. “Negotiation” with the affected people
almost never existed throughout the process, and it can be
attributed to the asymmetry of information at various levels. How
surprising it sounds that the entire community was ignorant of the
rehabilitation policy and its various components, the socio-
economic survey and the various issues associated with it and
lastly the gram sabha.

7. Factors influencing the Resettlement Outcome

Proper implementation of rehabilitation policy, coverage of all


socio-economic indicators through SIA and awareness are the
most important perceived factors, influencing the resettlement
outcomes. As discussed earlier in this chapter, nobody was aware
about the policy and hence benefit sharing mechanisms.
According to 84.2 percent of the households, achieving of
education is one of the important indicators, which will raise the
awareness among them. Community organizations were one of
the least perceived factors by the people because they were also
not clear about the technicalities of the rehabilitation policy and
the SIA. Resettlement outcome largely depends upon the
leadership quality (the perceived rate is 89.3 percent). However in
the present case study, asymmetry of information between the two
agents (between the state and the communities) led to moral
hazard problem.As a result people were very much ignorant about
the benefit sharing mechanism. Hence as per 95.3 percent of the
people knowledge about the benefit sharing mechanism is not
only a necessary but also a sufficient condition for sound
resettlement procedure. 71.8 percent of the households perceived
that notification for acquisition was very sudden and hence they
could not take proper decision. Lastly caste and socio-cultural
aspects also emerged as two major indicators determining
resettlement outcome (Table 16).

125
Table 16: Factors influencing Resettlement Outcomes

8. Conclusion

This study has attempted to draw attention to a multiplicity of


issues related to the side effects of development projects, though
in fact, development is intended for growth of a nation. These
issues have been addressed through the help of various literatures
such as, land acquisition, political economy of compensation,
agitation, livelihood, externalities in the form of agriculture and
health and accident and closure. Development community is the
only thread that connects all the issues as they feature in the entire
discussion. In this context, a pertinent question immediately
comes into mind, i.e., what is a sustainable development
community? In this connection, the concept of “equity” and
“intergenerational equity” can be thought of to turn a simple
development community into a sustainable development
community. While Equity refers to equality in terms of quality of
life and standard of living, Intergenerational Equity is sustaining
equality in the future in a changed situation, which means nobody
will have to suffer any sort of misery for the cause of development
or change. Let us discuss the development community which is

126
predominantly featured in the discussion above and their status of
sustainability as well.

To begin with the issue of compensation and land, a great number


of people were devoid of compensation as they did not possess
any land. At this critical point of time, compensation was the only
base of the resettlement process. But, our study discovered that
there was no trace of equity in the entire process of regulatory
mechanism. The same practice has been noticed across all the
issues, i.e., health, livelihood, structure of a family, social
disarticulation and awareness of the institutional mechanisms.
However, in the post-constitution period, the practices in terms of
policies, acts, rules and schemes have been increased. The
investment of material and intellectual properties is also found to
have increased manifold. Notwithstanding increased policies and
acts, the outcome is not up to the expectation mark and the reason
being the status of the development communities not have
changed as expected. Still they are in the same condition in which
they were 60 years ago. Throughout the course of the study, we
find that there is a weaker link between the community and the
state in terms of participation in the development process, the
capacity to negotiate with the state to determine the level of
acceptance and so on. Furthermore, the term “consultation” used
in the policy document is nothing but arbitrarily passing the
information to the people about the project. Even the
communities do not have any right to say “no” to the project. It
means that the “consent” of the people does not have any role to
play in the process of “consultation”. As per the views of the
mining communities, consultation is a composite term which
possesses the cumulative impact of two important factors: (i) right
to consent about the project; and (ii) possession of bargaining
power over their economy (both for land-owning and landless
people). Apart from this, there were two other issues came out
from the discussions with the communities: (i) proper
implementation of the policy keeping equity as the major
objective; and (ii) effective monitoring and evaluation of the
process. Needless to mention that the present monitoring system
is highly outdated. And also, it is not an inbuilt process within the

127
process. Therefore a need for creating a system arises which will
negotiate with the state after exploring how community
perception and concerns reflect in the development policy in India
and what mechanisms are required to be evolved to make the
current policies sustainable with special focus on social justice
and equity.

References:

Cernea, M M (1988): Involuntary Resettlement in Development


Projects: Policy Guidelines in World Bank-financed
Projects, Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Cernea, M M (1997): "The Risks and Reconstruction Model for


Resettling Displaced Populations," World Development,
Vol 25, No 10, pp 1569-87.

Cernea, M M (2000): “Risks, Safeguards and Reconstruction – A


Model for Population Displacement and Resettlement,”
Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 35, No 41, pp 3659-78.

Economic & Political Weekly (1985): “Anti- People


Development- Case of Inchampalli Project,” Economic &
Political Weekly, Vol 20, No 22, pp 952- 954.

Gajarajan, C S (1970): “Planned Rehabilitation and Economic


Change: A Case Study of Thungabhadra River Project
Rehabilitation Colonies at H B Halli,” Mimeo, Pune:
Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics.

Government of Orissa (1988): “Uniform Guidelines for


Rehabilitation of the Displaced Persons/ families due to
SECL Projects at Sambalpur and Dhenkanal Districts,”
Revenue and Excise Department, Bhubaneswar.

Mathur, H M (2011): Resettling Displaced People: Policy and


Practice in India, London, New York and New Delhi:
Routledge and New Delhi: Council for Social
Development.
128
MCL (2011): “Annual Reports and Accounts 2010-11,”
Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited, http://www.mcl.gov.in,
Viewed on 14 May 2014.

Muthayya, B C and T S Mathur (1975): “Rehabilitation of


Displaced Villagers: A Socio-Economic and Attitudinal
Study in Agricultural Complex in Rural Andhra
Pradesh,”Hyderabad: National Institute of Community
Development.

Nath, G B (1998): "Socio- Economic Re-Survey of a Village


Submerged under Rengali Dam Project", Indian Council
for Social Science Research, New Delhi.

Nayak, P K (1986). “Resettlement at Rengali Dam,”


Bhubaneswar: Orissa.

Ota, A B (1996): “Countering the Impoverishment Risk: The Case


of Rengali Dam Project,” Involuntary Displacement in
Dam Projects, A B Ota and A Agnihotri (eds.),
New Delhi: Prachi Prakasan.

Reddy, I U B and R N Chattopadhyay (1986): “Impact of Large


Projects on Displaced Persons,” The Eastern
Anthropologist, Vol 39, No 02, pp 107-14.

129
REHABILITATION & RESETTLEMENT SCHEME OF
COAL MINING PROJECT – A CASE STUDY
34
G.Kumar

Abstract

This is absolutely true that the prosperity of the nation can be


measured by means of per capita use of minerals. However,
minerals are non renewable resources and their exploitation is
necessary fro the growth and sustainable development. This is also
true that the exploitation of minerals has certain untold issues
which are required to be settled before adopting the scheme and as
such the Rehabilitation and Resettlement aspect therefore
becomes obviously the most important issue because it involves
not only the sentiment of the people but also involves their life
style, culture as per the changed scenario.

Mining in India deserves due credit as it has supported the


industrial growth in India but fact also remains that it has led to
impacting the environment and social life of the community
located nearby. The corporate social responsibility of mining
industries has not been satisfactory. Although there are laws and
regulations, amended time to time, effectively they have failed to
protect from manipulation and exploitation of environment and
social laws by mining industries. Enforcement of laws has of
course led to compliance in certain areas but Corporate Social
Responsibility is beyond compliance and seeks mining industries
to undertake voluntary endeavours in order to minimize the
adverse impacts on the environment and society. The biggest issue
in the mining including the coal mining is the Rehabilitation
programme for the displaced persons. Displaced people are
required to be resettled and rehabilitated in a participative manner
keeping in view their requirements, customs and life style.

For framing the rehabilitation and resettlement programme, two


important factors such as (1) Human value with their socio
34
Professor, Department of Geology, BIT Sindri, P.O. Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand

130
economic considerations & (2) the project economics) must be
taken into consideration.

In the present paper the case of Tasra Coal Block (Chasnalla,


Dhanbad) owned by SAIL has been discussed.

Introduction

Between 1950 and 1991, mining displaced about 2.6 million


people -- not even 25 per cent of these displaced have been
rehabilitated. About 52 per cent of these displaced were tribals.
For every 1 per cent that mining contributes to India's GDP, it
displaces 3-4 times more people than all the development projects
put together [1]; [2].

Displacement of people in the development projects, like dams,


irrigation projects, thermal power plants, railway lines, highways,
mines are unavoidable [3]. Laying of railway lines, construction of
highways, irrigation projects, etc generally require a narrow long
stretch of land, whereas a thermal power plant or national park, etc
need a limited area. There is scope of selecting suitable site for
implementation of these developmental activities. Further
requirement of land for these activities is for an unlimited time
span. But construction of a mine is site specific i.e. based on
occurrence of the mineral deposit. This is also true in the case of
coal mining. However, the systematic mine planning involves a
proper Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R & R) package for the
Project Affected People (PAP). Displaced people are required to
be resettled and rehabilitated in a particular manner keeping in
view their requirements, habits, customs and life style which
altogether constitute their socio economic considerations.

The Tasra Coal Block was allocated to SAIL in Oct. 1995, and
mining lease of 4.5 Sq km area was transferred from BCCL to
ISP-SAIL (erstwhile IISCO), in 2002 for the development of
captive mine. The total proved geological reserve of this block is
estimated as 251.8 Million tones. In wake of the huge reserves, this

131
block has been proposed for the development of open cast mine of
4.0 Million Tones PerAnnum capacity.

Study Area:

The study area commonly known as Tasra Block consists of seven


Mouzas in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand. The area lies in the
eastern extremity of Jharia Coalfield (JCF) in the Dhanbad district
of Jharkhand state. It was previously under BCCL. Steel
Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) proposed to exploit Tasra Block as
captive mine by opencast working method to meet the demand of
coking coal to different steel plants of the SAIL.

2
It covers an area of 4.5 km . The area is roughly defined by
o ' ” o ' ” o '
latitudes 23 39 53.06 N to 23 40 7.33 N and logitudes 86 27
” o ' ”
00.74 E to 86 27 20.65 E. It is included in the survey of India
Topo sheet no.73 I/6 and in Sheet No.8 of the geological map of
Jharia Coal Field (JCF) . Similarly the Chasnala block, part of
which has been included in this Mining Plan also form part of
India Topo sheetNo 73I/6. Figure 1.1 shows the regional location
of the Study area..

The area is located about 15 km from Jharia town and about 23 km


from Dhanbad town. Dhanbad - Sindri Road passes through its
northern boundary. The nearest Railway station of Eastern
Railway is at Sindri at about 5 km. The nearest airstrip is at
Dhanbad. There is also a landing strip at Burnpur about 80 km
away owned by the ISP-SAIL.

Total area of these mouzas being 5442.90 acre while the area
falling under the project is 2066.43 acre. Nearly 3455 families
including 2959 private house holds while 496 Govt. / Semi Govt.
house holds along with infrastructure facilities such as Power
station, HT / LT cables and underground lines for water supply,
sewage telecommunications, etc. would be affected because of
mining activity.

132
Fig. 1.1: Location Map of the Area

Social ImpactAssessment Study:

Detailed project specific R&R plan with data on the existing


socio-economic status of the population in the study area and
broad plan for resettlement of the displaced population, site for the
resettlement colony, alternate livelihood concerns/employment
for the displaced people, civic and housing amenities being
offered, etc and costs along with the schedule of the
implementation of the R&R plan. The main occupation of the
people of leasehold and adjoining area is cultivation and
collection of coal. Besides this, peoples are engaged in coal mines
and coal based industries. There are many coal based industry,
workshop, garage etc. in adjoining area like Bhojudih, Chamalla,
Bhowra, Jharia and Dhanbad which provide job at different level.
It is supposed that opening of the coal mine will create good job
prospects for the local people future.

Present study has been conducted to understand the Social Impact


Assessment (SIA) due to the project and formulation of a suitable
and acceptable Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R & R) policy

133
based on the valuation of the property of the entire Project
Affected Persons ( PAPs). The main objective of this study is :

1. To prepare demographic profile of all the areas under the


project.
2. To assess socio – economic characteristics of the people.
3. To assess the nature of existing resources and means of
livelihood.
4. To examine possible impact of the project on local population
due to their displacement.
5. To evaluate the property of the Project Affected People
(PAP)&
6. To formulate guidelines for the effective R & R scheme

Basic data pertaining to population, SC, ST, education facilities,


literacy, basic amenities and main workers, marginal workers,
non-workers by sex etc., has been collected from the census book,
for all the villages and the urban area. Field survey has also been
carried out on different aspects of socio-economic dimensions
indicators to know the people's perception on the Tasra Mining
operations and to determine the quality of life of the people living
in the area

Rehabilitation & Resettlement Scheme:

This scheme has been followed as per the Coal India Ltd. Policy
and therefore after examining several possibilities, the following
schemes have been considered:

Persons from Whom Land is Acquired:

a. Provision for monitory compensation (as per the


prevailing legal norms) against the land acquired from
such persons.
b. In addition to above, employment against land would be
considered for entitled looser meeting the eligibility
criteria.
c. In case, if it is not possible to offer employment, one time

134
grant in cash in lieu of employment against acquisition of
land. However, the quantum of grant would be on the basis
of pro – rata basis.

Persons whose homestead is acquired:

a. Alternate house site (plot) per family would be allotted.


b. Family displaced with their cattle would be given financial
assistance for construction of cattle shed.
c. Each displaced would be given one time financial
assistance for shifting of family, their belongings and
cattle.
d. Each displaced trader or self employed person, rural
artisan would be given one time financial assistance for
construction of working shed / shop.
e. Each affected family would get subsistence allowance for
a period of one year
f. The organization would take care of peripheral
development under the Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR).

Sharecroppers Land Lessee, Tenants, Daily Wage labourers:

a. The organization would assist project affected persons to


establish self employment through the provision of
infrastructure, petty contracts or formation of cooperative
Or Jobs with contractor would be persuaded to eligible
project affected persons on preferential basis wherever
feasible.

Land Less Tribal:

a. The organization would assist project affected persons to


establish self employment through the provision of
infrastructure, petty contracts or formation of cooperatives
Or Jobs with contractor would be persuaded to eligible
affected persons on preferential basis where ever feasible.

135
b. In addition to above, each landless tribal dependent on
forest produce would be given one time financial
assistance as per norm for loss of customary rights or
usage of forest produce.

Vulnerable People:

As a social obligation the organization would look into the


vulnerable people for affected area. The relevant programme for
women and vulnerable persons would be made under CSR
(Corporate Social Responsibility) and efforts would be made to
provide opportunities for earning their livelihood [4], [5].

In the case of entire population of the Mouza / Village / area


inhabited by a particular community, the organization would try to
resettle them en-mass in a compact area to the best possible extent,
so that the cultural relation (social harmony) amongst the shifted
families remain intact.

Community Facilities:

Community consist of living beings, men, women, children etc. In


order to have proper care of the persons living in the community,
certain basic facilities and infrastructure are required to be taken
due care in order to provide the local inhabitants some comforts
and social harmony. Keeping this important aspect in mind, the
organization would provide the following to the resettlement site:

• Schools
• Roads with street lights
• Pucca Drains
• Tube Well for Drinking Water
• Community Centre
• Worship Place
• Dispensary
• Club
• Playground

136
CostAnalysis:

One time cost analysis for the R & R programme seems to be a


very difficult task, however efforts can be made to cover the
maximum possible aspects at a given point of time. Therefore, at
this juncture, cost towards the entire scheme including
Infrastructure Development such as Residential Building,
Community Building, Colony Road, Sewage System and water
supply, Relocation cost including Rehabilitation and Resettlement
scheme would be around Rs. 250 – 300 crores. This cost does not
include the cost of the land acquisition.

Changes In Socio Economic Status:

The following changes in socio-economic status are expected to


take place with opening of mining activities:

i) The project would have a strong positive employment and


income effect, both direct as well as indirect. Migrant – non-
migrant ratio shall shift towards migrant side because a
number of people shall migrate towards the central region of
study circle in the years to come. This would happen because
of better employment opportunities due to this project. But
this effect has not been expected to be so strong because of
the proximity of Jharia, Dhanbad and Bokaro city with its
massive employment opportunities.

ii) The project would have positive impact on consumption


behaviour by way of raising average consumption and
income through multiplier effect.

iii) The project would bring about changes in the pattern of


demand from food to non-food items as sufficient income is
generated.

iv) With increase in migration level there would be a chance of


dilution of culture in the region whereas the people located in
the project area and in close vicinity, might enjoy positive
changes in life style and better quality of life.

137
v) People perceive that the project would help in the
development of various social infrastructures.

vi) People also believe that the Project will have well planned
structure & infrastructure facilities along with community
care.

Conclusions:

Development in India has been based on the principle of the


welfare state [6]. Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R & R) issues
are very sensitive as these involve human sentiments. Success of
an R & R programme, therefore, depends on active participation
of three agencies / stakeholders – the Government, the Project
Implementation Authority (PIA) and the Project Affected Persons
(PAPs). In the process the PAPs are the most important
stakeholders and their participation goes a long way in successful
implementation of the Rehabilitation Action Plan (RAP). It is
believed that they need to be informed and also be consulted on
matters of importance to the project, and their entitlement of
compensation and choice for resettlement options. Accordingly,
along with improving the economic efficiency of the country,
priority is given to the well being of the people affected during
implementation of the project. Many novel activities have been
taken up in this project and the outcome till date are reasonably
satisfactory. The lessons learnt in have to go a long way in
enhancing the capability of the Organisation to manage the social
and environmental impacts of an opencast coal mining project.
This scheme has been followed as per the Coal India Ltd. Policy
and seems to be quite satisfactory.

Hence, the impact of the project on the pattern of demand can be


reasonably predicted as a shift from food to non-food items i.e., a
consumer behaviour which may closely follow the Engel law.
This is not a bad indication provided considerable income is
earned by them; otherwise, if the shift is a substitution of
necessary food requirements then it is not desirable in true socio-
economic sense.

138
Acknowledgement:

The authors acknowledge the support and assistance provided by


the organization like SAIL – ISP, CIMFR, PDIL, BIT Sindri, ISM
Dhanabd. The hard labour and assistance provided by the officers
and staff of SAIL – ISP, Chasnalla are also duly acknowledged.
Help & Cooperation of the local inhabitants are also greatly
acknowledged.

References:

[1] R.S. Heldin, R.W. Nairn . & R.L.P. Kleinmann. US Bureau of


Mines Information Circular 9389. US Deptt. of the Interior
Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. 1994.

[2] World Health Organization. 1989. Report of a WHO


Scientific Group. Tech. Report Series 778, Geneva, Switzerland,
1989.

[3] Hartman, Howard L., Ed. SME Mining Engineering


Handbook, 2nd ed. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining,Metallurgy,
and Exploration, Inc., 1992.

[4] Crickmer, Douglas F., and Zegeer, David A., Ed. Elements of
Practical Coal Mining, 2d ed. New York, NY: Society of Mining
Engineers, American Inst. of Mining, Metallurgical, and
Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 1981.

[5] Merritt, Roy D. Coal Exploration, Mine Planning, and


Development. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Data Corp., 1986.

[6] Bhattacharya, B.C. Proceedings of the Fifth Asia Pacific


Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conf. 2004.

139
140
141
142
Section 101
Return of Un-utilized land
2 options:
1. Return to original land owners
2. To land bank of Govt.
1. Return to original land owners/ legal heirs

143
Compensation paid to them excluding solatium shall be returned
to Govt. (Rule 20(3))-> Govt. will use it to develop waste lands.

Reference– RFCTLAR&R (COMPENSATION, REHABILITA-


TION & RESETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN)
RULES, 2015

Questions
In case of minor/major efflux of time, the
compensation money might have been consumed by
PAF
Whether there was a legal agreement to that effect (in
course of LA proceedings) that if collector opts to
return 'unutilised' acquired land, compensation money
paid/ payable to the landowners (minus solatium) will
have to be returned by land owners to the Govt.? The
quantum of efflux of time ought to have been made a
part of the agreement.
Any agreement, to that effect, ought to have been
provided for in the RFCTLARR Act itself.
What will happen if PAF refuses to refund
compensation amount to the Collector or to take back
land?
The RFCTLARR, 2013: Issues in Implementation,
Divergence and Convergence and other Acquisition Acts
Vikas Raj

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land


Acquisition Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013, came into
force by an Act of the Parliament and is being implemented since
1.1.2014.
The main features of theAct are as follows:
• Rehabilitation and Resettlement and acquisition of land shall
be taken up simultaneously.
• R&R is restoration of rights in case of displacement.
• R&R scheme to be approved alongside the Project approvals.
• Stakeholders engagement is essential
• R&R should be completed before submergence and full Land
Acquisition to be completed as per Plan.
The Act, introduced the following aspects into the field of LA and
R&R.
• Elaborate Processes including Pre-Notification procedures
such as Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Social Impact
Assessment Plan (SIMP), etc.
• Award for R&R in addition to Land compensation
• No Advance Possession (Except Strategic National purposes
and Natural calamities).
• Entitlements are enhanced (Market value has to factor in
Multiplier and, Solatium enhanced to 100%).
• Provision of Job/Cash in lieu of Job/Annuity to all Land losers
• Provision for Land for Land to Affected families, where ever
feasible.
• New Organizational Set up is necessary to operationalise the
Act.

145
CATEGORIES OF PAFS/ PDFS AND THEIR
ENTITLEMENTS

However certain issues in implementation of The Act were


encountered and from the experiences under LAAct, 1894 and the

In the absence of provision for Consent Award, undue delay


in waiting out the mandatory period.
Lengthy process with regard to conduct of SIA.
LA was being completed and there was a delay in launching
R&R initiatives.
The extent of land lost for the PAF to be entitled for R&R
benefits not spelled out.
Preparation of R&R scheme without consultations leading
to dissatisfaction among the PDFs.

146
Politically motivated groups causing hindrance to progress
of works in the name of stake holder consultation.
Indefinite and unclear timelines in implementation of R&R
leading to PDFs being suspicious about the entire process.
Delayed R&R implementation leading to new claims from
PDFs with respect to cut off date and enhanced package
rates.
No clear cut procedure and entitlements for R&R, if the
PDFs chose to settle at a place of their choice.

To circumvent the issues faced in the implementation of


RFCTLARR Act, 2013, the following critical points were
identified for the smooth implementation of LAand R&R process:

Consent award preferred.


Stakeholders consultations necessary before grounding of
project and for preparation of R&R Plan.
Integrated R&R Plan should be prepared at very early stages
of LandAcquisition.
LA and R&R should happen simultaneously. Large gaps
between the two leads to dissatisfaction and complications in
addition to, delays in the project implementation for which
land was acquired. Hence, time bound implementation of
LAPlan and R&R Plan is essential.
LA for submergence area is completed but not for canals, etc.
This gets badly delayed and leads to sub-optimal use of water
impounded.
LAunder GOMs.No.123.

Key Features – Procurement through Negotiation

For expeditious procurement of land for public projects, the


Government framed guidelines to allow land owners to willingly
sell their lands and properties for a consideration on the basis of an

147
agreement approved by the District Level Land Procurement
Committee (DLLPC) after negotiation with the land owners.

The consideration agreed by the land owners and Procuring


Agency before the DLLPC shall include the value of
land/property, perceived loss of livelihood, equivalent cost
required for R&R of willing land owners.

GO.123, aimed to procure land from willing land owners through


negotiation for a lump sum consideration inclusive of value of
property and R&R. However no provisions were provided for
R&R of other than land owners which was included through
GOMs.No.190, Dt:10.08.2016.

An area of Ac53,746.22 cents was procured under this process


before it was challenged before the Hon'ble High Court and the
Govt. was directed not to procure further lands using the said
provisions of the GO vide interim judgment Dt:5.1.2017.

Why the amendment?

With the issues being faced during implementation of LA and


R&R and the Government taking a strong initiative to pioneer and
complete various Irrigation and Industrial projects to drive forth
the economy and to provide irrigated land to the parched farmers,
an amendment was felt needed to the existing RFCTLARR Act,
2013 for the following reasons:

to reduce time needed and the procedures involved


to exempt projects from Social Impact Assessment where
ever required.
Exemption of Chapter-III, for Irrigation projects, regarding
safeguard of food security as irrigation increases food
security.
The LAAct of 1894 featured consent award. But there is no

148
provision of consent award in RFCTLARR Act 2013. Hence
consent provisions are brought in through Section 23A.
Telangana has procured land through negotiations under
G.O.Ms.No.123. This provision has been incorporated in the
shape of Section 30Aof theAmendment Act 2016.
R&R entitlements as per the Schedule II and III, although
extremely generous, are time consuming and most displaced
families expressed their opinion to take lumpsum
compensation in cash and settle at a place of their choice as
per provisons of Section 31A.

Features of RFCTLARR (Telangana Amendment)Act 2016


The Act shall be deemed to have come into effect on 1st
January,2014.

1. Insertion of Chapter III A – Provisions of Chapter II


(Determination of Social Impact and Public Purpose) and
Chapter III (Special Provision to Safeguard Food Security)
not to apply to certain projects as notified by the State
Government.

Such Projects include the following:

Projects of national security.


Infrastructure including electrification, irrigation projects.
Affordable housing and housing for poor.
Industrial Corridors.
Public private partnership projects.
2. The Collector may make an award without further enquiry, if
satisfied that all interested persons have agreed in writing for
such award.
3. Voluntary Acquisition of land: Insertion of Sec 30A –
Acquisition of land by State Government by entering into
agreement.

149
Main Features:

The State Government or its Authorized Officer to enter into


an agreement with the willing land owner to sell the land in
favour of the state, for any public purpose.
The State Government to pay a lumpsum amount towards
Rehabilitation and Resettlement to any family, other than
land owners, who are affected by acquisition.
Such amount paid in lump sum in lieu of Rehabilitation and
Resettlement, not to be abnormally at variance to the
disadvantage of land owners.

4. If any family is affected by land acquisition, the State


Government to pay a lumpsum amount towards
Rehabilitation and Resettlement.

5. Amount wrongfully paid to any person under this Act, shall


be recovered as arrears of land revenue.

6. Return of unutilized land to original owners/ heirs after the


period specified for setting up of the project or five years
whichever is later.

Entitlements under RFCTLARR


(Telangana Amendment) Act 2016

150
TYPES OFAWARD

GeneralAward:

Land can be acquired through General award for land, structures


and solatium, as per Sec 23, 26, 29 & 30, duly following the
151
prescribed timeline of 60 days between PN and PD publication
and 30days from the date of issue of notice u/s 21 to the date of
award enquiry. The awardees may approach the Authority for
enhancement after receiving the amount under protest as per Sec
64 of theAct.

ConsentAward u/s 23A:

Telangana Amendment Act, 2016, provides for Consent Award


duly following the timelines of General Award. Where land
owners, express willingness compensation can be finalised in
DLLPC through negotiation and agreement in Form GI & GII for
land owners/ other than land owners respectively and award can be
pronounced. The option for the awardees to approach any civil
forum/ court/Authority is preempted.

VoluntaryAcquisition u/s 30A:

After PN, if the land owner/ other than land owners expresses their
willingness in Form EI &EII. The compensation can be finalised
in the DLLPC by negotiation and agreement in Form GIII & GIV
and orders issued. Such orders are published in the District Gazette
for vesting the title and ownership in the State. The prescribed
timelines of 60days & 30days need not be adhered to. No option
for the awardees to approach any civil forum/ court/Authority.

RULES NOTIFIED UNDER THEAMENDMENTACT, 2016

Telangana State Land Acquisition (Consent Award, Voluntary


Acquisition and Lump-sum Payment towards Rehabilitation and
Resettlement) Rules, 2017, notified by the Government vide
GO.Ms.No.120 Revenue(JA&LA) Dept, Dt: 30.06.2017. The
salient features of these rules are:

Power of State Government under Sec-10A of the Act to


exempt a project for provisions of Chapter II & III of the Act,
2013.
ConsentAward under Sec-23A.

152
Voluntary Acquisition (Sale) of land under Sec 30A.
Lumpsum payment towards Rehabilitation and Resettlement
under Sec 31A.

The forms notified under these rules are:

FORM – A – Notification of Exemption of Project from


application of provisions of Chapter- II and Chapter – III of the
Act
FORM – B – Requisition for Land Acquisition to be
submitted by the Requisitioning Agency
FORM–C –Notification under Section 11 of the Act where
10A exemption is given
FORM–D –Notice calling for claims for settlement through
Negotiation Committee
FORM–EI –Affidavit to be executed by Land owners
FORM–EII –Affidavit to be executed by persons other than
Land owners
FORM–F –Notification by the District Collector
FORM–GI –Agreement with land owners – Consent Award
u/s 23A
FORM–GII –Agreement with persons other than land owners
– ConsentAward u/s 23A
FORM–GIII –Agreement with land owners - Voluntary
Acquisition (Sale) of Land
FORM–GIV –Agreement with persons other than land
owners -VoluntaryAcquisition (Sale) of Land

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

The following guidelines have been issued for common problems


at the field level.

1. Payment of compensation to purchasers of assigned lands:


Purchasers of assigned lands are eligible for compensation
subject to provisions of Sec 4(1) (b) of POTAct, 2008.
2. Waiting for expiry of 60 days period after publication of
PN:

153
As Form C and Form D are intended for calling the person
interested for settlement by negotiation, further process can
be taken up without the completion of mandatory 60 days.
3. R&R benefits to land owners and other than land owners
where there is no displacement.
As per R&R entitlements specified under Telangana
AmendmentAct, 2016.
4. Procedure for estimation of dwelling homes cattlesheds in
land under acquisition.
For land occupied by homestead, the compensation shall be
paid upto 10 Guntas land on yardage basis and balance on
acreage basis.
5. Payment of compensation to patta lands situated in tank
beds.
The compensations to the patta lands within the FTL shall be
paid on par with other patta lands.
1. Payment of compensation to non-tribals for Government
land encroached.
The exgratia to be paid to the maximum of 5 acres as
determined by the District Collector.
7. Payment of compensation for crop damage.
The compensation for crop damage shall be paid for 1 crop as
per the estimate prepaid by the Agriculture/Horticulture dept.,
as one time settlement to land owners.
8. Issue of Preliminary Notification under Act, 2013 and
TelanganaAmendmentAct, 2016.
Only one Preliminary Notification as per Sec-11(1) in
sufficient either in Form- VI (as per Act,2013) or in Form-C
(as per Telangana Amendment Act, 2016) for passing orders
for voluntary purchase, consent award and general award..
9. Modification of approved R&R Scheme.
After approval of Draft R&R Scheme by Comm. R&R, the
District Collector may modify the approved R&R Scheme
(except no.of PDFs) subject to conformity to the overall
approved scheme and availability of budget.

154
Comparative Per PDF cost of R&R under Act, 2013 and
Telanganan Amendment Act, 2016

• Housing as per existing PMAY norms


• Where applicable

STATUS OF LAND ACQUISITION FOR IRRIGATION


PROJECT IN TELANGANA (From 2004 to 2018)

Requisition received Ac.4,29,847.12


cents
Total land acquired Ac.3,70,685.96
cent
LAunder LAAct, 1894 & 2013 Ac.2,77,333.14
cents
LAunder GOMs.No.123 Ac.53,680.17 cents
LAunder TelanganaAmndtAct,2016 Ac.39,672.65 cents
Balance to be acquired Ac.59,161.16 cents

155
POST LAACTIVITIES:

1. UPDATION OF DATAIN LAWEBSITE

The Land Acquisition data related to 82 Irrigation Projects is


being uploaded in the Irrigation Portal. The details of individual
lands acquired, compensation paid, details of structure
compensation are captured in the website. The project wise,
District/village wise individual PDF/PAF data to be uploaded in
the Website.

Objectives of Land Acquisition Module:

• Real time Data Entry on Land Acquisition for each project to


accelerate and accurate decision making.
• Data synchronisation and avoid duplicity.
• To automate the LA requisition proposals for acquisition and
regulate payment processes.
• Provide integration with other modules like BMS etc.
SiteAddress: http://irrigationpms.cgg.gov.in/pms/

2. UPDATION OF DATAINTO R&R WEBSITE

R&R website captures all the PAF/ PDF wise particulars of a


particular habitation affected under a project and presents the
R&R benefits to be paid to the PAF/ PDF along with the amenities
to be provided to them in Resettlement areas.

Objectives of R&R website:

• Real time entry data entry of R&R particulars of each


PAF/PDF for each project
• To facilitate timely decision making and speedy completion
of the R&R process.
• Data authenticity and integration with LA website to avoid
duplication.
• To create a digital platform for entry and scrutiny of data at
various levels.

156
• Transparency in R&R process and to regulate the
disbursement of entitlements in a systematic manner.
SiteAddress: http://test.cgg.gov.in/randr

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182
Application of Social Impact Assessment under
RFCTLARR Act, 2013 in Urban Transport Projects:
Insights from Metro Rail in India
Sanjay K.Pradhan62
Abstract

The infrastructure projects are important for faster economic


growth and alleviation of poverty in the country. The adequate
infrastructure in the form of road, rail, ports, power, airports and
their efficient working is also needed for integration of the Indian
economy with other economies of the world. However, most of the
infrastructure projects come with undesirable results in addition to
its advantageous outcomes. These undesirable results are emerged
in different themes such as social, cultural, economic and
environmental aspects. As a result, it is important to predict and
prevent the unwanted results of projects in order to achieve
inclusive and sustainable development. Social Impact Assessment
and meaningful public consultation in development decisions
have received increasing attention from the social scientists,
policy makers, Non-Government Organisation, international
financial institutions and development practitioners as possible
ways to address adverse social impacts of development
projects.SIA identifies the consequences of development projects
and it aims to notify decision makers to prevent unintended
impacts. Urban transportation development is not apart from other
infrastructure development projects, so its social impacts should
be assessed. Metro rail network as a transportation system plays a
critical role in urban transportation and its development has a
special importance. In this paper, an attempt has been made to
examine the SIA instructions, social impacts, mitigation measures
of Ahmadabad metro rail project in India. It argues that identifying
and addressing social issues at an early stage of the project and
integrating them into resettlement management can increase the
possibility of project success.

62
Senior Social Safeguard Specialist, Environment Division, RITES LTD, A
Govt. of India (Ministry of Railways) Enterprise, Gurgaon-122 001.E-
mail:dr.spradhan2010@gmail.com

183
Introduction

Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad are located 32 km from each other


and are well connected through highways and are rapidly
becoming a contiguous urban area. Its strategic geographical
location, multilingual and cosmopolitan culture, tremendous
growth potential and investment-friendly economic policy are all
making it an attractive destination for corporates, entrepreneurs,
academicians and homemakers alike. The population of the twin
cities has touched 65 lakh in 2014 and is expected to reach 8.64
million by 2020. The increasing pressure of the growing
population is putting twin city's transportation system under
constant pressure. It requires faster transportation to avoid delay
in work and to avoid decongestions in the twin cities. The
Government of Gujarat has identified metro mode of transport as
efficient, economically viable and environmentally friendly mass
transport system to meet the future transportation requirement in
Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar cities.

Metro link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA), a


special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Government of India and
Government of Gujarat, was formed in 2009 for development and
operation of metro rail facility in the twin cities of Ahmedabad
and Gandhinagar. MEGA desires to build the metro rail system by
adopting adequate environmental standards to provide for the
protection of the people and the environment. It is proposed that
the metro project will be taken up in phases. The detailed project
report(DPR) for the Phase-I corridor was prepared by Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation (DMRC) and approved in March 2015.
According to the DPR (2014), the total length of the route is
37.734 km which include 31.399 kms elevated and 6.335kms
underground section having 32 metro stations along the route. The
proposed metro alignment provides north-south connectivity in
Ahmedabad city from APMC to Motera Stadium running along
the Ashram road on most of the sections. The other corridor
Thaltej to Vastral provides east to west connectivity and passes
through important nodes of Kalupur, Ashram road, Thaltej and

184
Industrial areas on the east of Ahmedabad. The stations shall be
accessible from both sides of the road in order to better serve the
catchment area.

The proposed metro project will contribute to inclusive growth


and environmentally sustainable development in Ahmadabad city
by improving the efficiency and sustainability of urban transport.
As per the Government of India regulations and Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) policy requirements, a
Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study was carried out during the
design stage of the project. In this paper, an attempt has been made
to examine the SIA instructions, social impacts, mitigation
measures ofAhmadabad metro rail project in India.

Approach and Methodology

The SIA has been prepared in accordance with the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in land acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013(RFCTLARR
Act,2013), and JICA guidelines for Environmental and Social
Consideration 2011. A participatory approach was adopted for
establishing the social baseline and undertaking the SIA study. An
attempt was made to integrate local community perspectives into
the impact assessment process and identification of the mitigation
measures. The methodology used for SIA study was designed
based on objective and scope of the study. Accordingly, the
exercise was based on both use of secondary information and
primary data collection through door to door household surveys
and community level information gathering. For primary level
information gathering and data collection, pre-tested
questionnaires, focus group discussion, key informants interview,
stakeholder consultation and public hearing were used. The
primary data collection exercise was supported by careful
examining of project area map and project details, Government
census data, land records, district gazetteers and other
administrative records and other official documents to validate
the field findings.

185
The field visits and studies were conducted during
September–October 2014.The study team visited the sites to
verify the alignment drawings on the ground and identify the
affected areas. After identifying the affected areas the study team
consulted with different stakeholders at the project area and
organized meetings with them to generate awareness about the
project. The census and socio-economic survey of the probable
project affected persons (PAPs) within the proposed corridor of
impact (CoI) was carried out to provide requisite details on the
PAPs to further assess the magnitude of likely impacts and to
identify measures for mitigation of adverse impacts. The survey
included (i) full census of households, other physical units (shops,
community units, etc.);(ii)socio-economic survey of the
enumerated households;(iii) community based public
consultation. The survey identified the households, commercial
and business enterprises and common property resources within
the project corridor of impact (private and public), and other
facilities. The trained investigators collected a wide range of data,
for example, demography, age/sex distribution, education,
occupation, income/poverty data, types of businesses, types and
ownership status of affected structures and other assets,
ownership of the assets to be affected, choice of relocation,
assistance for rehabilitation, etc. through administering a pre-
tested questionnaire. The data were later shared with the
communities to cross-check if anyone has been left out due to
some reasons or if extra counting has been done. During social
survey stakeholder consultations were conducted at different
levels namely individual, group, community, and institutional
level. A public consultation was conducted at city level after one
month of submitting the draft SIA report to share the main
findings of the SIA Study and seek views on findings, additional
information and views of all stakeholders and affected families.
The entire field data collection was guided and supervised by the
Social Development Specialist of the project.

186
Results and Discussion
SIABackground and Instructions

The social sciences have long been interested in the impacts to


social and economic systems wrought by large industrial, land-
use, and environmental changes. Beginning in the early 1970s, a
formalized set of practices and procedures called Social Impact
Assessment (SIA) emerged to document and/or predict the socio-
economic impacts from such large-scale projects (Jeffrey &
Jacquet,2014).The origins of SIA largely derive from the
environmental impact assessment (EIA) model, which was
presented by the United State National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) legislation in 1969. SIA has become standard practice in
environment field (Kaul, 1999). By early 1990s,the practice of
SIA got firmly established among development agencies as a way
to assess the impacts of development projects before their
lunch(ADB,1993).SIA is now part of formal planning processes
in most development organizations(Jacob,1998).SIA has become
a legal requirement in some countries. Although SIAs have been
carried out for variety of projects like mines, urban transport
systems, water, sanitation and health and livelihood support
projects, but it is particularly found useful for resettlement
projects.

In India, SIAwas carried out in the beginning as a part of EIA. As a


part of EIA process it has not been given adequate attention by the
project developer. SIAwas introduced by the multilateral agencies
like World Bank and Asian Development Bank for the purpose of
processing the loan to the government. SIA as a planning tool was
officially mandated for the first time when the Government of
India issued a new resettlement and rehabilitation policy in 2007,
replacing the earlier policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation-
2004.The new policy made a provision for conducting SIA
whenever a new project or expansion of an existing project is
undertaken. This was then seen as major development, but no
closer examination it turned to be not as promising as it seemed as
first sight. The emphasis on SIA was primarily on counting loss of
physical assets not social impacts (Mathur, 2016).It was found

187
that SIA was not integrated into the process of resettlement
planning in India.

Due to unanimity of opinion across the social and political


spectrum that the current policy suffers from various
shortcomings like forced acquisition, low rates of compensation,
no compensation for livelihood losers (non-titleholders) and
litigation, a new law has now come into effect under the name of
“The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013(Pradhan,
2014). This Central Act is to ensure a humane, participative,
informed and transparent process for land acquisition for
development of essential infrastructural facilities,
industrialization and urbanization with least disturbance to the
owners of the land and other affected families and provide just and
fair compensation to the affected families. In order to establish a
comprehensive, participative and meaningful process of land
acquisition in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, the Government of
India issued the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in
Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social
Impact Assessment and Consent) Rules, 2014 on 8th August.
Prior to the acquisition of land Section 4 of the Act mandates
conduct of a social impact assessment study of the affected area to
study the impacts of the project. To ensure effective SIA, it
provides for public consultation, hearing and prior consent of a
majority local landowners (80 per cent of land owners in case of
private project and 70 per cent for public-private partnership
projects).The law addresses serious injustices in the earlier
practice, where the State could take away an individual's home,
farm or occupational rights by exercising the power of eminent
domain. SIA is the only mechanism today to address the impacts
of acquisition on the livelihoods of all those who do not own land
but are dependent on it. It provides for constitution of expert group
for evaluation of SIAreport (GoI, 2013).
.
The Rules require the state or the central government to establish a
SIA unit to ensure that SIAs are commissioned and conducted by
such person or bodies other than the Requiring Body. This is a

188
critical provision for maintaining the credibility of the SIA. It
allows the SIA team to include independent practitioners,
academics, qualified social activists, and mandate the inclusion of
at least one woman member. There are several other important
provisions including the time period of SIA (six months),
recording the views of the affected families in writing, involving
local voluntary organizations and media in the public hearings,
recording and considering in the SIA every objection raised in the
public hearings, the SIA and public hearings to be in local
language and a web-based flow management information system
of the acquisition process. Where land is acquired, fair
compensation shall be paid promptly to all persons affected in
accordance with sections 28, 29 and 30 of the Act (GoI, 2014).
For the proposed metro rail project social impact assessment has
been conducted and mitigation measures have been developed in
accordance with the RFCTLARR, Act, 2013.

Identifying Social Impacts of the Project

Information elicited through a multipronged strategy highlighted


that the land and structures holders were unanimous in welcoming
the development of metro rail in the city and were ready to
relinquish the land. At the same time they expressed certain
concerns that could affect/impact their social and economic life
due to the acquisition of land. The following provides the major
anticipated impacts (both positive and negative) of the proposed
project:

(i) Negative Impacts

The proposed Metro project shall require land for different


purposes. Land is mainly required for stations, running section,
depot, staff quarters, office complex, receiving substation
(RSS), and mid shaft. Land required for temporary office
accommodation, segment casting yard shall be required
temporarily. Acquisition of land shall make affected families
landless, houseless, and jobless in most of the cases. Therefore,
every effort has been made to keep land requirements to the

189
barest minimum by realigning the alignments away from
private property / human habitation. After planning, the land
requirement is kept at minimum and particularly, acquisition of
private land was avoided.

The project will involve acquisition of 898191 sqm. Out of the


total land requirement, 846578 sqm is government land and
only 51613 sqm is under private acquisition. However, the
project will acquire very less private land (5.75 per cent) of
total permanent land acquisition. Total land required for
temporary acquisition is 154381 sqm. which assumed that it
will be government open land.

Table 1:Overall Social Impacts of Project

190
Impact on Properties

There are 1047 properties likely to be affected. Out of the total


properties, 1043 are residential and commercial structures and
remaining four properties are open land and agricultural land. Out
of the total properties affected, 548 are residential, 351 are
commercial including one industrial unit at Rabari colony, and 144
are residential cum commercial. 545 properties are in government
land and 502 properties are in private land. Most of the properties
are found in government land. In East-West corridor, 239
properties are inApparel Park and 81 are in Vastral and these are all
squatters have been staying in government land since 20 to 30
years. Similarly in North-South corridor majority of squatters are
found in Gyaspur Depot and Ranip. Out of total 1047 structures,
204 are partially affected and 843 are fully affected. Out of the
total properties 737 properties are not viable after acquisition and
demolition. People need to vacate the total area of these properties.
About 351 are kutcha, 556 are pucca, 114 are semi-pucca and 26
are temporary properties. Majority of properties are pucca in East-
West corridor whereas majority of properties are kutcha in North-
South corridor.

Impact on Families & Persons

There are 1047 families consisting 3597 persons affected due to


the proposed metro rail project. Out of total affected families, 843
families will be displaced in which 502 shall be displaced
physically and 338 shall be displaced economically. There are 499
titleholders (480 owners and 19 lease holders) and 548 non-
titleholders (402 squatters, 88 tenants, 56 kiosks and two
encroachers).

Impact on Vulnerable Group

As per the JICA guidelines vulnerable group is defined as


indigenous people, ethnic minorities, the poorest, women, the
aged, the disabled and other socially/economically vulnerable
groups who would be adversely affected from a project.As regards

191
vulnerability among PAFs, there are 541 families consisting 2094
persons who belong to vulnerable category. Out of these three
families are women headed households, 174 families are
scheduled castes, 126 are scheduled tribes, 52 families are below
the line of poverty including women headed households, and 35
families having disability people.

Impact on Business /Livelihood activities

Out of 1047 PAFs, 338 PAFs have business establishments falling


under the direct project impact corridor and they shall be
economically displaced. Majority of them are involved in selling
of garments, small mobile kiosk, household items,
workshop/garage, tea stall, restaurant, manufacturing etc.
Business loss to these establishments may be inferred from the
income earned from these sources. Nearly half of the business
properties earn less than Rs.15,000 per month, as reported during
the census survey. Another 28 per cent PAFs earns between
Rs.15000 to Rs.25000 per month. 12 per cent of the PAFs claimed
to be earning more than hundred thousands from these properties.
It is observed from the data that all of 338 PAFs will be losing
quoted income accruing from the affected business properties.

Impact on Women

The SIA results showed that due to development of proposed


metro rail project in Ahmadabad city, about 1047 families
consisting 3597 persons would be affected. Among the affected
persons nearly half were women members. A total of three female
headed households, 1521 women members were affected. The sex
ratio was found to be 733 females against 1000 males in project
area. As compared to State figure of 919, the sex ratio found in the
project area was quite low. Women in the project area mostly
involved in, house work, labour work and managing small shops
and only small portion of women are involved in private jobs. It is
observed that women are hard working in bringing in income to
the family. There is predictability of negative impacts as a result of
relocation or loss of livelihood and that may affect the women

192
social relationships, adjustments in running a household in a
different setting with lesser earnings. All this can result in the
women opting for voluntary work to supplement income, which
could lead to vulnerabilities that may affect her social, economic,
physical and emotional health. It is, thus, imperative that women
are required to be involved as full-fledged participants taking part
at all the stages of the project starting from planning through
implementation and even at the post project stages

Impact on Tribal People

About 12 per cent of total project affected families are tribal and
they are found in the project area no longer live in forests/hills. The
tribal population has integrated with the main stream population.
Few of them fall within the category of below poverty line. If any
adverse impacts on tribal people are identified during
implementation, the project proponent will ensure that an
indigenous peoples plan is prepared in accordance with the Right
to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and JICA's Involuntary
Resettlement Policy and it will be approved by Government of
Gujarat and JICAbefore award of the related civil works contract.

Impact on Community Assets and Cultural Resources

Survey for the identification of structures related to community


property resources was conducted along the proposed alignment
with an objective of identifying structures of common property
resources such as public toilet, wells, bore wells, places of
worship, educational institution, health centers etc. and other
structures such as roads, government buildings, expected to be
affected by the proposed alignment. Common property resources
are divided into government structures and community owned
structures associated with public use.

The project shall impact total 36 community structures. Out of the


total, 11 are religious structures and 11 are community

193
structures(two public toilets, two educational institutions, two
health centers and five bus stops) and remaining 14 are other
structures(i.e., boundary walls). Out of the total religious
structures, five are fully affected and six are partially affected. Of
the total community structures, two toilets, two educational and
two health centers and five bus stops are fully affected.

Employment Loss of Wage Earner

Census data identifies a total of 139 PAPs who are wage earners
and likely to lose existing employment opportunities because of
project related impacts. Nearly 56 percent of the wage earner
PAPs report of earning less than Rs.10,000 per month. Only about
6 per cent of the PAPs (in wage earner category) have monthly
income above Rs.15,000.

(i) Positive Impacts

The metro project shall contribute to reduce in road traffic and


road stress, fuel consumption, air pollution, travel time, vehicle
operating cost, accidents and road maintenance. The metro
project shall increase mobility, better accessibility to facilitates
the influence area, increase economic stimulation in the micro
region of infrastructure, increase social wellbeing, increase
business opportunities, improve aesthetics and image of the city.
Overall the metro rail project shall change the transportation face
ofAhmadabad and Gandhinagar city.

Views of the respondents revealed that there are some positive


benefits of the metro project. About 42 per cent of respondents
agreed that there will be an increase in business and employment
opportunities in the area and 35 per cent feel that condition of
transport system in the city will be improved and property value
will be increased. They believe that the metro development may
decrease accidents and green house gas emission.

194
Social Mitigation Measures

The social mitigation measures were corresponded to all main


issues identified in the social assessment that are described in the
following sub-sections: (i)Resettlement by social relationship,
(ii)provision of income and livelihood restoration assistance,
(iii)provision of community resources and cultural sites, (iv)
measures to address gender issues,(v) Provisions for Schedule
Caste and Scheduled Tribe, (vi) provision for mobility of disabled
people, (vii) provision of public infrastructures,(viii)provision of
training, institutional strengthening and capacity building
programme and (ix) monitoring and evaluation programme. The
details are summarized as follows:

Resettlement by social relationship

In order to maintain the existing social relationship it is proposed


that the resettlement of affected persons communities be
implemented in the following framework: (a) relocation of
affected persons community should be made as the whole area to
settle together in the new resettlement colony;(b) those of same
ethnic group community should be placed close together in the
new resettlement colony and (c) communities and households
from the same neighborhood should be placed next to each other
to the maximum extent.

Provision of income and livelihood restoration assistance

Restoration of pre-project levels of income is an important part of


rehabilitating in affected communities. The project policy has
many provisions in it for restoration of income of affected persons
with an aim of improving the socio-economic conditions of PAPs.
In addition to this, the project will facilitate in taking full
advantage of existing government schemes by the affected
persons. The NGO will coordinate with various departments to
integrate with over all project scenarios. The project has provision
of training to upgrade the skill level and one time economic
rehabilitation grant to vulnerable families in re-establishing
themselves economically.

195
Measures to address gender issues

In order to design an effective and sustainable urban transport


project, it's social and gender dimensions must be taken into
consideration at an early stage of the project(Pradhan,2018).
Gender sensitive measures are taken to enhance the project
positive benefits and minimize the potential negative impacts. In
the planning and design stage, the project has all the hall marks of
moving from the minimum compliance framework towards
empowerment, whereby women have the opportunity to
participate in the consultation process and various measures have
been put in place such as job opportunities for women in the
construction, operation and maintenance of the metro rail system,
equal wage, training and benefit from livelihood restoration
programs. Specific provisions in the construction camp for
women like temporary housing, health care, day crèche facilities,
proper scheduling of construction works, and control on child
labour etc have been considered in the design of the project to help
all the women and children living in the construction camp.

Provisions for Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe

In order to restore and enhance the economic conditions of


affected scheduled castes and scheduled tribes people, adequate
compensation and various resettlement and rehabilitation
assistances are incorporated in the resettlement action plan as per
the RFCTLARR Act,2013. There is also a large number of State
and Central Government schemes targeted at these population and
annually budget allocation is made to finance special programmes
for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes development. The
project proponent will play an important role to link these welfare
schemes for the development of these people. If any adverse
impacts on tribal people are identified during implementation, the
project proponent will ensure that an indigenous peoples plan is
prepared in accordance with the Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act, 2013 and JICA's Involuntary Resettlement
Policy and it will be approved by Government of Gujarat and JICA
before award of the related civil works contract.

196
Provision for mobility of disabled people

The issue of accessibility for the elderly and disabled is an


important one in any urban transport project. Based on Ministry of
Urban Development guideline disabled friendly features will be
provided both at stations and in rolling stock and these features
being part of detailed project report would be implemented in the
proposed project. Access to the stations would be through
entrance located on each side of the road and a ramp with a gentle
slop would be provided to enable the disabled as well as the blind
to reach the entry to the stations. Further lifts (disabled friendly),
tactile flooring etc. would be provided to enable access up to
platform and thereon to coaches with earmarked places behind
driver cabs(MEGA, 2014).

Provision of community and religious structures

Community and religious structures should be replaced in


consultation with the community. Losses which cannot be
replaced have to be compensated or replaced by a comparable or
better resource.

Provision of training, institutional strengthening and capacity


building programme

The success and sustainability of resettlement programme for


metro project depends primarily among other thing, on the
capacity of management bodies and PAPs themselves. It is thus
proposed that comprehensive programme, for training,
institutional strengthening and capacity building programme be
conducted for various groups of stakeholders who are directly
concerned with the implementation and management of
resettlement plan of proposed metro project.

Monitoring and evaluation programme

Implementation of resettlement action plan will be monitored by


internally and evaluated by externally. MEGA will be responsible

197
for internal monitoring whereas mid and end term evaluation will
be conducted by independent evaluation consultant. The SMU of
MEGA is responsible for supervision and implementation of the
RAP and will prepare monthly progress reports on resettlement
activities. Independent Evaluation Agency/Consultant will
submit mid and end term evaluation report to MEGA and JICA
and determine whether resettlement goals have been achieved,
more importantly whether livelihoods and living standards have
been restored/ enhanced and suggest suitable recommendations
for improvement.

ResettlementAction Plan

Resettlement action plan of proposed metro rail project was


prepared based on social impact assessment. These programs are
summarized as followings: (a) census to establish cut-of-date and
eligibility of entitlement, (b) public participation and consultation
during design and implementation of RAP, (c) grievance
procedures and mechanism to redress grievance, (d) relocation
and resettlement site plan,(e) income and livelihood restoration
programme, (f) institutional arrangement, (g) time period of
implementation, (h) resettlement cost estimate and (i) monitoring
and evaluation.

The objective of the project is to build the metro rail system by


adopting adequate environmental standards to provide for the
protection of the people and the environment. The SIA was
intended to see how project social impacts would affect the people
and local community and how positive impacts might be
enhanced and the negative impacts avoided, minimized or
mitigated. The main findings of this review are (i) the SIA team
made a sincere effort to examine the SIA instructions, social
impacts and mitigation measures by employing a combination of
established methods of social investigation, (ii) the affected
community received adequate opportunity to participate in the
SIA process and provided valuable suggestions to address various
social issues, (iii) the study revealed that community opinions and
value collected through social impact assessment significantly

198
influenced the final outcome of the process. The study concludes
that application of SIA is essentially needed for achieving success
in project management.

Conclusion

The paper acknowledges the importance of SIA under


RFCTLARR Act, 2013 for addressing social impacts in design
and implementation of metro rail project. SIA is now an essential
requirement of development planning under the RFCTLARR
Act, 2013. The provisions of SIA in the new law are a step in the
right direction (Mathur, 2016). The development of metro rail
project has both positive and negative impacts. The full range of
social impacts and benefits were identified and their magnitude
assessed in detail through a formal SIA process. The major social
impacts would be loss of residential and commercial land, impact
on families, vulnerable group and women, impact on tribal
people, loss of business and employment, loss of community and
cultural assets etc. In order to address these negative impacts
social mitigation measures were corresponded through (i)
adequate compensation (ii) resettlement of social
relationship,(iii) provision of income and livelihood restoration
assistance,(iv) measures to address gender issues,(v) provision of
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes,(vi) provision of mobility
of disabled people, (vii) provision of community resources and
cultural sites, (viii) provision of training, institutional
strengthening and capacity building and (ix) implementing of
monitoring and evaluation programmes. Stakeholders'
participation was considered as fundamental to effectively
addressing social issues in the design process. A project specific
RAP has been prepared in accordance with the RFCTLARR Act,
2013 and JICA guideline's for environmental and social
consideration and it is based on the results of SIA study. From this
study, some good set of lesions have been learnt in a variety of
areas are as follows (i) different affected social groups with
different interests have been considered separately, (ii) public
hearing/consultation of SIA,(iii) appraisal of SIA report by an
expert group,(iv) good institutional arrangement (MEGA, Social

199
Management Unit, Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation, NGO,
Independent Evaluation Agency, Implementation Support
Consultant, Grievance Redress Committee in different
levels),(iv) applying both international and national regulations
on compensation and resettlement of development projects.

Although SIA is recognized as important and mandatory under


RFCTLARR Act, 2013, it is yet to be established SIA unit by the
State Government. It is important to integrate the resettlement and
rehabilitation plan with National Skill Development Mission
(NSDM) to capacitate the affected people for new sets of
livelihood options (Samanta & Shireesh, 2015). For successful
completion of the project it is required to identify and address
social issues at an early stage of the project and integrate them into
resettlement and rehabilitation management plan and make
resettlement as development in the holistic approach. Finally, SIA
report which is the final document after the SIA process has been
completed should not been seen as a document of project
approvals and permits but it should be a core component of the
design process as it should inform the final option selection and
design.

Acknowledgement

Author is thankful to Sh.Amit Kumar Gupta, Chief General


Manager,GMRC and Sh.B.V.M.Rao,Group General Manager,
RITES for providing permission and support for writing this
paper. Special thanks to the local people for their cooperation in
data collection as well as providing valuable information.

References:

ADB.1993.Guidelines for incorporation for social dimensions in


bank operations.Manila: Asian Development Bank.
GoI(Government of India). 2007. The National Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Policy 2007 New Delhi: Ministry of Rural
Development.

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GoI(Government of India).2013. Press Note on Poverty
Estimates 2011-12 New Delhi: Planning Commission.
GoI(Government of India). 2013. The Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 New Delhi: Ministry of
Rural Development.
GoI(Government of India). 2014. The Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social Impact Assessment and
Consent) Rules 2014 New Delhi: Ministry of Rural Development.
Jacob,S.(1998). World Bank Experience with Social Assessment:
Practice at a Turning Point. Paper presented at the April meeting
of the InternationalAssociation for Impact Assessment (IAIA).
Jacquet, J.B. (2014). A History of Social Impact Assessment.
Department of Sociology and Rural Studies, South Dakota State
University. http:// headwaterseconomics.org/.../Energy_
Monitoring_GarfieldCounty.pdf (accessed 18 September 2015).
Kaul, Inge.(1999). Introduction: Steps towards social progress in
the new millennium, International Social Sciences Journal
(Policy option for Social Development), L1(4):425-36.
Metro link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmadabad (MEGA)
Company Ltd.2014. Social Impact Assessment for Ahmadabad
Metro Rail Project (Phase-1), Ahmadabad.
Mathur, H.M.(2016).' Assessing the Social Impact of
Development Projects: Experience in India and other Asian
Countries. Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, and
London: Springer.
Pradhan, S.(2014).Development Projects and Displacement of
Tribals', in Paul N.(Ed),Development, Displacement and
Marginalization, VSS Publication.
Pradhan,S.(2018).Gender Issues in Project Design :A case of
Metro Rail in India. Journal of Resources, Energy and
Development, 15(1&2):13-23.
Samanta,D. & Shireesh. (2015). Social Impact Assessment of

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Projects involving Land acquisition in India: Implications of
RFCTLARR Act, 2013. Journal of Management & Public Policy,
7(1):27-35.

202
Land Acquisition: The Lessons from Singur

Sandip Mitra63

Abstract

Land Acquisition had been a focal theme of discussion in the


policy circles of Developing countries since long. It is well known
that land owned by Governments being inadequate for
development (especially industrialisation and infrastructure
building), land acquisition policy has been resorted to by
Governments. While this is often termed as infringement of the
property rights of people, the other school of thought reiterates the
need for optimal compensation. Current paper highlights the work
on Land acquisition for industrialisation undertaken on “Singur”
by Ghatak, Mitra,Mookherjee and Nath (EPW2013) which tried
to address the problems of land acquisition with a focus on optimal
compensation policy. The paper concludes with some
recommendations based on some of the related studies
undertaken.

Introduction:

The Problem of land acquisition for development has been a focal


theme of discussion worldwide in the academic and policy circles
in the last few decades. The problem has been more severe in land
scarce, highly populated developing countries as there have been
disagreements among the stake holders on multiple issues
touching the life and living of the common people. While
Governments have been promoting rapid
urbanisation/industrialisation to ensure development, a
considerable section of resident population (generally poor) feels
increasingly insecure and perceive the same as a threat of due to
displacement. World Bank Reports (various issues), FAO Reports
(various issues) have mentioned the experience of several
countries in the world over the years.
63
Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Trunk Road, Kolkata, West
Bengal

203
The need to device an optimal compensation policy and address
the property rights related questions have been spelt out by the
Economists and the policy makers throughout the world. Several
Research papers (Theoretical and Empirical) have been
developed in the field. One may refer to Besley (1995), Ghatak,
Mookherjee (2014), Eswaran(1985) to understand the complexity
involved in the process of land acquisition and offering
compensations.

Disputes among rural communities affected by land acquisition


have been widely observed in India as well as various countries in
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa since long (Cao et al 2008). As the
land acquisition problem is localised in nature, it may be more
meaningful to concentrate on one of the specific land acquisitions
undertaken by the Government in the past for an in-depth study.
The current paper would be mainly based on the study undertaken
by the author with Ghatak, Mookherjee and Nath in 2013 to
understand the underlying reasons behind the Singur land
acquisition problem. In this connection a few steps on rural
development would be suggested referring to other studies
undertaken with a group of Economists.

In the Singur study two opposing views have been dealt with. The
first view has been that the government had paid less
compensation than expected and the same generated discontent in
the area. The opposite view had been that the refusal to accept
compensations by some landowners and the uprisings in the local
community were politically motivated rather than justified by
adverse economic impact or under-compensation. A large scale
sample survey on households of the affected areas under the
Singur block were conducted.

Our main findings have been that most of the land was acquired
from marginal landowners and from those engaged in cultivation
on the acquired plots. While this was true on average, a significant
fraction of landowners were under-compensated owing to
misclassification of their plots in the official land records. Owners
with under-compensated types of plot were significantly more

204
likely to reject the compensation offer. Those whose livelihoods
were more tied up with cultivation and those with possible
speculative motives (absentee landlords or those who purchased
the plots rather than inheriting them) were more inclined to reject.
(Acquisition of land resulted in 40% lower income growth for
owners and half that for tenants.

Understanding that the land acquisition problem has many socio-


economic aspects to discuss, the paper also attempts to discuss the
aspiration of rural poor in this context. The study will be
incomplete if some discussion on the supply side factors are not
made. Passing remarks will be made of the possible role of the
Government and the private companies interested before and after
the land acquisition. The need for updated land records,
monitoring of development schemes and appropriate roll-out of
CSR activity might help to minimise the chaotic land acquisitions
and save the common people from deeper crises.

Details of the Singur Study:

The Study on Singur essestially addressed the following


questions: (a) Whose lands were acquired: poor cultivators or
wealthier landowners/non-cultivators? How much land was
acquired: was it large relative to lands owned previously for the
majority of affected landowners? (b) Did the government offer
compensation at the market value of lands acquired, as required
by the 1894 LandAcquisition 4

Act. If not, why not? (c) Could the decisions of landowners to


refuse the government's offer be explained by under-
compensation, and/or the extent to which their livelihoods were
affected? (d) What was the impact of the acquisition and
compensation offered on incomes, consumption and assets of
those whose lands were acquired, as well as tenants and workers
that had previously been employed on acquired lands?

To answer this questions a large scale sample survey at the


household level has been necessary. The surveys were conducted

205
in the six villages of Singur, where land had been acquired, and
included both types of households whose lands were and were not
acquired. Similar surveys were conducted in six neighbouring
villages not subject to any land acquisition for comparison
purposes. In addition tenant households and those whose primary
occupation is agricultural and non- agricultural work were also
included in the sample to understand the effect of the acquisition
on these groups. Impact of acquisition was estimated comparing
changes between 2005 (prior to the 2006 acquisition) and 2010
(after the departure of Tata Motors) in the relevant outcome
variables between affected and unaffected households within the
same village, and across affected and neighbouring unaffected
villages.

Table 1 provides aggregate statistics from the listing data for the
six affected villages. There were 5,056 households residing in
these villages. Over 90% of these households were either landless
or marginal landowners. One in three households were directly
affected in the sense that agricultural land they owned was
acquired (with the corresponding proportion of affected
households for all types of land acquired was 46%).

Table 2 provides a breakdown of landowners in our sample that


were subject to acquisition by the size of land acquired (Panel A),
of land-owned in 2005 (Panel B) and occupation (Panel C). Panel
A shows Seventy-two per cent of the land acquired involved plots
larger than a half acre, and 42% was above 1 acre, the average
landholding per household in 2005.

Acquired lands were a non-negligible proportion of owned lands


for the affected owners. The proportion was smaller (27%) for the
smallest acquisitions involving plots smaller than 0.08 acre. But
for acquired plots above 0.08 acre they accounted for more than
half of all land-owned in 2005. For those unwilling to accept
compensation, the average proportion of land acquired was higher
(61%, compared with 55%).

206
Panel B examines whether the acquisition affected poor or
wealthy landowners, with wealth measured by 2005
landholdings. 69% of affected owners owned less than an acre of
land (the mean landholding) in 2005. Nearly 40% owned less than
half an acre; within this group 62% of land owned was acquired.
The proportions were somewhat higher for households unwilling
to accept compensation. The majority of those affected were
marginal landowners. Within this group more than half the lands
owned were subject to acquisition.

Panel C examines the occupational characteristics of affected


owners. Slightly less than half were households headed by owner
cultivators, and 54% households headed by owner cultivators or
tenants. These two groups accounted for 58% of the land
acquired. Another 21% of affected households were headed by
workers, and they accounted for another 14% of land acquired.
Hence, nearly three-fourths of acquisition affected households
headed by cultivators or workers.

Did the Government Offer Compensation at the Market


Rate?

We examine the evidence concerning compensations offered by


the government for the acquired plots. We use two sources of
evidence here: (1) the state government's own statements and
records of compensation offered, and (2) household reports of the
compensation offers they received. For (1) we use compensation
policies specified in state government orders, and records of the
special land acquisition office at Hooghly district concerning
compensations and relevant characteristics of all plots acquired.
For the second source, we rely on responses of households in our
survey, concerning characteristics of their plots that had been
acquired and the compensations they had been offered. We were
unable to match the two sources of data for plot-wise
compensation. We have therefore, compared the corresponding
averages for compensation of different grades and check if they
are consistent

207
Government's Stated Compensation Policy: Under the
provisions of the 1894 Land Acquisition Bill, compensations are
to be based on the market value of land at the time of acquisition.
The West Bengal Government's Order No 1705-LA-3M-07/06
dated 6 June 2006 gives “guidelines to be followed in the matter of
assessment of market value of land”. Paragraph 3 of this order
prescribes standard average prices of land classified according to
(1) whether land is irrigated or not; (2) whether it is single cropped
or double/triple cropped agricultural land; (3) whether it is
homestead land or fallow land or whether there are water bodies,
etc; (4) proximity to state/national highways or other strategic
locations. Using these principles the government approved a set of
market-based rates for different categories of land. These are
provided in Table 3. The two kinds of agricultural land are called
sali and sona, respectively. Sali denotes singlecropped low land
that does not receive assured irrigation from state canals. Sona is
multi-cropped land on a higher level receiving assured irrigation.
There are further gradations within sali and sona plots with regard
to elevation. These defi nitions of the type of land are not
watertight, in more senses than one. Sona plots tend only on
average to be more irrigated and multicropped than sali plots. The
type of plot can be changed over time with suitable investments in
water access and multi-cropping arrangements. The land records
describe whether any given plot is sali or sona, presumably based
on an inspection carried out by land assessors. The land records
could be out of date, as land that was previously sali may have
been converted to sona as a result of investments made by the
owner, after the last inspection. The owner is supposed to apply for
a redesignation of the plot from sali to sona in such cases. In
practice, this is often not done owing to the time and cost
associated with any such redesignation. In any case, the
government order stated rates payable on compensation of sali
and sona lands at different rates, with sona lands to be paid a
considerable premium. The order did not describe how these rates
were decided. The government order also mentioned a number of
possible modifi cations to these rates: (1) compensation for the
value of structures built on the land; (2) solatium of 30% on and
over the basic market value of the land and value of things

208
attached to land; (3) value of trees according to age and kind of
trees on the property; (4) damages for the standing crop at the time
the land was acquired; and (5) additional compensation at the rate
of 12 % pa for the period from the date of notifi cation till the
award was declared. These components were to be paid over and
above the land value. A subsequent governor's Order No 1703-
LA-3M-07/06 detailed procedures to be followed by those who
have ownership rights for the land acquired and fi le a claim for
compensation. It asked claimants to make claims about the market
value of their land, incorporating details such as distance,
irrigation, the solatium of 30% (plus interest at 12% pa for delayed
award payments), and allowed scope for bargaining across the
table. Hence, the government order allowed scope for variations
in the actual compensations based on claims made by affected
owners. But all such modifi cations would have served, if at all, to
raise actual compensations offered. An examination of the
detailed plot-wise records of the special land acquisition offi ce in
Hooghly district reveals that the majority of sali and sona plots
were paid as per the stated rates in Table 3. Approximately, one
quarter of all plots were not assessed a positive land value, so these
owners were offered zero compensation. However, handwritten
corrections were later inserted for some of these, perhaps as a
result of appeals made by the concerned owners. On the three
quarter of the plots that were assessed at a positive value, land rate
was paid at declared rate for sali. Solatiums were offered for the
vast majority of these at the stated 30% rate.

What Was the True Market Value of Land? It is really difficult


to get the true market value of land on the following grounds: First,
land markets are believed to be thin in developing countries, so
data concerning market prices are not readily available. Second,
officially recorded market prices may deviate from true market
prices owing to transaction costs involved in recording market
transactions. Many market transactions are never recorded
officially, and even for those that are recorded the stated price
understate the true price in order to reduce stamp and registration
duties payable to the government. Third, the exact time at which
market prices are assessed can matter in periods of substantial

209
inflation in real estate values. Going by past transactions may then
understate the true market price at the time of acquisition.

Surveyed households whose lands were acquired were asked what


the market value of their acquired property was at the time of
acquisition. These assessments were on the basis of their
knowledge of comparable properties that had been transacted
recently. While there may be some bias and imprecision in owners'
own beliefs concerning what their properties would have
commanded on the market, it has a number of advantages over
relying on prices of actually transacted properties. First, data is
available on all plots rather than just those which were actually
transacted. This avoids the bias associated with selection of
properties that were actually transacted. It expands the number of
observations considerably, relieving the problem of market
thinness and smallness of the sample. Moreover, these valuations
are assessed for the same year 2006 of acquisition, thus, obviating
the need to extrapolate from past years and adjust for inflation in
property values. Another advantage of using this data is that it
provides us an idea of what landowners perceived concerning the
valuation of the acquired properties, which may help in explaining
how they reacted to the compensations offered. Nevertheless, it is
possible that owners may tend to exaggerate the market value of
their properties. We shall, therefore, check consistency of stated
land values with estimated income losses resulting from
acquisition.

Comparing Self-Reported Market Values and Offered


Compensations: Table 5 provides averages of market values and
compensation offers reported by households, classified into the
four different types of land. We see that high lands commanded a
premium of about Rs 30,000 per acre among both sali and sona
lands. The average reported market value of sona high land was Rs
9 lakh per acre; for sali high land it was Rs 8.6 lakh per acre. This
implies that the government's offered rate (inclusive of the 30%
solatium) were substantially above the market value of sona land,
but somewhat below that of sali lands. Inclusive of solatium, sona
lands were offered Rs 11.44 lakh per acre, while sali was offered

210
Rs 7.8 lakh per acre. This suggests that sona land was
overcompensated, while sali was slightly under-compensated
relative to market values.

However, looking at the compensation offers reported by the


households themselves, we obtain exactly the opposite
conclusion. Table 5 shows that both sona and sali high landowners
reported receiving compensation offers of Rs 8.8 lakh per acre, in
contrast to the Rs 11.4 lakh and Rs 7.8 lakh fi gures contained in
the government order and in the offi cial land documents.
Comparing the reported compensation offers with the reported
market valuations, we see that sona high owners were under-
compensated (average offer of Rs 8.8 lakh as against the market
valuation of Rs 9 lakh per acre) and sali high owners were
overcompensated (average offer of Rs 8.8 lakh compared with a
market value of Rs 8.6 lakh per acre.)

Discrepancy between Compensation Offers Reported by


Households and Government Records: The large discrepancy
between official documents and household reports of
compensations offered is striking. It is not just a case of
households tending to under-report compensations offered
generally, since sali owners reported compensation offers that
were larger (Rs 8.8 lakh per acre) than what the government
records (Rs 7.8 lakh, inclusive of solatium) indicate. Perhaps this
was a result of additional adjustments over the announced rates
made on the basis of structures, trees, location of sali properties,
and some degree of bargaining that the government order allowed.
But then why would the same not happen in the case of owners of
sona lands, who reported being offered Rs 8.8 lakh on average
rather than the Rs 11.4 lakh mandated by the government order
inclusive of solatium?

In order to unearth the source of this discrepancy, we interviewed


local farmers, residents and government officials. The most likely
explanation is that the government land records and household
responses disagree substantially about the classification of land
type. Government land records are based on plot characteristics at

211
some past point of time, following inspection by land assessors. In
the meantime, farmers may have upgraded their lands from sali to
sona, but may not have succeeded in getting this change to be
noted in the official land records.

Many plots that the owners reported as sona, were actually


recorded as sali on official documents, and offered compensation
at sali rates. Table 6 provides data concerning irrigation and multi-
cropping status of acquired plots. Ninety-seven per cent of plots
reported by owners as sona were both irrigated and multi-
cropped.

Table6. Land rates approved by Govt In comparison about half of


sali high plots and less than 7% of sali low plots had this feature.
The majority of sali high plots are irrigated, but it is possible that
the irrigation source for these is not state canals. We conclude that
averaging across all types of plots, compensations offered by the
government for agricultural plots were close to their market
values; however, there was a systematic under-compensation for
sona plots and overcompensation for sali plots. Sona plots which
were under-compensated accounted for about one-third of the
land acquired and of owners affected. The most likely explanation
for this is the failure of the official land records to incorporate
accurate information concerning plot characteristics: specifically,
failing to identify their irrigation and multi-cropping status
correctly.

Inability of Compensation Offers to Incorporate Land


Heterogeneity: The preceding results in table 7 indicate the need
to focus on heterogeneity of market values of plots acquired, and
the inability of government compensation offers to incorp orate
this heterogeneity. This is the pertinent question rather than how
the compensation offered related to market values on average.

Impact on Subsequent Incomes andAssets

Affected owner cultivators whose lands were acquired saw their


crop incomes fall by 12.7% between 2005 and 2010, in contrast to

212
unaffected owner cultivators whose crop incomes grew by 18%.
Regression analysis conforms that acquisition of half an owner's
land was associated with a 40% lower rate of growth of crop
income. Affected tenants experienced 4.8% growth in crop
incomes, in contrast to unaffected tenants whose incomes grew by
20%. The effect on incomes of tenants was therefore
approximately half that for owner cultivators, implying that the
25% compensation rate for tenants resulted in under-
compensation. It was found that agricultural workers (i e, those
previously hired to work on plots that were acquired) experienced
a 22% decline in employment earnings, compared with a 14%
decline for unaffected agricultural workers. Non-agricultural
workers, on the other hand, experienced a growth of employment
earnings by over 30%, Hence, the acquisition had dramatically
different consequences for agricultural and non-agricultural
workers, a natural consequence of the shift away from agricultural
to non-agricultural employment as a result of construction related
to the Tata factory. Table 1 earlier showed that affected agricultural
workers constituted a large fraction of the population in the six
villages concerned, and were the single largest affected group.
Unlike owners and tenants, there was no compensation available
for those who lost employment.

The impact of the acquisition on growth in the value of various


kinds of household assets between 2005 and 2010:

The survey asked respondents to list household assets owned in


2005 and subsequent changes in these until 2010.

For owner cultivators and tenants this is defined as the sum of


change in crop income and interest income on compensation
(computed at an annual rate of 6.5%, the rate on bank fi xed
deposits), less the average change in crop income of unaffected
households in the same village. For workers we use the difference
between change in employment earnings and the average change
for unaffected workers. We see a signifi cant impact of the income
shock only on changes in the value of consumer durables. For
owners we obtain similar results using the extent of under

213
compensation as an analogous measure of a wealth shock (market
value of land minus compensation offered): the only signifi cant
impact of this wealth shock was on acquisition of consumer
durables, the value of which decreased by 25% more following Rs
1 lakh under-compensation.

Whether the interest earned on compensations offered was


sufficient to overcome the loss in crop incomes of affected
cultivators:

This is analogous to computing the corresponding wealth shock


defined as under-compensation, based on the difference between
offered compensation and reported market value of land. This is
one way of evaluating the reliability of the reported land market
values, by checking its consistency with the estimated income
shocks. Our survey shows that the majority of compensation
recipients deposited the compensation money in the bank. This
enables us to work out the interest income from the compensation,
assuming they were invested in bank fi xed deposits at an annual
interest rate of 6.5%. Averaging over all affected owner
cultivators, it shows that the interest on compensation exceeded
the loss in crop income by Rs 956 per year. This is roughly what
one would expect from the fact that offered compensation rates
were slightly above the market value of land, averaging across all
affected owner cultivators. In contrast, tenants received
compensation which was substantially smaller, while
experiencing crop income drops of a similar magnitude, so that
their net incomes decreased by Rs 894 annually. It was interesting
to find the corresponding net change in income for owner
cultivators across the different types of plots acquired. The change
is signifi cantly higher for sali owners compared with sona owners,
confi rming our earlier assessment based on reported land values
that the former were overcompensated while the latter were under-
compensated

Our main findings concerning the four questions posed in the


Introduction can be summarised as follows: (a) How much land
was acquired, and from whom? The majority of plots acquired

214
were non-negligible in size, compared to the average in Singur.
Most of the land was acquired from marginal landowners, and
from those engaged in cultivation on the acquired plots. For most
affected owners, more than half the land they owned in 2005 was
acquired. (b) Did the government offer compensations at the
market value of the lands acquired? While this was true on
average, a significant fraction of landowners were under-
compensated owing to mis-classifi cation of their plots as sali
rather than sona in the official land records, besides inability of the
latter to incorporate other sources of plot heterogeneity. (c) What
explains decisions of owners to accept the offered
compensations? Owners with under-compensated types of plot
were significantly more likely to reject the compensation offer.
Those whose livelihoods were more tied up with cultivation and
those with possible speculative motives (absentee landlords or
those who purchased the plots rather than inheriting them) were
more inclined to reject. (d) What was the impact of the acquisition
on incomes and assets of those affected? Acquisition of land
resulted in 40% lower income growth for owners and half that for
tenants. Consumer durables grew more slowly for
undercompensated affected owners, compared to others in the
same village. Agricultural workers that were directly affected
experienced significant reductions in employment earnings
compared with unaffected agricultural workers, who in turn,
experienced smaller earnings growth compared with non-
agricultural workers. Hence, land acquisition in Singur imposed
significant economic hardships on a large fraction of affected
owners, tenants and workers. A large fraction of owners were
undercompensated relative to market values. Tenants were
undercompensated and agricultural workers were not
compensated at all. While it is difficult for us to say how much
local reactions were politically motivated, these economic
hardships provide a plausible explanation for some of the
observed refusals and protests.

An obvious implication for future land acquisition policy is the


need to base compensation on better measures of land values

215
than is permitted by official land records. Getting the soil grade
right will reduce the incidence of under-compensation, chances of
rejection and subsequent protest significantly. Displaced tenants
and workers who constitute the poorer sections of these rural
communities also need to be compensated in some way to avoid
undesirable adverse impacts on their livelihoods, as well as to
minimise any political fallout. Another difficult issue concerns
the principle of basing compensations on market values. Many
owners value their land more than their market values on account
of other attributes of land, such as financial security,
complementarity with farming skills, locational factors, or
considerations of identity or social prestige. That is why long-
standing owners have not exercised the option to sell their land at
market prices. To ensure that such owners are adequately
compensated would require raising compensations above market
values. What makes this difficult to achieve in practice is that
valuations of land have an inherently subjective nature varying
from owner to owner. These problems could motivate the use of
more reliable means of assessing values imputed by their owners
such as auctions, as argued by Ghatak and Ghosh (2011).

To avoid political backlash, it may be better to involve people


prior to land acquisition in development programmes (including
CSR activities). This indirectly would signal to the local people
the honest intention of the Government for improving level of
living of the people through rapid industrialisation.

References:

Bardhan, Pranab, Dilip Mookherjee and Neha Kumar (2012):


“State-led or Market-led Green Revolution? Role of Private
Irrigation Investment vis-à-vis Local with Government Programs
in West Bengal's Farm Productivity Growth”, Journal of
Development Economics, 90, 222-35.
Cao, Guangzhong, Changchun Feng, Ran Tao (2008): “Local
Land Finance in China's Urban Expansion: Challenges and
Solutions”, China and World Economy, 16(2), 19-30.

216
FAO (2009): “Land Grab or Development Opportunity?
Agricultural Investment and International Land Deals in Africa”,
FAO-IED-IFAD Report.
Maitreesh Ghatak, Sandip Mitra, Dilip Mookherjee, Anusha Nath
“Land Acquisition and Compensation What Really Happened in
Singur?”, May 25, 2013 vol xlviii no 21 EPW Economic &
Political Weekly32
Ghatak, Maitreesh and Parikshit Ghosh (2011): “The Land
Acquisition Bill: A Critique and a Proposal”, Economic &
Political Weekly, 8 October, Vol XLVI, No 41.
Ghatak, Maitreesh and Dilip Mookherjee (2012): “Land
Acquisition for Industrialisation and Compensation of Displaced
Farmers” forthcoming, Journal of Development Economics.
Ghosh, Buddhadeb (2012): “What Made the 'Unwilling Farmers'
Unwilling? A Note on Singur”, Economic & Political Weekly, 11
August, XLVII (32), 13-16

217
Updating of Land Records for Land Acquisition
Purposes in Bihar
64
Dr. C. Ashokvardhan, IAS (Retd.)

Section 11 (%) of the RFCTLARR (Right to Fair Compensation


and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and
Resettlement) Act, 2013 provides that after issuance of
preliminary notification under sub section (1) of Section 11, the
Collector shall, before the issue of declaration under Section 19 of
the said Act, undertake and complete the exercise of updating of
land records, as prescribed, within a period of two months.

Rule 23 (4) under Chapter-V of the Bihar Land Acquisition Rules,


2014 lays down the following procedure in this regard:

1 Deletion of entries made in the names of dead persons.


2 Entry of the names of legal heirs of dead persons.
3 Confirming rights on land accruing through registered deeds
of transfer: sale, gift, partition and the like.
4 Entry of all mortgages in land records.
5 Deletion of entries of mortgages after full redemption of loans,
on the basis of a certificate to that effect by the agency
advancing loans.
6 Entries of relevant particulars pertaining to forest laws in
vogue.
7 Entries pertaining to the status of public lands.
8 Entry of particulars regarding assets like trees, wells etc.
situate on the lands.
9 Making necessary entries regarding crops sown on the lands
with area.
10 Any other entry regarding land acquisition, rehabilitation and
re-settlement.

Section 11 (4) of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 has provided that no


transaction/ transfer like sale-purchase on the land involved in
acquisition can take place, after the date of publication of the
64
Member, Bihar Land Tribunal, II off. Polo Road, Patna, Bihar

218
preliminary notification, without the prior permission of the
District Collector.

Accordingly, the Department of Revenue and Land Reforms,


Government of Bihar has, vide Letter No. 41 dated 19.01.2017,
directed all Collectors to make available preliminary notification
issued under section 11 (1) of the Act, to the District Sub-
Registrars so that transfer/ sale-purchase of the notified land does
not take place.

Letter No. 41 dated 19.01.2017 mentioned in the foregoing has


issued the following directions to all Collectors:

1 A copy of the preliminary notification issued under section 11


(1) of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 be made available to all
Circle Officers.
2 The Circle Officers will update land records with respect to
land incorporated in the preliminary notification, in the light
of record of rights available at the Anchal level and in the light
of documents/ records made available in the camp by the land-
holders.
3 The Circle Officer will issue Land Possession Certificates, in
time, to landholders in respect of the land involved in
acquisition.
4 In case the Anchal Office suffers from a shortage of
workforce, the Collector will make available necessary
workforce, on deputation, at his level, to theAnchal Office.
5 A copy of the Preliminary Notification u/s 11 (1) of the Act,
with regard to the land under acquisition, will be made
available to the District Sub-Registrar at the earliest.

The Circle Officers were required by the above mentioned Letter


No. 41 dated 19.01.2017 to submit report on updation of land
records of land under acquisition, to the Collectors, in the
following proforma:

Village
Thana

219
Anchal
Area under acquisition

The Department of Revenue and Land Reforms vide Letter No.


339 dated 10.03.2017 clarified it to Collector, Patna that
compensation is to be paid to the interest holding raiyat/ awardee
on receipt of indemnity bond after verification of the following
documents, which lead to the determination of real raiyat of the
land under acquisition:

1 Copy of the record of rights


2 Copy of sale deeds
3 Rent receipts
4 LPC (Land Possession Certificates) issued by the Circle
Officer
5 Genealogical Table issued in favour of the raiyat in
consonance with the Khatiyan
6 Voter Identity Card
7 PAN Card
8 Aadhaar Card

220
Nature and Class of Land

Letter No. 337 dated 10.03.2017 from Department of Revenue


and Land Reforms, Government of Bihar, to all Collectors has
clarified that after filing of requisition for acquisition of land for a
project (under RFCTLARR Act, 2013, Railway Special Act, 2008
and National Highway Act, 1956) and prior to the publication of
notification, still and video photography of the land concerned
must be kept on record so that no disputes crop up with regard to
the nature of land. The still and video must bear the date and time
of the snapshot. The same should as well carry the picture of the
officers and employees involved in the photography and
videography. All this will go on to prove that no change had been
effected in the location, shape and nature of the land.

A committee, was constituted by the Department of Revenue and


Land Reforms, Government of Bihar Letter No. 450 dated
12.04.2017 with a view to disposing off, with transparency,
disputes relating to rate/ value of the land under acquisition. The
Committee was required to address present nature and
clarification of land as well as to determine the value/ rate and
adequate compensation in respect of the land concerned.

The Committee comprises the following:

1 District Collector – Chairman


2 Additional Collector-cum-Administrator Rehabilitation &
Resettlement – Member
3 District LandAcquisition Officer – Member Secretary
4 District Sub Registrar – Member
5 Representative of Requisitioning Body – Member
6 Deputy Development Commissioner-cum-Chief Executive
Officer Zila Parishad/ Executive Officer, Urban Local Body
(where the land is located) – Member

After the publication of the Declaration under Section 19 (1) of


the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 is done, between issuance of notices to
interest-holders raiyats and prior to enquiry and land acquisition

221
award by the Collector, the aforesaid 6 – Member Committee shall
hold spot verification/ measurement of the land under acquisition.
Village-wise and plot-wise class of land will be determined and
kept on record. The Committee, in discretion, will determine land
classification against potential of the land under acquisition
keeping I view the value of neighbouring plots enhanced due to
some project coming up on the same. Thereafter, the market value
of the land will be determined by the aforesaid Committee and the
same will be recorded.

The same process of verification will be adopted in respect of


projects under the NH Act 1956 and Railway Special Act, 2008
(after the publication of notification) after disposal of objections
under relevant sections of thoseActs.

In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 104 of the Right


to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The Government of
Bihar has notified the following state policy for taking land on
lease from the raiyats for the works of public purposes as per need.

BIHAR RAIYATI LAND LEASE POLICY, 2014

1 The land may be taken on lease for the construction of


infrastructure, such as academic institutions/ road/ electricity
project/ approach road/ stadium/ embankment/ canal/ land
bank etc., rehabilitation of persons affected by natural disaster
and for other works of public purposes defined under section 2
(1) of theAct.
2 The land shall be taken on the condition of perpetual lease and
shall be registered.
3 The land on perpetual lease may be taken at the rate of four
times in the rural areas and two times in the urban areas of the
MVR (Minimum Valuation Register) rate.

Provided that, if trees or any other structure are situated on the said
land, the District Collector shall, getting them evaluated by
District Forest Officer and Executive Engineer, Building

222
Construction Department respectively, make payment of the
evaluated amount.
4 The departments of the government and the public sector
undertakings, companies may take land on perpetual lease by
adopting a transparent procedure, in view of the above facts.
5 There will be the following transparent procedure for taking
land on permanent lease by concerned departments/
government companies/ undertakings:

(a) First of all, the competent authority shall approve the


proposal for taking the land on lease. It will be
compulsory to mention in the proposal the area, public
purposes and the estimated value of the required land.
(b) Thereafter, the Land/ Site Selection Committee shall be
constituted by the competent authority. After inspection
of the land, recommendation of the Land/ Site Selection
Committee will be made by the said Land Selection
Committee. At the time of land/ site selection the
concerned land owners and the representatives of the
Panchayats will be informed of the provisions of the
purposes of the lease policy for which the land has to be
taken. The Land/ Site Selection Committee shall select 2-
3 alternative lands so that it may be convenient in taking
the land.
(c) After reviewing the recommendations of the Land/ Site
Selection Committee, recommended lands/ sites will be
enlisted serially on the basis of sustainability by the
competent authority.
(d) The information of title and nature of the enlisted lands
shall be obtained from the District Collector. The District
Collector shall, after getting the lands/ sites legally
verified, be satisfied that the land is not disputed and is in
possession of the title holder.
(e) The concurrence on the lease by the land owners shall be
obtained through advertisements in the newspapers. The
competent authority shall select the land in the light of
concurrence of the land owners. The value of the land will
be evaluated bythe district Collector according to
provisions of paragraph-3.

223
(f) If structures or trees are situated on the land, their
valuation shall also be made in accordance with
paragraph-3 by the District Collector.
(g) Thereafter disposal of the lease and payment of the value
of the land will be made by the department.
(h) The government department/ government companies/
undertakings may delegate the powers to execute land
lease to their subordinate officers.

6 The model format for perpetual lease shall be prepared by the


Revenue and Land Reforms Department after vetting by the
Law Department and shall be circulated to other departments.
7 The amount payable to the interested raiyats under lease shall
be paid through Account Payee Cheques on the date of
registration.

The general form of perpetual lease for raiyati land was circulated
vide Department of Revenue and Land Reforms, Government of
Bihar Letter No. 154 dated 22.01.2016.

The Department of Revenue and Land Reforms, Government of


Bihar, vide Letter No. 1093 dated 08.09.2016 formed a committee
which will explore the feasibility of lands being acquired on
perpetual ease. The District Collector will constitute a
Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Collector. The
District Land Acquisition Officer, Sub Divisional Officer, Deputy
Collector Land Reforms, concerning Circle Officer and two
representatives of the requisitioning body will be on the aforesaid
Committee. The Committee shall visit the project affected areas
and interact with interested landholders and Panchayat
representatives. The Committee will propagate the importance
and contents of the lease policy. Thereafter, the Committee will
obtain, in writing, the consent or dissent of affected persons and
communicate the same, in a record, to the Collector of the district
along with its own reasoned findings. If the Collector is satisfied
that there is a case for going ahead in accordance with lease policy,
further steps would be taken accordingly. In case it is not possible
land acquisition in a regular way will be taken up.

224
Summing Up

The time-limit of sixty days for updating of land records in respect


of land owners calls for a need-based field bujharat in a project
affected area. It is a well-known fact that land records have not
been updated through revisional or in-built concurrent recordings
over a period of time. Lands have changed hands through various
modes of transfer. Devolutions have not been taken care of and
Jamabandis in ancestors' names have not been split or sub-divided
among heirs. Various stages of formal surveys haven long drawn
out and while the import of modern technology has definitely
made a dent on expeditious production of ortho-maps, the
preparation of textual records is a gigantic task calling for
expertise in revenue and personal laws. Dearth of requisite
manpower poses yet another stumbling block.

In the given circumstances, one is left with no other option but to


go in for need-based bujharat in selected pockets. Steps to be
taken in this regard have been delineated in the foregoing. The
revenue officials will make spot verification on a family-to-family
basis taking note of persons who have expired and heirs who have
succeeded.

The Government of Bihar has also constituted a high level


committee headed by Collector to re-determine the class and
nature of land, may be, different from recorded entries, after actual
spot verification. Determination of rightful owner and that of
current class/ nature of land are equally important since rate/ value
of land matter most in weaning affected families away from
resistance. Resistance is common on class of land routinely fixed
by authorities on the basis of fairly old record of rights, while de-
facto situation on the spot presents variant picture from
agriculture to homestead and homestead to commercial is
generally pressed for getting higher compensation.

The Government of Bihar has given an allowance to the notion of


'potential' in re-determining the class of land. In the event of spurt
in activities in the neighbourhood of a proposed project area, older

225
land classification in a mechanical manner have to give way to a
re-classification, or else, there might be stiff resistance to land
acquisition. Apart from expediency, humane approach to land
acquisition will come about if land-losers get their dues at par with
current classification/ value of land.

Field bujharat on fast track in the midst of people with a Collector-


headed Committee participating in the same sets in motion a
participative/ consultative process.

In Bihar, the above approach will be undertaken in respect of


bringing on record the current land-owner and the current class of
land.

Inputs, however meagre and scattered from project affected areas,


may prove an additive to the processes of regular survey and
settlement, whether on-going or yet to commence. Care,
however, has to be taken against excessive reliance on and
delegation of authority by the Collector-level committee to
subordinate officers acting a proxy for the Committee itself. That
will be undoing of the purpose and intent of the Committee. It will
also result in irregularities and collusive recording. This is sure to
breed discontent and opposition to land acquisition in the long
run. This may also result in high pitched demands unfounded on
reason and ground realities. The updation of land records as
stipulated under Section 11 (5) of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 must
be read in conjunction with Section 3 (c) (ii) of the Act which
provides for a family which does not own any land but a member
or members of such family may be tenants or share-croppers and
the like. In case the land rights of tenants and share-croppers are
not recorded in course of field bujharat their fate will be sealed and
they will not get the entitlements due to them under the
RFCTLARR Act, 2013. Ends of justice will meet if along with
the current status of land owners the details of tenants and share-
croppers subsisting on the land are recorded too so that the latter
could be adequately compensated for their losses on account of
land acquisition.

226
It is gratifying to note that Rule 23 (4) under chapter V of the Bihar
Land Acquisition Rules, 2014 provides for making necessary
entries regarding share-croppers subsisting on the lands under
acquisition.

227

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