India has been a welfare state ever since Independence and the primary objective of all governmental endeavors has been the welfare of its citizens. Rural development implies both the economic betterment of people as well as greater social transformation. In order to provide the rural people with better prospects for economic development, increased participation of people in the rural development programmes, decentralization of planning, better enforcement of land reforms and greater access to credit are envisaged. In order to ensure that the fruits of economic reform are shared by all sections of societies five elements of social and economic infrastructure, critical to the quality of life in rural areas, were identified. These are health, education, drinking water, housing and roads. Moreover, reaching out to the rural masses with the focus on all round development of the villages has been the guiding principle of the Ministry of Rural Development and several new initiatives have been undertaken during 2011. These include among others introduction of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement bill, 2011, starting the 1^st ever post independence Socio-Economic and Caste Census, expansion of rural employment opportunities under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, extending the rural road connectivity under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana(PMGSY), providing a roof for the poor villagers under Indira Awas Yojana and convergence with other Central Government Ministries. In addition wage payment of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers through Bank/Post Offices accounts, making available safe drinking water to more rural habitations, marketing facilities to products of rural artisans through SARAS fairs and opening up of new marketing hubs at National, State and district level have been among the major achievements of the Ministry.     

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011

• The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 7, 2011 by the Minister of Rural Development Shri Jairam Ramesh. The Bill proposes a unified legislation for acquisition of land and adequate rehabilitation mechanisms for all affected persons and replaces the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The provisions of this Bill shall not apply to 16 existing legislations that provide for land acquisition. These include The Atomic Energy Act, 1962, The National Highways Act, 1956, SEZ Act, 2005, Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885, The Railways Act, 1989 and others. The provisions of the Bill relating to land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement shall be applicable in cases when the appropriate government acquires land, (a) for its own use and control, (b) to transfer it for the use of private companies for public purpose, and (c) on the request of private companies for immediate use for public purpose.

The Bill proposes that private companies shall provide for rehabilitation and resettlement if they purchase or acquire land, through private negotiations, equal to or more than 100 acres in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas. In addition, if such companies request the appropriate government to acquire part of an area for public purpose, they shall be liable for rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected persons, for the area acquired by the government, as well as the land purchased previously through private negotiations. The term ‘public purpose’ in the Bill includes provision of land for, (a) strategic purposes and national security, (b) roads, railways, highways, and ports, built by government and public sector enterprises (c) project affected people, (d) planned development or improvement of villages, and (e) residential purposes for the poor and landless. Public purpose includes other government projects which benefit the public as well as provision of public goods and services by private companies or public-private partnerships; these require the consent of 80 per cent of project affected people. Affected families include those whose livelihood may be affected due to the acquisition, and includes landless labourers and artisans. A maximum of five per cent of irrigated multi-cropped land may be acquired in a district, with certain conditions. Every acquisition requires a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) by an independent body followed by a preliminary notification and a final award by the District Collector. In the case of urgency, the Bill proposes that the appropriate government shall acquire the land after 30 days from the date of the issue of the notification (without SIA). This clause may be used only for defence, national security, and conditions arising out of a national calamity. The compensation for the land acquired shall based on the higher of (a) the minimum land value, specified in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 for the registration of sale deeds; and (b) the average sale price of the higher priced 50% of all sale deeds registered in the previous 3 years for similar type of land situated in the vicinity. This amount is further doubled in case of rural areas. The value of the assets (trees, plants, buildings etc) attached to the land being acquired will be added to this amount. This total amount will then be multiplied by two to get the final compensation amount; in case of the urgency clause, this multiplication factor will be 2.75. The Bill proposes the following authorities; Administrator; Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Resettlement; Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee (for acquisition of 100 acres or more of land); National Monitoring Committee for Rehabilitation and Resettlement; and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority (which shall adjudicate all disputes, with appeal to the High Court). If an acquired land which is transferred to a person for a consideration, is left unutilized for a period of 10 years from the date it was acquired, it shall be returned to the Land Bank or the appropriate government. The Bill proposes that in cases where the ownership of an acquired land is sold to any person, without any development made, 20 per cent of the profit made shall be shared among all the persons from whom the land was acquired. The details of the bill can be downloaded from website-www.rural.nic.in.