Land (Paradise) Lost !

Is it really the "Banana Republic" we are living in !?
Where the hell are we headed !?
I am sure each of us must be somewhere have though consciously or unconsciously as to where are we heading, with women, kids not safe, with n numbers of scams, with rupee dying a slow death and with economy in abyss !And on the top of that a desperate government who is passing half-witted, vote bank oriented bills like that of "Food Security" and "Land Acquisition" :-|

As if it was not enough that we are still trying to balance the ever widening CAD and coming to terms with a 4.5-5.5 ranged GDP figure, government as if deliberately trying to derail us from economic growth and spending out tax-payer's, OUR money without any proper plan for it.

This post is supposed to talk about the recently passed Land Acquisition Bill !
Is it really a better deal, or it just another self proclaimed one by our very own people at helm.

Lets first take a look at the framework of the bill and then we can discover it again that majorly these provisions are more of the deterrent rather the facilitators of "better deals" for landowners (read farmers as they form the vast majority of those who are targeted). Not a single provision in my mind is in the interest of the intended beneficiaries.

Let me just talk about certain inferences according to the provision of the Act -

• Private companies are required to accomplish resettlement and rehabilitation in case the land acquired is more than or equal to 100 acres in Rural Areas and more than or equal to 50 acres in Urban Areas.
• Every acquisition requires a ‘Social Impact Assessment’ by an independent body in consultation with the Gram Panchayat. (And what are the parameters for the same, how long will it take !?)
• 80 per cent consent of the landowners, including Project Affected People, is now required for acquisition. 
• A maximum of five per cent irrigated, multi‐cropped land may be acquired in a single district. 
• For the same project, viz. railways, highways, ports, power, irrigation projects, ‘consent’ requirement is only for private companies and not for PSUs. (Isn't this monopoly and abuse of power !?) 

A huge developing voracious economy like ours is starving to consume thousands of projects which will need huge reserves of land exceeding 100 acres to sustain its growth rate. Therefore it is conceivable that any business entity wanting to feed our economy (or may be feed on our economy) with development will now have to play the role of a rehabilitator. (wow, such an ecosystem for growth) And where is the guarantee that a business entity wanting to earn profit will do justice to resettlement !?
Isn't it like creating a third party who can be comfortably blamed for shoddy development !? (Whoa, masterstroke, well played Mrs. Gandhi)
And it will definitely adversely impact on already dull value proposition of such projects by enhancing time and cost and bribes and God knows what more :(

“Social Impact Assessment” sounds too good eh !?
That too by an independent body :-o
Isn't it like complicating the process and virtually stopping them (the ones who don't pay enough to the politicians, bureaucrats, babus, peons) 
In an ideal world, a progressive government (ours doesn't look like one) should execute annual surveys /studies to identify land resources having the least social impact and mark such zones for developing and establishing such projects.
A "Social Impact Assessment" (no matter how good the intent may be) done on a case-to-case basis will completely miss out the holistic impact can be seen as future provisional clearances based on nothing but whims and fancies of "independent bodies" created by the authorities under political influence for the purposes of clearing (and of course earning) and obstructing  such acquisitions. And needless to say that these types of decisions will lead to more chaos, more lawsuits, and unplanned development and will impact society in a manner which is definitely not positive.

Getting 80 per cent majority of not only the Landowners but also the affected parties for acquiring the land (are you kidding me) is as ridiculous as Digvijay Singh :-|
The rich and powerful will undoubtedly deploy the services of "Gundas" or "Bhais" or "local leaders" or "panchayats" to get the consent, leaving the poor landowner (farmers) with an extra nightmare to deal with and eventually leaving him with pennies for the land :(
On the flip side, these services of Gundas and the likes can also be used as an arm twisting tool for extracting extra money from multinationals and business entities.

But the title of most pretentious provision goes to the pricing part. Earlier the Act provided for determination of land prices basis market value, now the Act has come up with an exclusive method of land pricing. The new method says - market value will be the higher of either (a) the value specified for stamp duty, or (b) the average of the top 50 per cent by recorded price of sale of land in the vicinity.
In rural areas, the market value is doubled, while it remains the same for urban areas. Moreover, the value of all assets (difficult to count and value) including trees, buildings, etc. on the land also needs to be added. On this amount, a 100 per cent solatium (extra compensation for forcible acquisitions) is added to arrive at the final compensation figure. In case of urgent acquisitions, a further 75 per cent needs to be paid.

As a result the land prices in the rural area will go up by at least 4 times the market value, and might as well get doubled in urban spaces, thus fuelling the real estate bubble. In coming times, land will be the luxury of only the elite class with large amounts of unaccounted money. This falsely accentuated real estate prices will attract hardly any real investors, putting our economy in further doldrums. And who knows, a lot of land might already amassed by the kinsfolk of the present rulers and this might serve as a great gimmick to grow their already huge money reserves exponentially. (afterall elections are hardly anytime away)

Whatever it is, I am sure it will not bring prosperity to the farmers and will add nothing but more empty promises to their plates already full with the same. Looks like the bill is penned in the office of some strategists who never actually visited a village.

Inflated costs, arduous procedures, elongated time will far from attract genuine investors :-| 

And what more, it is not even healthy for farmers :-(

The benefiting party in my mind after scrutinising the whole proposition is none but GOI, they have been working hard to quibble a promising economy for their own immediate gains.