In its second victory this week, the poll-bound United Progressive Alliance Government succeed in getting the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

On Monday, the Lok Sabha had passed the Food Security Bill. Both the Bills will now be placed in the Rajya Sabha.

The Land Bill seeks to retire the century-old law of 1894, and lay down a transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation by giving adequate financial compensation to the affected people.

But this may not be good news for corporates, which see trouble from some of the provisions, such as on compensation and high cap on consent required. “The cost of land acquisition is likely to increase 3-3.5 times, making industrial projects unviable and raising costs in the overall Indian economy,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan, President, Confederation of Indian Industry.

Initiating the debate, BJP President Rajnath Singh said there are lot of grey areas in the Bill.

Several amendments

The Bill was passed with several amendments moved by the Government. All the amendments moved by other parties, however, were not adopted. Earlier, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who moved the motion, told the media that he had received suggestions in writing from 10 political parties. “I made an attempt to reach a consensus,” he said, adding he tried to take “everyone along, be it NGOs, States, political parties, the corporate world and tried to maintain a middle path.”

>aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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