let States frame laws; good ones will progress
The recently held meeting of the governing council of the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog reportedly threw up the suggestion that States should be allowed to frame their own land acquisition laws in case political consensus continues to elude a Central legislation. Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley's remark that States which were looking to kick-start various infrastructural and other development schemes that required land, could not indefinitely wait, demonstrates the frustration that has set in as a result of the Opposition's obstructionist strategy.
It is a shame that the Congress and other like-minded parties have refused to see the larger benefits (to farmers and landless labourers) of the revised Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, and have focussed on issues that can easily be tackled at the State level. Given the Congress's belligerence and unbending attitude, it is obvious that the Bill will not be passed in the Rajya Sabha where the party along with the rest of the Opposition has the upper hand. Enough has been argued about the merits of the revised Bill which makes the land acquisition process smoother and more practical.
It is now time to face the ground reality — which is that the Centre has run into an Opposition wall and has to seek a way ahead through a new approach. If the Narendra Modi Government does accept this idea, the fate of the proposed Central law remains uncertain. Will the Government simply scrap the Bill altogetherIJ The Congress is insistent on the previous — and enormously flawed — Bill which it had brought into the House when it was in power. It is better not to have any Union law than to adopt the Congress's model which has had a deleterious impact on growth and development in rural India. The option to let States frame their own laws, is an opening.
The Congress and the rest may dismiss even this alternative, given that the party's Chief Ministers had refused to attend the Niti Aayog meeting. But, allowing States to decide on the ways and means of land acquisition, makes for sound federalism. It will also infuse a sense of competition, since States having a more progressive land legislation and better implementation will move ahead while the laggard will bring the rear. None of the State Governments can then accuse the Centre in case they fail to have the political will to enforce what is in the larger good of their people.
The Centre should have no problem in supporting measures that State regimes take in their wisdom. Of course, even with the existing Central Bill, the States had the flexibility to tweak the provisions relating to consent and social impact assessment, and the Union Government has repeatedly underlined the fact that they could introduce the consent and SIA clauses if they so desired. But, led by its hyper-active vice president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has refused to see reason.
It is a pity that even the figures of the Socio Economic and Caste Census have not made the Congress realise its folly. The rural poor and the farmers need employment opportunities and infrastructural amenities. How will all that come if the process to acquire land for projects remains cumbersomeIJ