Tejinder Narang
FROM PROSPERITY
TO POVERTY— NEW LAND ACQUISITION BILL NOW IN INDIAN PARLIAMENT.
Centre and States both will exercise
control on land to be acquired --right from the collector at district level to
Chief Secretary of the state with his minions, then further
to Minister and Chief minister of the State and up to Ministry of Rural
Development in New Delhi. Cabinet may come later on. Courts can intervene any time.
(70 page draft bill can be seen on the website of Ministry of Rural Development,
Govt. of India.)
Can any industry come up with
such provisions?? Who will invest in India ? Even “ non- owners” of land are to
be compensated --as part of the daily loss of employment to the labour. Liabilities
are unlimited for any investor in India.SC/ST—backward classes notified by separate
acts-- are to be specially considered for compensation.
Rent seeking is encouraged at all
levels. If any Indian company finds this improbable to
start any industry with such bureaucratic provisions, will foreign companies
do?? Manufacturing that is required to be encouraged for more jobs, value added
production, exports, improved living
standards, economic welfare are all negated under this bill.
Economist Swaminathan Aiyer has described the bills in right name "Luddite" throwback to 19th century in the
Indian context (Read below the link). He has said it all specially
on Social Impact Assessment”—which can never be final or completed and is a part of the environmental clearance.
“Some critics have focused on its high compensation
norms. But its worst provisions are for Social Impact Assessment (SIA) reports
and mandatory rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). Every piece of land
acquired, no matter how small, will require an SIA, to be later reviewed by an
expert committee, followed by a government survey, followed by actual
acquisition proceedings. Any decisions can then be challenged in the courts.
These procedures could take years, delaying all industrialization and
urbanization.”
This Land
Bill is yet another replica of Food Security Bill of social spending except
that immediate onus of spending is shifted from the state kitty to the
corporate purse. Corporates invest on viability and not on doles.
Net effect--
Keep the country poor. Get the votes of the poor and enrich the rulers. In the
process it amounts to “from prosperity to poverty” by political populism. Five steps backward with one step forward is the policy prescription.
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