New Delhi: Against the backdrop of the
farmers` stir in Greater Noida, Sonia Gandhi-led NAC on Wednesday
proposed that acquisition of land for development should have
consent of three-fourth of village councils and provide for
compensation six times the registered value.
At its meeting chaired by Gandhi here, the NAC reached a
consensus on combining the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill,
and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill into a single
National Development, Acquisition, Displacement and
Rehabilitation Bill.
"All land transfers for public purpose must come under the
purview of this law," Aruna Roy, member NAC, told reporters
here.
The various suggestions made by the NAC included the one
requiring written consent of 75 per cent of the farmers and
gram sabhas for acquiring their land for development projects.
It implies that the rest 25 per cent will have to follow suit.
One of the recommendations to the government would be
giving farmers six times the registered value of their land as
compensation, Harsh Mander, another NAC member and convenor of
the Working Group on Land Acquisition and Resettlement and
Rehabilitation, said.
He said there was consensus in the Council on inclusion of
persons working on the land into the category of project-
affected persons which would make them eligible for receiving
compensation.
"This would recognise the most invisible persons in the
land acquisition process who lose their source of livelihood
once the land is acquired," Mander said.
The NAC recommendations also include giving farmers the
right to annuity for a certain number of years over and above
the compensation for the land acquired from him.
It also suggested giving monthly pay outs to farmers
instead of annual pay outs.
The recommendations seek to make consent of farmers a must
for land acquisition for projects by the private sector.
It also proposes to set up a commission to hear complaints
related to land acquisition process.
The NAC decided to write to the government on enacting a
central law to protect the livelihood of over one crore street
vendors across the country.
The government had earlier favoured that states take the
responsibility for effective implementation of the National
Policy on Urban Street Vendors contending that a central
legislation in this regard may not be effective.
In a communication to the NAC, the National Association of
Street Vendors of India (NASVI) had contended that if
protection of street vendors was left to the states, it was
unlikely that they would enact a legislation.
"The national law can give the policy a logical conclusion
which has to be implemented at the ground level," it said,
adding that the model bill proposed by the Ministry of Housing
and Urban Poverty Alleviation fell short of the aspirations of
street vendors.
"We welcome the response of the NAC and hope that the
government would immediately set in motion the process to
draft the central law to protect the livelihood of street
vendors," said Ranjit Abhigyan, project manager of NASVI.
PTI
