New Delhi, July 26: A revamped land acquisition law will not override provisions in other laws meant to protect rights of tribals and forest dwellers, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said today.
The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill being prepared by his ministry will have no provision for exemptions from rules that require plot takeovers to be cleared by the gram sabha or panchayats. Such clearances are required under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, or Pesa.
“When land will be acquired in forest areas, the provisions of the FRA, Pesa and land transfer regulations will be followed. This means the land acquisition will have to go through gram sabhas and panchayati raj institutions as enshrined in those laws,” Ramesh told reporters.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006, seeks to recognise the rights to forest land of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional jungle dwellers who have been living in such pockets for generations but whose claims had not been officially acknowledged before.
Pesa extends panchayat laws to areas that have been included under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. These are spread across nine states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan.
The overall aim of Pesa is to safeguard the traditional rights of the tribals to natural resources, such as jungle produce, in the forested pockets. The land transfer regulations that minister Ramesh spoke of relate to certain laws passed by states on transfer of land in tribal areas.
Ramesh said his ministry had consulted several political parties, including the Trinamul Congress, and other stakeholders such as the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council and the Planning Commission in preparing the bill.
The ministry is likely to put the draft bill on its website this week seeking feedback from the public. It will then be moved to the cabinet and, if approved, will be introduced in Parliament’s monsoon session starting from August 1.
Ramesh said he had also spoken to Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, who headed a panel appointed by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, to draw up a land acquisition policy. Ramesh said he would meet him again to discuss more issues.
Bandyopadhyay’s panel has recommended the government should keep away from the process of land acquisition — the stand taken by Mamata.
Rahul Gandhi’s suggestions have also been considered, Ramesh said.Among the proposals put forward by the Congress general secretary are combining land acquisition and rehabilitation in a single bill, compensation for landowners and landless labourers and takeovers only for public purpose.
Ramesh said the resettlement and rehabilitation would be part of the main land acquisition bill. A separate rehabilitation bill will be brought to take care of people affected by natural calamities.
The minister said his focus was on development of Naxalite-hit districts of Chhattishgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra. The guidelines of rural development schemes will be made flexible to facilitate their implementation in these areas.
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