THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL
VOLUME:-17 ISSUE NO:- 17 , NOVEMBER 06, 2024
ISSN (ONLINE):- 2584-1106
Website: www.the lawway with lawyers.com
Email: thelawwaywithelawyers@gmail.com
Authored by:- Aysha Khatoon
LAND BATTLES: INSIDE THE CLASH OVER ACQUISITION AND FARMERS RIGHTS
ABSTARCT
Land Battles: Inside the Clash over Acquisition and Farmers’ Rights examines on-going conflicts in India as between government authorities and farmers over land acquisition policies. Historically, the introduction spotlights policy such as the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 that aimed to offer farmers affected with compensation that was fair. However, such efforts tended to be problematic in practice. When new farm laws were introduced in 2020-2021, this prompted recent tensions to peak as fears of the lands transitioning to private hands and decreasing the rights of the farmers.
Key demands include a guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) of all crops, debt waivers, compensation, and of legislation such as the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, which farmers say will privatize the sector. The paper analyses legislative history, court judgments on land acquisition and crucial pillars of the 2013 Act that include transparency, fairness of compensation and resettlement of displaced farmers. It finds that the Act ultimately represents a step towards empowering farmers to protect their rights, but crucially the enforcement is poor and that the depth of involvement of local communities particularly through decision making processes are lacking.
KEYWORDS
Coproprietors, Demurrers, Land Accession, Rehabilitated, Fiscal, Supreme Court.
INTRODUCTION
India has long been an issue where the government and growers as well as coproprietors are opposed to the terms of land accession and compensation. Generally, several of these businesses were cushioned by the 2013 Land Acquisition Act which provided for fair compensation and payment to affected families. Although, limitations of the Act and government’s inability to enforce it has been blamed. As a result, we have had millions of planter demurrers on the country, and recently and most notably when the 2020- 2021 Indian growers kick against the three ranch acts of the Parliament of India passed in September 2020. An act to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and replace it with new laws that make it easier to acquire land and allow the privatizing of agrarian areas led to the government’s demurrers. These changes worried the growers that their land and livelihoods would be lost, as the rights and entitlements they had built up over 40 years would be corroded. Wide demonstrators, sit-sways and leaguers marked the demurrers, with growers from various colored countries, such as Punjab, Haryana and the United Pradesh, helping in the movement. Deeply rooted grievances and structural inequalities of growers in India were stressed in the demurrers, including shy compensation, lack of recuperation and resettlement measures, and perceived shafts in the land accession process. Farther escalation of the situation was blamed on the government’s shy and asleep response to the demurrers. This composition seeks to both provide an overview of the various ways in which land accession laws and planter demurrers work together in India, as well as a look into the literal environment, causes, dynamics, and counteraccusations of these demurrers. In addition, it will identify the important demands of growers and the government’s response to these demands and the implicit pathways to resolution.
Dispute always exists between the government and farmers on the land acquisition laws in the country, which is also expressed in the farmers’ protest in India.
Land Acquisition Act of 2013:
The protesters want the national reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, repealed in 2015. They also claim compensation based on the four times the current land rate with a concurrence of the landholder on trade. Line with the prevailing original terrain, each state is entitled to decide the compensation rates and it is a state subject of land accession. The Centre can only specify land acquisition policy for public utility-based systems.
Compensation and Land Acquisition:
Previously, the government has met the bulk of the growers’ demands, including those concerning land accession. Politicians are not tired of keeping the issue of land accession on fire, the current demand of a public law on land accession is seen as unreasonable. It has also been blamed on the government not dealing with the question of land compensation paid (or not paid) to colorful authorities for land acquired for experimental systems, and growers are demanding compensation and reservation of 10 domestically grown plots on developed lands for their families.
Farmers’ Demands:
Growers’ main demands include one guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops, debt disclaimer, cancellation of transnational agreements having impact on the husbandry sector, and a minimal pension of ₹ 5,000 for growers and farm labor. Other demands are the pullout of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 that growers sweat will lead to the privatization of electric and annihilate their interests.
Government Response:
The Punjab growers’ addresses have been opened by government but a legal guarantee of MSP seems doubtful. However, the police have stopped the growers more than 200 km down from Delhi, indicating that government isn’t going to allow the growers to reach the public capital. The government was blamed for not compensating the families of growers who had failed during the period of demurrer, and for not offering them jobs, during the 2020-21 agitation. In India, land accession laws and indignant growers’ demurrers are serious problems with varied approaches on the side of government and growers. Some of the grower’s demand have been addressed by the government but they are also reluctant to accept other demands such as public law on land accession and the guarantee of MSP (minimum support price) for all crops.
THE CURRENT FARMERS’ PROTEST IN INDIA
What the growers are demanding is a statutory guarantee of copping crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP), which doesn’t exist today. The two masses of rice and wheat, that’s what they want, but not all crops, the government needs to ensure all crops are bought at MSP. Growers are looking forward to rack a ranch loan disclaimer to relieve the toxicity of high interest loan and get compensated for the profitable losses brought about by the COVID 19 epidemic and other factors. For his part, the growers demand that his yield fetch better prices, that his inflows double and that the profit received be a bare minimum of 50 over the entire cost of product. The government has to protect the agrarian sector from the negative impacts of climate change and other external factors, they say. The growers are protesting because the government has failed to fulfil its pre-demurrer pledges. It was promised the government would double growers’ inflows by 2022, but this is something they have not done. The government is being asked as required by the growers to do something concrete to make this work. The growers are also protesting against the government’s running of the former demurrers in 2020- 2021. They say that the government didn’t treat the economy of their enterprises and didn’t compensate them for the losses they incurred in the demurrers.
LAND ACQUISITION ACT 2013
This is one of the most important legislations in the frame of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 (LARR Act) which is introduced to ensure to provide fair compensation, translucency, as also to get back what belongs to them in case their land is taken away for the public purposes. In place of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, it replaced the Act’s lack of translucency and shy compensation of coproprietors. These enterprises did not have a suitable more structured and participatory manner in the way land was being acquired, so the LARR Act was legislated to address them. The Act defines objects of land accession as an area of development of the needed structure and urbanization for public purposes. It highlights the importance of engagement with the original tone of the government and the Gram Sabha and impact assessments to identify the families and communities. It makes provision for advanced payment of compensation rates, and recuperation and resettlement vittles to those whose land is lost. It also specifies vittles for the return of unused land, for the use of measured, terminated, and planned land. This is not only because land accession entails several ways, through the recourse to a social impact assessment, public notice or the opportunity of expostulations. The Act also requires participation of original panels, like Gram panchayat, in the process of land accession. The LARR act has several key vittles that will make sure fair compensation and translucency. The provision of advanced compensation rates, demand for the government to obtain the concurrence of the squatter before acquiring the land, and the addition of recuperation and resettlement vittles. The Act further provides for the return of land not used and in relation to the use of measured, terminated or planned land. The Act provides the space to incorporate original panels like the Gram panchayat in the process of land accession. In colorful countries of India, the land acquisition has been enforced through LARR Act such as in the case of Odisha for land acquisition for structure systems like roadways and irrigation schemes. The Act has been applauded for its sours to make sure there is fair compensation and translucency in the process of grabbing of land. While the Act still remains challenged to be enforced, social impact assessments still need to become more effectual and communities that were original to the lands entered into land accession are still not involved. Also, the Land Acquisition Act 2013 is crucial legislation in India to ensure that it’s a fair compensation, it is transparent and they recover and who have been deprived of their land. The Act is developed more structured and participatory process on land accession and is loaded with some aspects for more advanced remuneration rates, recuperation and resettlement and returning land which is unused.
THE IMPACT OF LAND ACQUISITION ACT 2013 ON FARMERS’ RIGHTS
Several vittles of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, more popularly known as the Right to Fair Compensation and Translucency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013, have to do with growers’ rights in India. The Act promises that land growers have to be compensated fairly. The compensation is based on the request value of the land, and the government would need to obtain the squatter’s concurrence before acquiring the land. The land access dimension of the Act is based on its notion of translucency, namely, the government must conduct a social impact assessment (SIA) and disclose full details of the design to the affected communities. The Act also allows growers to recoup and resettle should they lose their land with accession. The Act provides for the recovery and resettlement of growers who give up their land with accession. The displaced growers must be given indispensable land and jobs and appropriate support. The Act introduces a more structured, transparent approach for doing land accession. It requires the government to request the cooperation of a squatter before the land can be acquired as well as requires a more specific process for compensation and recovery. The Act is meant to protect the rights of the growers by icing up that they pronounce themselves entitled to a fair compensation and are rehabilitated duly. The Land Act of 2013 has bettered the rights of growers in India icing fair compensation, translucency and recuperation as it provides for the protection of their livelihoods and the terrain by icing that the land is used for public purposes that benefit the community.
THE ISSUES OF FAIR COMPENSATION FOR FARMERS IN LAND ACQUISITION ACT 2013
The Act guarantees for growers to be paid a fair compensation for their land. Based on the request value of the land the compensation is paid, and the government has to get the consent of the squatter before acquiring his land. Secondly, the Act says the government has to do a social impact assessment (SIA) and provide full briefing to the affected communities about the design of the rural roads.
The Act provides for the recovery and resettlement of growers whose land they lose as a result of accession. As the displaced growers are supposed to be handed indispensable land, employment and other kinds of necessary support, the government must make sure. The Act streamlines the land accession further by introducing a more structured and transparent way of doing. It requires the squatter’s concurrence by the government to acquire the land and stipulates a more detail process of compensating and recuperating it.
The requirement of the Act is the government must conduct a social impact assessment (SIA) to determine which families and communities will suffer a negative impact. This assessment links some of the families dependent on livelihood whose members might be entitled to recuperation and resettlement benefits. The Act provides for compensation of livelihood dependent families comprising ranch sloggers, share croppers, tenants, crafters and small dealers. The families are entitled to some of the coproprietors’ cash compensation and would also get recuperation and resettlement benefits.
Under the Act, the resettlement allowance will be paid in lieu of payment of a job or a lump sum to the affected families. That way they have a source of income and continue with their livelihoods. The Act provides one-time fiscal backing for the affected families for loss of their cattle exfoliate and petty shop. It allows them to rebuild their livelihoods.
SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT THROUGH LAND ACQUISITION ACT 2013
Madhav Rao Scindhia v. Union of India (1971):
The case involved acquisition of land under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. According to the Supreme Court, the purpose of the Act was to see to it that the land acquired was put to the use for the public purposes and that the landowners got a fair compensation. The Court also emphasized the importance during the land acquisition process that the process is transparent, and the need for consultation with local communities.
Pune Municipal Corporation v. Jagat Singh (2011):
In this case the land was being acquired for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The Act was intended to provide that the land acquired should be used for public purposes and the land owners should also be compensated fairly, the Supreme Court had held. The Court also called on transparency and consultation with local communities during land acquisition process.
Bharat Sewak Samaj v. Lieutenant Governor & Ors. (2012):
The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 came up in this case. The Supreme Court opined that the Act was out dated and being abused as well as oppressive to the interests of landowners. The Court suggested the necessity of a modern law governing compensation and rehabilitation of the people affected by land acquisition.
Smt. Parayankandiyal Eravath v. K. Devi (1996):
The case involved land acquisition for a public purpose with one based on the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The Supreme Court then said that the Act was intended to ensure that the land acquired was used for public purposes and that the landowners: The Court also stressed the requirement for the transparency and the consultation with local communities when the land acquisition process.
Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal (2020):
This case helped get right interpretation of Section 72(2) of 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The Supreme Court ruled that land acquisition proceedings do not merely lapse because the state couldn’t deposit compensation in a landowner’s account. They also pay whatever money you have deposited in the government treasury as payment.
Land Acquisition Officer, A.P v. Ravi Santosh Reddy (2016):
However, in this particular case, the Supreme Court was upset about the state government’s pursuit of ‘a trivial thing’ about paying interest on a small compensation amount of Rs. 50,000 for over 20 years, which it has termed as a clear abuse of legal process.
Indore Development Authority v. Shailendra (Dead) (2018):
The 2014 Pune Municipal Corporation judgment was overruled because in this case the landowners were not allowed by the Supreme Court to decline the compensation for acquiring their lands within 5 years, hence making this case controversial.
CONCLUSION
A new piece of legislation in India, the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 (LARR Act), is designed to ensure fair compensation, transparency and recuperation, for those whose land is taken down for public systems. The Act provides for a more structured and participatory process for land accession, and vittles for advanced compensation rates, recovery and resettlement as well as return of unused land. The Act has been hailed for its sweats to ensure fair compensation and translucency in land accession but may face challenges in enforcing the Act which include social impact assessments that are not so effective or that do so in the absence of original communities in the process of land accession. India’s colorful LARR Act has been used in India en masse to acquire land in states like Odisha to construct roadways and irrigation schemes. With the limitations of the Act and the government’s inadequacy in its application, the Act has been blamed for multitudinous planter demurrers across the country. Growers demand that copping crops under Minimum Support Price (MSP) be a statutory demand and not just a perquisite. They want all crops bought at MSP, and not only the two masses of rice and wheat. Faced with expensive loan rates, the growers are attempting to get a ranch loan disclaimer to ease the financial anguish of high interest loans and to compensate for the high profit loses being made due to the impact of the covid epidemic and other issues. More than 200 km down from Delhi, the police have stopped the growers and the government is showing how spread they won’t reach the public capital. Finally, it becomes clear that the India Land Acquisition Act of 2013 is an important piece of legislation of India that seeks to restore land to those whose land is taken away for the country’s public systems and ensure that it is paid as per the act, one which is fair, simple and translucent. Despite this, the Act lays down a more structured, more participatory procedure of land accession which includes rates of advanced compensation, costs for recuperation and resettlement and the return of unused land; however, there are still obstacles to enforcing the Act, including the requirement for additional effective social effect assessments and original local American participation within the process of land accession.
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