Farmers may get to retain ownership : Broad consensus on land bill

- Retention of land to provide regular income to ryots - States to enact laws as land lease is a State subject - Left insist on consent of all people to be displaced

The Bill seeks to address problems of industry regarding acquisition of land for setting up projects. It provides for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced people and proposes to replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

New Delhi (PTI): The government on Thursday clinched a "broad consensus" on the contentious Land Acquisition Bill, paving the way for its consideration and passage in Parliament in the Budget Session which resumes on Monday after a month-long recess.

"We have reached a broad consensus on the Land Acquisition Bill," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters after a 90-minute all-party meeting here. The government agreed to a key demand of the BJP, which had suggested that instead of acquisition, the land could be leased to developers so that its ownership will remain with the farmers and would provide them with regular annual income.

The government is learnt to have agreed to amend the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, to provide for an enabling provision for States to enact laws in this regard as leasing of land was a state subject, government sources said.

However, the Left parties and DMK still have reservations on the Bill with the CPI(M) demanding consent of all the families affected due to the acquisition of land. A "There is a lot of dilution from the original Bill. The current version is against the interest of farmers. We will move amendments when the Bill is taken up in Parliament," CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia told reporters

DMK leader T R Baalu claimed that the Bill was against the federal structure of the Constitution and his party cannot agree to it. A The DMK, which withdrew support from the UPA last month on the issue of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, has been asked to make its suggestions regarding the issues related to the Bill by Friday. A The first all-party meet on the Land Acquisition Bill, which was held here on April 9, had failed to iron out the differences between the government and BJP, SP and the Left Front.

The Bill seeks to address problems of industry regarding acquisition of land for setting up projects. It provides for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced people and proposes to replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

SC stalls Vedanta's A bauxite project

New Delhi (IANS): The Supreme Court on Thursdat stalled Vedanta Group's bauxite miningproject in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha till gram sabhas of districts Rayagada and Kalahandi in the State give clearance to it.A The apex court directed the gram sabhas of the two districts to decide in three months the issues arising out of the mining project, including that of the tribals residing in the area.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam, K. S. Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to take action in two months after a report from the gram sabhas is received.A The bench gave the directions on the petition moved by state-owned Orissa Mining Corporations (OMC) challenging MoEF's decision to cancel the environmental clearance granted to the Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Project of Sterlite Industries Ltd, the Indian arm of UK-based Vedanta Group.

The ministry had refused the next stage forest clearance to OMC and Sterlite's mining project in Niyamgiri Hills area in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, accepting the Forest Advisory Committee's (FAC) recommendation for withdrawal of the clearance.