Jairam Ramesh bats for government role in land acquisition

Minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh has reiterated that the government should and must have a role in the land acquisition as faster industrialisation and urbanisation are both inevitable and desirable.

Talking to media in the capital, a day after the standing committee report on the `Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011' was tabled in the Lok Sabha, he said, the role of the government in the acquisition process cannot be completely eliminated as India is not a developed country.

He said, after inter-ministerial consultations, the changes, if any will be brought before the cabinet and all efforts will be made to pass the revised bill in the coming monsoon session of Parliament.

He said, the second cardinal principle is that acquisition role must be governed by public purpose, which is at times met by the government organisation and sometime by private companies and illustrated that in many cases the government consciously seeks private investment for public purpose like airports and ports.

Ramesh also strongly favoured that compensation should be fair and equitable, both to those whose land has been acquired and to those whose livelihoods were destroyed.

The fourth principle, the minister added is that the procedure of acquisition must be timely and transparent and the fifth and final one is that the state governments should be given maximum flexibility.