Thursday 9 June 2011

Land acquisition row : cause, farmers' expectations , purpose , Govt. initiative

Land Acquisition row : A parade of competitive ambitions

The all encompassing kerfuffle on the question of unmindful land acquisitions by the state govt. agencies , has proved a faux pas.Hapless marginal farmers have been coerced and enticed , a matter of general perception, to
trade off their lives sustaining prized possessions in the face of small holdings of cultivable lands for abysmally factitious price as a fait accompli..

Resentment is the general mood amidst the affected public.Pangs of the sufferings get exacerbated for want of Resettlement and Rehabilitation mechanism,  meant for the displaced  land owners or the riff-raff inhabitants of the acquired areas.The said mechanism should be the prerequisite for the follow up actions.

Commotion amongst the crenellated small land owners, results in law and order problems as the former feel duped for receiving unjustified and improper paltry compensations for the holdings of their lands.Compensations are generally worked out on the basis of previous transaction price . As the development reaches to the place , the exponential rise in the selling price becomes becomes conspicuous and thus engendered discontents give rise to further agitations.

Current upheaval in Bhatta and Parsaul villages of Greater Noida bears the vulgur testimony of this act.The attendant socio-political activism eclipses the societal peace and harmony .
In the backdrop of the aforesaid facts, it can be easily ratiocinated that land acquisition exercise has got several ramifications: Viz. Socio-economic affectations and their impacts; competitive political machinations and mind boggling judicial wrangles etc.

The social bearings on the displaced farmers are the palpable ones. Land acquisition marks the end of the vibrant local economy and eats away the employment of the inhabitant landless workers and skilled workers in general and marginal farmers who are forced to part with their land in the wake of acquisition process in particular.

New found riches clasping the beneficiaries of the land sales results in extravagance.False status notions come into force and easy earned compensation fritters away on erection of pompous buildings, luxury vehicles and procurement of licensed gun as a symbol of social status.Urbanization , as an attendant consequence, touches the lives of the  affected people and latter forges a  social collage of skill deficit , desired for urban livings. City life proves inhospitable and non-inclusive for rural gentry.
In absence of the continuous source of livelihood, unemployed but rich youths get high on booze as they find themselves out of sink in the pulsating urban life.Steep hike in dowry - a social malaise, has been also witnessed as the recipient of the fortune, earned out of the land sales , fail to protect themselves voluptuous eyes of the non-kosher claimant of the same.
Land insures the rural life and subsists them.Compensation earned out of land sales,  get distributed among the stake holders of the joint family and it augers worse for the imminent future!

It is imperative on the part of govt.agencies and corporate magnates to work in tandem to address these problems. Compensation package should be designed and in an apposite manner to the beneficiary to avoid the imminent social catastrophe.

Political Machination and its fall out:

Land is an emotional issue and its acquisition exercise easily hogs the headlines of the news papers and it dishes out electronic media umpteen stories to catch the eye balls of the viewers.
Politicians and political parties don't resist their temptations to capitalize on the such emotive issues to strengthen their political stake.Singur and Nandigram are the apt illustration of the said proposition.Street smart  politician like Ms. Mamta Bannerjee has exploited it to the hilt and bulldozed the invincible citadel of the Communist.
In the very recent past , major political parties like Congress, BJP et al  had sneaked in Bhatta and Parsaul, singing in political conflagration, to gain  political capital. Manveer Tewtia has been alleged for orchestrating and fomenting trouble in the said areas for his political ambitions.Political indulgence inflicts excruciating trouble to the innocent land losers as a turf war triggered off  for political advantages

Judicial Wrangles .
The entropy of the social discontent takes recourse to the judicial help to get the reversal of the acquisitioned land .Working on the conspicuous loop holes in the Act, legal Helps have hit the court to champion the cause of land losers.Judiciary has responded much to the relief of the complainants. In this context, it would be apt to cite the verdict of Allahabad High Court.The court has denotified a large tract of lands in Shahberi, Suraj pur and Gulistan pur  (UP).
Inspired by the  aforesaid judgement,several other villages have sought the legal help to serve their interest, viz. Bisrakh, Patwadi , Heda, Khairpur.etc.
Displaced people, ecological activists, NGOs and politicians keep on meddling with the project on acquired land by indulging in judicial wrangle and hamper the completion of the project work on time for  their kosher or unreasonable reasons.
Pohang Iron and Steel company (POSCO), Vedanta et al are some of the pathetic examples of the callous approach of the zealots in this context.