The Land Debate of Our Time

In the good olden days, laws were supposed to be about ‘what or what not the Government could do’. Lately, the trend seems to be heading towards the exact opposite. We have a situation where a political party promises to put 1.5 million cameras in a city of 15 million people and that, apparently, wins it for the party!

The Indian Federalist- the Book

Land is and always has been a personal commodity. To treat it as a state subject is like opening the Pandora’s Box. The right to own property was a fundamental right, until the 42nd and 44th amendments took it down. At that time it was enacted to get land back from the landowners (Zamindars) and distribute it to the people. But over a period of time it seems to have reached its expiry date.

The author

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in its second inning passed the Land Acquisition Act in 2013. It created a great furor in the corporate circle. In the views of the industry, the Land Acquisition Act would amount to an unprecedented Red Tapism. The current government, in its effort to promote industrialisation, drafted a new bill with certain amendments. The new bill is supposed to facilitate availability of lands. But the opposition disagrees on this belief. Hence, we have constant ‘walkouts’ in the Parliament and a latest protest march lead by Congress President. Sonia Gandhi.

‘Land is like any other commodity’,Parth J. Shah

Sanjiv Agarwal, along with the well know political commentator, Gurcharan Das and Parth J. Shah, organised a discussion on the cause and effects of the ongoing tussle between the government and the opposition and what it means for the citizens of India.

The trio for the session

Agarwal gave some numbers to make his point. The statistics suggested that 40% of Indians live in urban areas. They only occupy 4% of the total land and contribute 70% to the GDP. As a result, Land Will eventually, could become a major factor in going forward. He further says, “If you read the constitution now, you will see that the right to hold property is repealed. The 44th amendment, which was passed by the onetime government the Janata Party Government, was responsible for the same. The previous law guaranteed a free market of properties and also, people’s right to hold and acquire.”

The current law says that it is compulsory for the government of the day to acquire for a ‘Genuine’ public purpose but only after paying a just compensation.

The question answer session

Gurucharan Das quoted the Arthsashthra, according to which, the king can only have 1/6th of land’s right. So, the just tax rate for land should be 15% and interestingly, only Singapore meets this criteria in the current scenario. He says, “The poverty of the farmer is because he has got so many restrictions on his land. Our productivity is far less than China, just because there is a lack of technology. If we have to move forward and make India a prosperous country we will have to move out of this land mess. And even the farmers are saying the same.”

Parth J. Shah says, “The question should be, do we want to restore or do we want to go back to the 1950s? For me, land is just like any other commodity. My point being, we don’t need a law at all. It should be a transaction between two parties or multiple parties. Ultimately, it would be a private transaction, where people would decide the price at which they want to sell their land.”

Sanjiv Agarwal also launched his book ‘The Indian Federalist’. The book talks about various aspects and the history of the Land Acquisition Bill. It has discussions which took place in the early 1950s.

Picture Credits: Neel Kamal Pandey, One World News.