[1] The degree of land acquisition by the government in India has manifested itself on a large national scale over time, affecting great proportions of the country.
The Act changed the norms for acquisition of land for use by private companies or in case of public-private partnerships, including compulsory approval of 80% of the landowners.
The proposed amendments remove requirements for approval from farmers to proceed with land acquisition under five broad categories of projects.
The following were the main disputation points:[10] The amendment bill was strong opposed by opposition parties, farmers, labour unions and other stakeholders.
[13] In the history of modern India, this doctrine was challenged twice (broadly speaking) once when land reform was initiated and another time when Banks were nationalized.
There is no reason why a new concept of property should be introduced in the place of the old so as to bring in its wake the vestiges of the doctrine of Laissez Faire and create, in the name of efficiency, a new oligarchy.
For context purposes, this may be compared with land prices elsewhere in the world: A 2010 report by the Government of India, on labor whose livelihood depends on agricultural land, claims that, per 2009 data collected across all states in India, the all-India annual average daily wage rates in agricultural occupations ranged between ₹ [22] 53 and 117 per day for men working in farms (US$354 to 780 per year), and between ₹41 and 72 per day for women working in farms (US$274 to 480 per year).
These eight risks are very much direct and basic in nature which are (i) landlessness, (ii) joblessness, (iii) marginalization, (iv) loss of access to common property resources, (v) increased morbidity and mortality, (vi) food insecurity, (vii) homelessness and (viii) social disarticulation ([25]).
[26] Of all the states of India, the consequences and controversies around land acquisition in West Bengal has recently gained a lot of national and international attention.
The peasant resistances against governmental land expropriation in Singur (a place in the Hoogly district) and Nandigram (a place in the East Medinipur district) has finally led to the fall of the communist party (Marxist) led government in West Bengal, which ruled the state through democratic election for 34 years.
The new government has enacted a law on 14 June 2011, in the West Bengal Assembly named ‘Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011’.
However, now the whole issue seems to have fallen into a long legal battle between the present state government and the Tatas, as the latter has challenged the ‘Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act’ in the court.
Under the above disturbing episodes, it may be worthwhile to narrate the glaring incident of the opposition levelled by Mamata Banerjee, the present chief minister of West Bengal to the draft Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007 in the Lok Sabha.
She opposed to a clause of the bill which empowered private companies to acquire up to 70 per cent land directly from farmers and landowners.
It seemed that Miss Banerjee would have allowed the amended Bill to be passed if the Lok Sabha agreed to modify the 70/30 proportion to 100 per cent purchase by the companies under the principleof willing-buyer-willing-seller.
[28] The example of Miss Mamata Banerjee highlights an important aspect of land acquisition that occurs primarily with farmers, called recombinant urbanization.
[30] They have been displaced with large-scale projects like dams, canals, thermal plants, sanctuaries, industrial facilities, and mining (Pellissery and Dey Biswas 2012, pp 32–54).
[33] Tata Monors' acquisition of 997 acres in Bengal to set up a factory for the cheapest car in India sparked protests.
At least a decade before the Singur episode similar events occurred in West Bengal, although the opposition parties and other civil society organisations remained silent at that time.
Under the 1894 Act, displaced people were only liable for monetary compensation linked with market value of the land in question, which was still quite minimal considering circle rates are often misleading (Singh 2007).
Land acquisition related conflicts during the post-reform period in India has shown three distinctive tendencies; (1) Technocracy and Bundle of Rights, (2) Power-land Regulation Nexus, and (3) Disappearing Commons.
It outlines the U.S. as the leading consumer of the aluminum produced from the mining occurring in the Koraput region, fueled by a large demand for soda can beverages.
In this model, the landowner lends her land to the government for a steadily-increasing rent, or through an annuity-based system as currently practiced in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Due to protests by owners, local residents and other affected persons, Ministry of Environment and Forest cleared acquisition of only 130 acres.
Subsequently, the International Civil Aviation Organization stated in their report that there is no further scope for expansion in the present Chennai Airport.
Accordingly, the Airports Authority of India informed the Government of Tamil Nadu in November 2011 that they do not require the land and that it can be released.