RIGHT TO FAIR COMPENSATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT ACT 2013: A PROCESS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract Land acquisition has become a most vexing problem for policymakers in India. This paper captures the policy processes leading to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Ordinance, 2014. It maps the role and the influence of the three primary stakeholders - Government, industry and landowners - at various stages of the evolution of the land acquisition law in India. Land acquisition has remained a controversial issue in India resulting in conflicts between social, economic and political structures. The RFCTLARR Act 2013 was an attempt by the earlier Government to provide a fair deal to the landowners who had suffered due to the weak framework of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The salient features of the proposed legislation are as follows. It significantly increases the minimum compensation payable, but continues to use the market price obtained from recently registered sale deeds from the region as a yardstick. The minimum compensation has been fixed at four times the market price in rural areas and twice the market price in urban areas. LARR (2011), which is a comprehensive Bill on land acquisition as well as rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R), subjects all eminent domain acquisitions as well as private purchases of over 100 acres in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas to a mandatory R&R package, with a host of benefits both for affected landowners as well as livelihood losers.