Most NAC proposals included in Land Acquisition draft Bill

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NC Saxena, Member, National Advisory Council in an interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan gave his perspective on the draft bill for land acquisition.

He said, Jairam Ramesh was convinced that NAC gave very reasonable proposal and most NAC recommendations have been incorporated in the draft bill. Jairam Ramesh would be taking this draft bill forward in the monsoon session of the Parliament.

He said, "One of the reasons why farmers are very annoyed and they feel cheated is that prices have gone up and everyone is making money except them. So therefore it is important to make them stakeholders in urban development or industrialisation."

He further said, the proposed bill is viable package for both the industry and farmers.

Also Read: New land acquisition Bill to ensure fair compensation says Jairam Ramesh

Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview with CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: We understand that the conversation or the dialogue between the NAC and the Ministry of Rural Development and Jairam Ramesh concluded on Saturday, so you have got a sense of what the ministry is thinking and what this draft bill proposes to do. Let me begin by asking you how difficult was it to reach a consensus with the rural development ministry given the fact that the NAC had its recommendations in place?

A: Infact it was fairly smooth and very easy because Jairam Ramesh was very convinced that we had given a very reasonable proposal. Because we want faster industrialization and because of growth urbanisation will take place. Unfortunately our experience has been that industry is not able to get land.

There is great deal of uncertainty; there is also a delay which is not in the interest of industry costs go up. Therefore in order to cut down on all this we suggested a viable package which will be in the interest of industry as well as the farmers and he agreed with our logic and he accepted it.

Q: Have all of the NAC's recommendations found place in the bill because what we are getting at this point of time of course is source based information. Would you even go so far as to say - the draft bill is actually is an improvement on the NAC's recommendations?

A: Certainly there is some improvement and some minor changes here and there. But by and large what we have suggested has been approved. For instance there should be one bill - farmers should get six times the market value as compensation. Landless labours should also get Rs 2,000 per month for 20 years. There should be no acquisition in double cropped irrigate land.

There should be no use of emergency clause for industry, urbanisation, etc. They should be used only when there is real emergency, national security is involved and so on and so forth. Whenever prices go up - farmers should also benefit and they should get 20% of the difference in prices.

One of the reasons why farmers are very annoyed and they feel cheated is that prices have gone up and everyone is making money except them. So therefore it is important to make them stakeholders in urban development or industrialisation. They should be very happy that whenever prices go up - they will get 20% of the difference.

Q: Since a lot has been left to the discretion of the state governments in the proposed draft bill, are you apprehensive that perhaps we could see conditions coming in that may be anti-industry?

A: Infact we have done a lot of research on this issue and we found out that of the total project cost hardly 1% or in some cases may be little more than 1% goes to the farmers. Of course builders in industry spend much more than that but that is because of court cases and bribe that they have to pay at all levels.

Therefore the farmers are not - we have increases compensation with a view to reduce bribes, reduce delays, cut down on gestation period, on uncertainty which is in the interest of industry. Industry should feel very happy that they would have good relation with the local people. They will get land without any hassle with no uncertainty, with clear title and this is what they want.