Protests and debates have always been a feature of land acquisition bills and acts, since its amendment in 2013 by the UPA or the ordinance which was brought into effect in December 2014. With the ordinance lapsing on April 5, 2015, the Modi government is anxious to pass the Land Acquisition Bill 2015. Unfortunately, the Opposition is relentless in their, well, opposition to the bill and various interest groups are openly protesting the new bill. Beating all imagination though, a group of adivasis in Jharkhand have taken giving-a-shit to a whole new level. Quite literally.

Firstly, what did the British want?

The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 provided for the government to take over land from people for 'public purpose', which was very ambiguously defined. Not only this, the land was bought from the peasants and farmers at a lot less than market value.

When the projects for which the land was acquired for did not in reality pan out, it was observed that these lands were either resold or taken over by real estate agents, large industrial houses etc. and in the process, bureaucrats and their son-in-laws made a lot of money.

Consent only on paper and little or no cash for the farmers.

So, what did the Congress do?

Clearly, there was a lot of problem with the British-era land act of 1894. So, in 2013, the UPA Government decided to amend the act by legislating the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR), 2013.

Under this new act, there was provision for consent of the affected families (80% for private project, 70% for public-private partnership (PPP) projects) and social impact assessment, which meant the people had a say in the acquisition process.

The compensation was made proportional to market rates (4 times for rural land, 2 times for urban land) and fertile, irrigated, multi-cropped farmland was to be acquired as a last resort. One of the most important points, however, was that if the designated project doesn’t start in 5 years, land would to be returned to the original owner.