Today, Land Rehabilitation Development Bill was passed in the state of West Bengal returning 400 acres of land to the farmers whose it was at Singur. Now, we have new ways of giving relief to the farming people.Government acquired land of farmers for industrial planned development at Greater Noida and its extended locations but sold it to builders. Now the stage is set when farmers have to be paid and court will rule on September 12,2011. Farmers at Gautam Budh have given their 150 acres which was acquired by the government. High court has said that this acquisition cannot take place. Making land acquisition difficult will affect industrial growth.There is blanket ban in acquiring agricultural land in UP and Haryana. If 80% of the families in a land to be acquired say 'no', land cannot be acquired.Sometimes land is acquired for undefined use and then later it is handled by land mafia, there needs to be transparency in dealings.National Manufacturing Policy may influence land acquisition policy reforms and again deprive the farmer of his land.
If the government does not intervene in land transactions, there is fear large scale buying and selling will go on and that land mafia will undertake large scale operations to acquire industrial land. How to maximize profits? By depriving the rights of the illiterate, peasant farmer. Farmers of Singur have been given their land back. May it be Bhatta-Parsul case, POSCO case,or Lavasa case, it is big issue—to industrialize or give way to farmers. When giving up their land farmers should demand rights as stakeholders over their contribution to industries. Farmers should give land on lease only and not give it away permanently. Farmers should be advised so that they are not completely exploited because their lack for their knowledge and awareness. Deals between unequals will be exploitative only unless we intervene and advise. They should retain their hold and be given status of a stakeholder.
Land Acquisition Act had deprived the farmer to bargain for his land,The idea of adequate compensation changes from time to time. Farmer had to accept what he got. He should be given a choice of giving his land on a long lease say for 30yrs or 50yrs.He should not be deprived of rights over the land where his forefathers had lived, worked and made their home. His farm is a piece of living history which he had inherited. We cannot deprive him of his family identity and culture by taking his land away.
Land Rights increases the Gap between rural rich and the rural poor
When the farmer looses his rights over his land due to debt, he becomes very very poor.The phenomenal feature of the past decade is the rising inequality amongst rural classes. Somehow or other rural rich land lords had acquired all cultivatable land and kept it for themselves. There are the rich rural moneylenders and the absentee landlords. And in the bottom are the poor landless laborers who earn wages as they are the hired labor power. They suffer as they are indebted due to informal credit. Now, we can help the farmer/laborer. We must ensure that he gets his minimum wages as man-day and man-hours he has worked on. Thus manpower should be kept registered. And he must get benefits of insurance and at least some health-care. He should also be able to save some for future uncertainties. Some micro-finance scheme should give him cover .This must be done before he is drowned completely in debt. The informal credit system offered to him by moneylenders exploits him completely. He is reduced to serfdom or slavery. There are limits to the power of human body and spirit of endurance; these are tested when landlords exploit the landless labor. Their lives must be saved and we must teach the farmer to farm better, by cooperating with other farmers and to live better. We must restore the poor farmer of his rights over his land. We must help the poor labourer to survive and at the same time we should not put limits on the prosperity of the rural rich class which is also working in keeping the wheel of economy turning.
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