Land Acquisition Act is a powerful procedure through which the government acquires the land from

individuals for a public purpose and other development work meant for larger society of public i.e. its
people.

Land acquisition is essential for the development of a country in order to provide employment, social
infrastructure, physical infrastructure and other public amenities.

In India, Land Acquisition has been brought out by a set of legislations:

 The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which was imposed during the British rule.
 The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013 brought out by the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, which was different in several aspects as compared
to 1894 Act.
 The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ordinance, 2015 brought out by the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which has changed many clauses of the 2013
Act.

Land Acquisition Act 1894,

 Compulsory acquisition of property involves expropriation of private rights in the property.

 The Law of Land Acquisition is intended to legalize the taking up, for public purposes, or for a
company, of land which is private property of individuals the owners and occupiers, and pay
equitable compensation therefore calculated at market value of land acquired, plus an
additional sum on account of compulsory character of acquisition (solatium).
 It is a restraint on the right of private owners to be able to dispose off property according to
their wish.
 Land can be acquired either by the state or the central government only for Public Purpose.
 1894 land acquisition was lacking the clauses on adequate compensation, consent of
landowners and others dependent on the land being acquired, and their rehabilitation.
 Land acquisition has led to large-scale protests against the projects like the Sardar Sarovar
dam in Gujarat; a special economic zone in Nandigram and a Tata Motors plant in Singur in
West Bengal as well as Vedanta’s bauxite mining plans in Niyamgiri and Posco’s steel project
in Jagatsinghpur in Odisha.

Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2013,

 The act seeks to establish a cohesive national law that dealt with the compensation,
rehabilitation and resettlement issues arising out of process of land acquisition.
 To ensure that fair compensation is provided to affected families.
 Make adequate provisions for the rehabilitation and resettlement.
 In case of compulsory acquisition, endeavor should be made that the affected persons are
made partners in development so as to ensure a smooth rehabilitation process for them post
acquisition.
 13 laws including the National Highways Act, 1956, and the Railways Act, 1989, were
exempted from LARR.
 CASE STUDY:
A TATA NANO ABANDONED PROJECT: SINGUR.

The Tata Nano Abandoned Plant: Singur. Satellite Image Source: Google maps.

The Tata Nano Abandoned Plant: Singur. Satellite Image Source: Google maps.

Act under which land was acquired Land Acquisition Act 1894
Land Acquired 997 acres of prime agricultural land in Singur, West Bengal.
Project Tata Nano car factory.
compensation 25 % compensation to tenant farmers, no compensation to
agricultural workers.
 In 2006, the West Bengal government acquired 997 acres of prime agricultural land in Singur
are of West Bengal state in order to enable M/s Tata Motors, a leading industry house in India,
to build a factory for manufacturing Nano car, its new model attempt as small and cheap car.
 In order to do so, the State government used its power of eminent domain under the 1894
Land Acquisition Act.
 The West Bengal government decided to acquire the area required for the car factory and
offer compensation to the farmers and other land owners whose lands were being acquired
as required by the 1894 Act.
 The local community of Singur was enraged by this action, and put up resistance led by farmer
households against forced acquisition and displacement.
 This resistance soon turned into a protest movement, which the main opposition party, the
Trinamool Congress (TMC) subsequently awoke.
 The state government subsequently offered to improve the terms of compensation, including
25% compensation for tenant farmers engaged in cultivation of acquired plots.
 No plans were offered to compensate agricultural workers claiming to have lost employment
on acquired lands.
 Local outbreaks of violence occurred, and the protests acquired national and international
media attention.
 Eventually, two years later, after being frustrated with the protests and non-acquisition, M/s
Tata Motors decided to withdraw from West Bengal, and took the Nano car manufacturing
factory to Sanand, Gujarat.
 A household survey in 12 Singur villages, which were acquired for Tata Car Factory, was
conducted by Ghatak. (2013).
 The results of the study show that most of the land was acquired from marginal landowners,
and from those engaged in cultivation on the acquired plots. For most affected owners, more
than half the land they owned in 2005 was acquired.
 A significant fraction of landowners were under-compensated owing to misclassification of
their plots in the official land records, besides inability of the latter to incorporate other
sources of plot heterogeneity.
 Acquisition of land resulted in 40% lower income growth for owners and half that for tenants.
Agricultural workers that were directly affected experienced significant reductions in
employment earnings compared with unaffected agricultural workers, who in turn,
experienced smaller earnings growth compared with non-agricultural workers.
 Hence, land acquisition in Singur imposed significant economic hardships on a large fraction
of affected owners, tenants and workers.
 A large fraction of owners were under-compensated relative to market values.
 Tenants were under-compensated and agricultural workers were not compensated at all.
Analysis of case as per act of 1894 and 2013.

Land Acquisition Act 1894,

 As there was no provision of consent, it reduced the time for acquisition but this was the main
cause of Tata Nano Plant’s Failure.
 Since there was no provision of social impact assessment which came in 2013, this was main
the reason of failure of Tata Nano Plant. As people who were affected later on rose up
together in a group along with the Political support.
 In case of compensation, Market prices of the lands were determined by land records of
already sold lands. But the records were misclassified in order to save Stamp Duty. Due to this
many farmers were under compensated, which was also the reason of failure of project.
 The market values were misclassified, this lead to under compensation of many farmers which
lead to dissatisfaction among these farmers and then they rose up together, which caused the
project to go in vain.
 This was low only 30% of the market value. As already stated market value was misclassified,
the farmers didn’t get proper solatium which in turn affected the project’s success.
 The affected families were not provided with job security and the shelter of their livelihood
which created a more hurdles in the project which lead to failure of project.
 Many lands where multi crops were cultivated were acquired; this reduced the production of
many crops which affected the supply of these crops across the state. Thus food security to
the people was reduced. Moreover the cost of multi cropped land was more so it increased
acquisition cost.

Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2013,

 Provision of Consent of affected people would have increased the time for acquisition but
later people wouldn’t have complained about forceful acquisition of their land.
 Social Impact assessment would have certainly helped Tata’s project, as all the parameters
would have already looked upon to avoid any problem at later stage.
 The compensation in this act is much higher which would increase the cost of the project, but
certainly it would lead to satisfaction of owners of acquired land. And it would lead to the
success of the project.
 Providing Job security to the members of affected family and shelter for their livelihood would
increase project cost and also some portion of employment would be unqualified for the
project thereby creating project hurdle.
LAND ACQUISITION, RESETTLEMENT AND REHABILITATION ACT.

CASE: TATA NANO CAR FACTORY, SINGUR. 2006.

Divya Kacha,
M.Arch
Sem IV – 1804.
By-Laws.