Make Land Deals a Win-Win for All





It is welcome that the BJP has finally reached out to the Opposition to get the Ordinances on insurance and land converted into law. It is, however, unlikely that the BJP will get any support from other political parties, social organisations and activists to dilute the land acquisition law. This law was created by the UPA, and supported by the BJP in Parliament last year.Even the BJP's parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), wants no dilution of the law. The current law makes it compulsory to seek the consent of at least 70% of owners before acquiring their land for public-private partnerships; it also requires an assessment of the social impact that such acquisitions might cause. The BJP wants to dilute both.Today , land acquisition appears to be a zero-sum game: the buyers' gain is the sellers' loss. It need not be so. Rewrite the law to ensure that both buyer and seller gain from the transaction. This can only be done by making those who sell land stakeholders in the prosperity created by the projects concerned and enhanced value of the land. There are several ways to go about this. States like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have successfully experimented with annuities, in addition to upfront payment and return of a fraction of the acquired land, post-development.
Other options could include giving land-sellers direct equity stakes in the businesses that come up on their property . Some projects like schools or hospitals might not yield immediate monetary returns; in that case, the government should lease -rather than purchase outright -land, and pay a steadily increasing rent to landowners as the property appreciates. Instead of trying to ram an Ordinance into law in Parliament, the BJP must consider options that make land transactions a winwin proposition for all.