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Friday, June 13, 2014

Jun 13 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
Border Pact With Bangladesh Soon
NEW DELHI


GROWING COOPERATION Swaraj's visit likely to open up avenues for a broader engagement with Bangladesh
The stage is set for India and Bangladesh to ratify a long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during the visit of foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to Bangladesh on June 25. Swaraj's visit is also expected to open up avenues for a broader engagement between the two countries.Top officials in the government told ET that the government was in favour of not only an early resolution of LBA but also of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement. In return, the government planned to persuade Bangladesh to grant India a land passage to Northeast through its territory.
“For formalising the LBA, India will ask Bangladesh to open the Tetulia corridor for better connectivity between northeast and rest of India. It will facilitate movement of goods and people to the northeast,“ a senior government official said on condition of anonymity .
Tetulia is a 4 km corridor in Bangladesh which can reduce the road travel to and from northeast by over 85 km. While India had opened the Tinbigha corridor, the Bangladesh to Bangladesh passage, Dhaka has failed to allow passage through Tetulia.
Before coming to power, BJP was vehemently opposed to Parliament ratifying LBA, although UPA introduced a Constitution amendment bill on LBA in the Rajya Sabha just before the winter session came to an end in December last. The bill aims to redraw the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging land enclaves and areas of adverse possession along with the population on either side, thus making the highly incongruous and porous Indo-Bangla border more manageable.
India stands to lose about 400 acres to Bangladesh in the process. “The general feeling was that LBA was heavily in favour of Bangladesh. It is in the best interest of both countries to resolve these issues and move on,“ the officer explained.
Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
DREAM BIG AND CHASE YOUR GOALS


A career guidance session on Exploring Opportunities in Higher Education, recently organised at YMCA, brought many vital aspects to the fore
The Times of India organised a career guidance session on Exploring Opportunities in Higher Education on June 7 at Henz Auditorium, YMCA. The aim of the forum was to bring forth discussions on important steps in choosing the right career and address larger issues pertaining to holistic models within the education arena.The chief guest on the occasion was social activist Neera Shastri. Mentioning the options when you miss your admission in your chosen subject, she said, “Remember, education is more than numbers and marks. It is about virtues and believing in oneself. At the same time discipline, dedication, hard work and patience are needed to excel in life.
There are many avenues and branches where you can perform and make the most of your potential, thanks to tech revolution and globalization. The need of the hour is to do goal mapping, learn time management and do multi-tasking. Understand the dignity of labour. Say no to distraction and follow your goals with dedication and passion.
Making the right decisions about learning or work really matters. But one should not be disheartened with failures. “Life is about taking failure as a stepping stone of success. There is no paucity of options for those who believe in themselves and are flexible. Show courage and do not compromise on your values,“ explained Tejpal Singh, Senior BJP Leader Delhi.
In his keynote address Mark Clive, Associate General Secretary, New Delhi YMCA, said, “This is the most crucial time of your life. So take your decisions after pondering over all pros and cons. Nonetheless, dream big and chase your dreams. Choose your career path carefully and go for it.
While picking up a career do ensure that it is in accordance with your interest, value, skills and personality.
Do not have a 'Me Too' attitude.“ All the decisions must be made after self-introspection. “You need to have a vision to choose your path.
While picking up a career do ensure that your long-term goals gel with it. While deciding a career, do ask yourself. Where I am come from? Where am I now?
Where would I be after 10 years? Take time to decide what is suitable for you.
Have a clear goal orientation,“ remarked Alok Bansal, Director, IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd.
Yashodhra Arora, a Senior Counselling Psychologist with Careers Smart, during her session not only answered all the queries of students as well as parents, but also said that psychometric test, followed by counselling and then a stint of internship go a long way in finding out what exactly you are fit for. No matter what career you choose, you need to pursue it passionately in order to excel in the field. Dr.
Durgesh Tripathi, Assistant Professor, University School of Mass Communication, GGSIP University, said, “Pick up a course of your liking even if it is not available in your dream college and at the same time, there is no substitute for hard work and dedication. You need to have a sense of direction.“
Speaking on alternate career options, RJ Naved, said “There is no substitute for hard work, but always work smartly. Try all options.“ Once you have decided your career path, strive for skill enhancement and self-improvement, said Subash Master, Vice President, YMCA. “Dream a goal and live it. You need to have an understanding about your self and be aware of your real i n t e re s t .
Have a disciplined life and be resolute. Remember that life is full of ups and downs and in rough times your family is your shield, so value this relationship,“ he added.
Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Honour for Juliet who saved CRPF platoon
New Delhi:
TNN


True to the maxim -every dog has its day -Thursday belonged to Juliet, a Belgian Malinois dog with the CRPF, deployed in antiMaoist operations in Odisha.
On Thursday , CRPF chief Dilip Trivedi decided to award Juliet and her handler with Director General (DG) Commendation Disc for sniffing out two landmines, each weighing 20 kg, thereby sav ing lives of an entire CRPF platoon at Daitari in Odisha's Keonjhar district.On Wednesday , Juliet and her handler Constable Zale Singh went out with CRPF troops as part of area domination duty at Sal Ghati in the Maoist heartland in Keonjhar.
“After patrolling for about 8 km, Juliet stopped at a mound of earth and gravel by the side of the road,“ said CRPF IG (operations) Zulfiquar Hasan.
She sniffed and sat down beside the mound, refusing to budge. After a while, she scratched the ground with her paw revealing electric wires. “Our troops immediately cordoned off the area.
The bomb detection and disposal squad then unearthed a 20kg IED planted by the Maoists about two feet below the ground,“ said Hasan.
About 50 m away from the spot, Juliet sniffed out another 20 kg IED fitted with detonators and torch cells, ready for activation.
“Juliet saved many lives by her timely detection of the IEDs,“ said Hasan.
Currently , the CRPF, nodal force in anti-Maoist operations, has 108 Belgian Malinois dogs inducted over last two years in the Maoist zone.
The Belgian Malinois shot to fame as the dog “that took down Osama bin Laden“. According to reports, a Belgian Malinois accompanied the US Navy Seals team that raided the house in Pakistan where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden lived.
Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
2 of 5 UPSC toppers from Delhi
New Delhi:
TNN


A total 1,122 candidates have cleared the prestigious Civil Servic es Examin ation 2013, with Gaurav Agrawal, a BTech from IIT Kanpur and also an IIM Lucknow alumnus, bagging the top position.While the second rank has gone to Munish Sharma, a BSc in bio-chemistry from Sri Venkateswara College here, Bharti Dixit, an MBBS from Lady Hardinge Medical College here, is the top-scoring woman candidate, with overall fifth rank.
While it was the second attempt for the top two rankers, Dixit hit the jackpot in her maiden try . Agrawal, selected for IPS in his first attempt at Civil Services Examination, is currently undergoing training at the Sardar Vallabbhai National Police Academy in Hyderabad. He appeared for the exam from Jaipur.
Agrawal, who earlier worked as an investment banker with Citigroup in Hong Kong, credited his family for his success. “I used to study for 10-12 hours for my last exams. For 2013 Civil Services, I studied for about 6-8 hours,“ he was quoted by PTI as saying.
Second-rank holder Munish Sharma, when contacted by TOI, said he was indebted to his mother for her “singlehanded effort“ in supporting his dreams. Sharma lost his father when he was in Class XII. He also made it a point to credit TOI, “the first paper he picks up to read daily“.
Bharti Dixit, the topper among women candidates, said she credited “God and then her family for their support“. Having cracked the exam in her very first attempt, Dixit said she relied on government websites and newspapers. “I was already working as a doctor... so I could just manage 4-6 hours a day of preparation,“ she said.
The results were declared by UPSC on Thursday , concluding the rigorous selection process comprising the prelims conducted on May 26, 2013, the written exam in December 2013 and the personality test in April-June 2014.
While 14,959 of the total 3,23,949 candidates who appeared for the exam cleared the prelims, 3,003 passed the mains. Finally , 1,122 candidates cleared the last hurdle, the personality test.
For the full report, log on to http://www.timesofindia.com
Blind girl from Chennai cracks exam Chennai: It was a tough climb to the top, but N L Beno Zephine enjoyed it and made friends on the way. The 24-year-old, who secured an all-India rank of 343 in the UPSC exams, is visually impaired. “Cracking the civil services only requires hard work and an intuition of what the examiner expects the candidate to know. You have to make an effort and coaching institutes help you with the second ingredient to success,“ Zephine said.
The girl is working as a probationary officer in the State Bank of India in Tiruvallur and is also pursuing a PhD in English literature.
She got a few books Brailled, but much of her preparation was done with the help of her father and friends. “She would insist that her father read the newspaper to her every morning, and she was an exceptionally sharp observer,“ said Sathya, MD of Strategy IAS Academy, who coached Zephine to face the interviews along with experts at Manidhaneyam IAS Academy. M Ramya
Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Nalanda University to get going in September
New Delhi:
TNN


The revival plan for Nalanda as a centre of learning, wh ich germinat ed in 2007, is set to take off with Nalanda University to start func tioning from September 1.The varsity will open with two post-graduate schools -School of Ecology and School of Historical Studies -with about 20 students in each and about 20 faculty members who will all stay on premises. Applications to join the faculty have come from across the world, even as many are of Indian origin but foreign nationals, varsity CEO Anjana Sharma said.
“Since we believe in interdisciplinary studies, there will be no department barriers in the schools,“ she said, adding that the first batch of faculty will be called the founding faculty .
The governing panel led by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen which includes reputed academicians from across the world is scheduled to meet here on July 19 and 20 to draw up the final plan for the university's opening. The names of faculty members will also be finalized at the meet . Interestingly , the varsity's architecture has been inspired by the 5th century style but will be built as a modern structure, said Sharma.
For the full report, log on to http://www.timesofindia.com

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Jun 12 2014 : Mirror (Pune)
To study or not to study, that is the question


UoP's new diktat making MCA -Science exclusive to only students from the Science stream, is forcing colleges to revisit some of the admissions already formalised
Sumit Raut (name changed) completed his BCA (Bachelors’ of Computer Application) sometime ago and promptly took admission in MIT for his MCA – Science (Masters of Computer Application) course. He was happy as the admission procedure was over and he had even received his fee receipt confirming the admission on June 2.However, Raut’s happiness turned out to be short-lived as the college contacted him on June 10 and told him that as per the new diktat issued by the University of Pune (UoP), he is not eligible to attend the course anymore and should either shift to MCA – Commerce or cancel his admission.
Shocked to hear this, Raut had no way of knowing that his was just one such case among several other stu
dents who are now faced with a roadblock in their higher studies.The latest decision by the UoP regarding changing the eligibility criteria in the MCA – Science course has put the students and colleges in a quandary. According to the circular issued recently, only those who have a degree in the Science stream will be eligible to take admission in the MCA – Science course, whereas until last year, even candidates who had completed BCA were allowed to be admitted.
Interestingly, UoP’s decision came out on June 9; when most of the city colleges offering the course have already completed their admission procedures.
Talking to Mirror, a student affected by the decision, said, “After completing BCA, my plan was to continue ahead with MCA Science or MCA – Management. When I got through MCA – Science, I didn’t even apply for
MCA ­ Management. However, I am in a fix now as my admission stands invalid at present as per the new rules and the deadline for MCA ­ Management has already passed. I do not intend to take admission in MCA ­ Commerce.“Another student, who got admission to Fergusson College, said, “This latest decision has got me into a very tricky position. If I don’t wish to apply to MCA – Commerce, I am left with no option but to cancel my admission and wait for an entire year.
Alternatively, I will have to try for a management quota seat, shelling a hefty amount as fee.” “It is a regular process that in MCA, the admissions are provisionally completed before the Pune University results are out. Given the recent decision by the varsity at this late hour, students are now left with no time to take stock of their options and change their career plans accordingly. Had UoP taken this decision earlier, it would have been in the interests of students,” a professor from the MCA faculty said.
UoP, however, insists that its decision is timely since the BCA results are yet to be declared. “A decision in this regard was taken in the last academic council meeting. The rationale behind
it is that a candidate completing MCA – Science will be conferred with a postgraduate degree in Science. It then makes sense only to allow students from science background as they will be eligible for the course. UoP issued the guidelines now as the BCA results are yet to be declared and students will thereby have plenty of time to rethink their options. How can the colleges begin the admission procedure if the BCA result is not even declared yet?,” maintained Kakasaheb Mohite, Dean of Science faculty at UoP.When contacted, Dr Gautam Bhong, principal of Garware College denied there was any issue. “We have not done any such admissions,” he told Mirror. Dr Tanajirao More, principal of the MIT college of Arts, commerce and Science and Dr Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, principal of Fergusson College were unavailable for comment.
Jun 12 2014 : The Economic Times (Mumbai)
The Land Acquisition Conundrum


States are protesting against the land acquisition law put in place by the previous government; the president, in his recent speech, talked about a national land use policy; many voices from the NDA government have already called for a simplification of the law and for ease of implementation; industry is demanding it.
M Rajshekhar unravels why this is such a vexing problem There's hope the current dispensation will improve the land acquisition law's implementation -to make it easier for industry while being considerate to the needs of the land owner Land acquisition has become gnarled and twisted for India Inc and the mining sector, compunded by a climate of mistrust and forced choices
O n May 8, Thiess India was hit by two thunderbolts. Its chairman and managing director, Raman Srikanth, was arrested on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust, charges the company denies. The same day, the Indian subsidiary of $24.4-billion Australian infrastructure, mining and real estate firm Leighton Holdings received a letter from NTPC terminating the contract between them.
Despite several extensions, the notice said, Thiess had failed “to make any headway“ in extracting coal from Pakri Barwadih, a coal block in Jharkhand.At one level, the notice was the latest broadside in an increasingly acrimonious dynamic between the two companies. At another level, it was the latest act in a cautionary tale of how gnarled and twisted land acquisition has become for India Inc in general and the mining sector in particular.
It goes beyond the law and into the practical endeavours of this exercise. It goes beyond the traditional reasons cited, of villagers' demands for better compensation and jobs, and into the complex, transactional construct of land acquisition, and the climate of mistrust and forced choices it fosters.
The flashpoints keep increasing. The Reliance SEZ in Raigad. Coal India in Korba, Chhattisgarh. Tata Motors in Singur, West Bengal. The abortive hydel power boom of Arunachal. The previous land acquisition law gave the government sweeping powers to acquire land -at low rates and by ignoring local concerns by citing public interest.
This resulted in an inevitable blowback from communities.
In 2013, the previous Congress-led government introduced a new law. Among other things, to mollify local communities, it asked private companies to obtain consent of 80% of project-affected families. “This new Act has swung to the other extreme,“ says Gaurav Jain, a real estate professional who worked with Emaar and DLF before setting up his own consultancy, Samyak Properties & Infrastructure. Little land acquisition has happened under the new law, partly because of the economic slowdown and partly because of the law itself.
Change might be coming. A stated intent of the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre is to get the wheels of industry moving. “Till now, industry was saying the Act needs a relook. But now, even the new government is saying the Act has made land acquisition difficult and expensive,“ says Jain. “It will undergo changes.
There is no way out.“
A department under commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman plans to make a submission to the rural development ministry -which is in charge of the land acquisition legislation -to do away with the `social impact assessment' before land acquisition, which entails gauging a project's impact on local livelihoods, sources of drinking water, grazing lands, places of worship, etc.
Earlier this week, state governments joined the chorus against the new land acquisition law, saying its provisions will adversely impact infrastructure projects and the overall investment climate in the country. “With this land acquisition bill“, says Vishal Dev, industry secretary, Orissa, “We can just forget about attracting industry.“
“If land acquisition took four to five years under the old act,“ Dev told ET on the phone, “it will take 1.8-2 times as long with the new one.“ That is because, he says, the new bill wants more notices to be given out, more studies to be commissioned and stipulates long periods for communities to respond to these notices.
In its initial remarks after taking over, it appeared that the NDA would retain the new law, but work on improving its implementation -to make it easier for industry while being considerate to the needs of the land owner.
It's a balance that was, even after 10 years, never achieved at Pakri Barwadih.
`Pakki Barbadi' With geological reserves of 1.6 billion tonnes, Pakri Barwadih is the largest coal block given out by the Government of India for captive use till date. In all, since 1993, the government has given out 195 blocks, 155 of them between 2004 and 2011. Of this, very few have got going. Most have been held up in processes or clearances, land acquisition being one of the issues.
Pakri Barwadih was allotted to NTPC in 2004 at a time when the company wanted to meet 20% of its coal requirements through its own blocks. “The company's then-CMD told us it was a goldmine for NTPC. We could use it to meet our coal requirements,“ recalls a former senior employee in NTPC, not wanting to be named. “Employees now call it pakki barbadi (definite ruin).“
Located about 23 km to the south of Hazaribagh, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's erstwhile constituency, this is a poor part of the country. Most of the 2,000-odd households living over the block eke out one crop from their fields during the rains and work as labour in Hazaribagh or elsewhere the rest of the year. NTPC, and 26 other companies who were allotted blocks in the Karanpara coalfield, had to acquire land and start mining. So far, NTPC has not been able to and once almost saw the block deallocated.
NTPC blames Thiess. “Mining in India entails passionate involvement in local conditions and managing the environment,“ NTPC chairman and managing director, Arup Roy Choudhury, told ET. “None of these initiatives could be seen in the local representatives of Thiess. Hence, no work could actually happen at the site.“
A senior Thiess India official told ET, on condition of anonymity, the arrangement was that NTPC would acquire the land and Thiess would develop the mine and carry out operations thereafter. NTPC, he adds, neither made land nor basic infrastructure available. NTPC declined comment on specifics. “Since it is a contractual matter, it will not be appropriate to comment now,“ an NTPC spokesperson said. A legal battle seems likely.
Land Rights The reason Pakri Barwadih could not be operationalised lies in the messiness of land acquisition. As with most projects, the 6,600odd acres that NTPC needed to acquire had diverse owners. Based on the legal statute of their holding, these can be classified under four heads: revenue land owned by farmers, forest and deemed-forest land owned by the forest department, and government land.
Acquisition ran into trouble in each.
People are living and farming in the lands shown as belonging to the government and the forest department. “With land acquisition running into delays, we were told to start work in the forest area NTPC had obtained,“ says the Thiess manager. “After a survey of about 1,200 acres, we found people were cultivating 206 acres.“
Weak laws and social patterns collide here. Many of these people have been farming here for several generations. They see the land as theirs in spirit, but the law does not confer legal status on all. “For sarkari land, the `adverse possession' rule and several court orders say that anyone who has lived on government land for more than 30 years should be paid compensation as per government rules,“ says Sunil Kumar, collector of Hazaribagh. But there's no policy for those who have lived in these places for less than 30 years.
The Forest Rights Act (FRA), passed in 2006, conferred legal status on forest dwellers, but it has been poorly implemented.
“Some villagers had applied under the FRA, but we never heard back after submitting our forms,“ says Jitendra Bhogata, who lives in Iti Sirma, a tribal village in the Pakri Barwadih block.
Titles are not a problem in revenue land, which accounts for 4,071 acres of the block's 6,600-odd acres. But NTPC, says the Thiess official, has acquired only 10%-15%. In this place where people are poor, have small landholdings and no alternative sustainable livelihoods, NTPC is willing to pay `15 lakh an acre, twice the going rate. In addition, it is offering an annuity of about `3,000 every month for 35 years, but not jobs.
Villagers are unhappy with the compensation terms. “We cannot buy land in the vicinity. The whole valley is going into coal blocks,“ says Satyajit Singh, a tempo driver from nearby Pandeypara village. “We will have to look for land in areas new to us. Also, can we search for new land, buy it, build a house, etc, in that `15 lakh?“ Villagers like him have calculated the quantum of coal lying below each acre by dividing the size of the coal reserves by the block's acreage. Says Singh, “Agar koyla ka ek tonne `2,000 ka hai to ek acre ki kimat kitni honi chahiye? Hame to uska adha per cent bhi nahin mil raha hai (If a tonne of coal costs `2,000, what would an acre of land cost? We're not even earning half a per cent of that)“.
As tempers have flared, the site has seen police firing. People have died. The company continues to acquire land. But that is due to the imposition of Section 9, which prohibits locals from selling land to anyone but the company.
The land acquisition in Pakri Barwadih was under the Coal Bearing Area Act of 1957, which makes fewer demands on a project proponent than the new Land Acquisition Act. “The Coal Bearing Area Act assumes there is a public interest since the government is acquiring land,“ says Raipur-based lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj. “There is lesser burden on the project proponent to prove the project is in public interest.“In contrast, the new land acquisition act mandates prior consent from at least 80% of affected families (and 70% consent in the case of PPP projects).
Rural development minister Gopinath Munde was favour of these percentages and the compensation terms in the new law. It now remains to be seen what the next rural development minister thinks.
`Managing' The Environment Another reason for NTPC's slow progress on revenue lands is a local Congress MLA, Yogendra Sao. The Karanpara coalfield stretches across most of his assembly constituency. Needing to walk a tightrope between industry and locals, Sao has been speaking mostly about good compensation. In early 2011, when NTPC was offering `10 lakh per acre, he sat on a dharna, asking for more. In 2013, two months after NTPC agreed to pay `15 lakh and a higher annuity, he hiked his demand to `40 lakh. “NTPC is now in a dilemma,“ says the Theiss manager. “What if it agrees and he hikes the number again?“ According to an NTPC official, NTPC got then power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to speak to Sao. But even that did not help. The local administration has not acted against Sao, who has been a minister in the state government. Repeated attempts by ET to contact Sao failed.
Meanwhile, a set of new actors have entered the equation. Small political parties like the All Jharkhand Student Union and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha are getting active in this area. As are the Naxals and two local militias, the Tritiya Prastuti Committee and the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee, all of which are extorting money.
This is also the case in, for example, Arunachal Pradesh, where a boom in hydel power resulted in local political leaders brokering land acquisition deals, and student unions extorting money from project proponents.
Economic Costs The Theiss official estimates that, by not operationalising the block, NTPC is spending `7,000 crore importing coal from Australia -10 million tonnes of relatively better coal at `7,000 a tonne. In contrast, he says, coal from Pakri Barwadih would cost just `3,000 crore -15 millions tonnes at `2,000 each.
According to him, the company could easily resolve the issue by giving jobs to the projectaffected families. “At `15,000 a month, or `1.8 lakh per household per year, that would work out to `36 crore a year,“ he says. As it is, the cost is passed on to the customer.“
But NTPC does not have any policy on providing employment. “Hence, the numbers which are being talked about are only hypothetical and cannot be commented upon,“ says the NTPC spokesperson.
Outsourcing Model Given all this, NTPC terminated the Theiss contract. It now plans to re-tender Pakri Barwadih and appoint another private company as the new mining development organisation (MDO). “We hope the new MDOs would be more grounded in these geographies and get the coal extracted,“ says Choudhury of NTPC.
NTPC has already issued one such tender, for a mine called Kerandari, which abuts Pakri Barwadih. A manager in NTPC's fuel security team, who did not want to be named, says the MDO will be responsible not just for extracting coal, but also for all clearances and land acquisition -an outsourcing model. NTPC will only make the payments. In other words, while NTPC continues to have legal possession over the land, the onus for ensuring physical possession moves to the MDO.
Even Coal India, the country's public sector producer of coal, is gravitating towards the outsourcing model. “In one project, Rajmahal, with a production capacity of 30 million tonnes, we have included R&R (rehabilitation and resettlement) in the tender,“ says Narsingh Rao, its former CMD.
“In future projects, we want to move R&R, forest clearance and land acquisition to private companies.“
Vinayak Chatterjee, CMD of infrastructure consultancy Feedback Infra, sees this as a failure of the state. “What you are describing to me is something that I am seeing over and over again,“ he says. “The state is shrugging off its responsibilities and outsourcing its core functions to the private sector.“
As such, the Pakri Barwadih issue also touches on one common f law of most PPPs in the coal sector. Says Kameswara R ao, leader ( power a nd mi ni ng), PricewaterhouseCoopers, “They push all the risk onto the private company even as the gains stay fixed.“
Others are more hopeful. According to Gaurav Jain, the NTPC and Coal India idea might work as companies are struggling to obtain 80% consent, and such an arrangement creates a via media. A private company can acquire land through private land aggregators, who can then sell it to the contractor.
But similar models in Chhattisgarh for mining and power projects resulted in suboptimal outcomes. Land aggregators bought land from farmers at far lower rates than what they eventually got from the company.
The farmers, since they had not sold directly to the company, were not treated as projectaffected people.
There is also the possibility of human rights violations. The NTPC tender comes with penalties for delays. Also, says the spokesperson: “The MDO has to ensure, at all the times, physical possession of land required for next five years.“ Thus, there is a risk the private contractor, if close to local elite, could simply force the villagers off their land.
m.rajshekhar@timesgroup.com