Cabinet nod for Land Acquisition Bill

The Union cabinet has approved the Land Acq­uisition Bill. In the redefined version, a rider has been added that urban projects should be meant for production of goods or services for public. The new Land Acq­uisition Bill is meant to allow com­panies to develop town­ships and urban projects. This ke­eps open the window for real estate compa­nies to approach the State or the Cen­tral gover­nment to help them in acq­uiring land. The changes also take into acc­ount the huge req­uire­ment that will be thr­own up by the gove­rnment-owned Delhi-Mumbai Corridor Indu­strial Develop­ment Cor­po­ra­tion to acquire land. The cha­nges are part of the amend­ments to the pro­posed 'National Land Acqui­sition and Reha­bilitation and Resettle­ment Bill 2011.' The changes by Jairam Ramesh inc­orporate the suggestions ma­de by industry bodies CII and FICCI, state governments and civil society organisations. The Bill has also hiked the comp­e­nsation given to project affe­c­ted people from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh when the industry is una­ble to pro­vide employment to persons concerned.