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India Seeks to Balance Growth, Landowners’ Rights
GURGAON, INDIA—
Lawmakers in India are expectedto begin debating changes to the country’s antiquated1 land acquisitions laws in an effort to better balance industrial growth and landowners’ rights.
The land acquisition measure, along with the food security bill, are two key initiatives of the ruling Congress Party, as Indians prepare to head to the polls next year for national elections.
One does not have to travel too far from India’s capital to see the need for land reform.
Amid the bustling2 chaos3 of the sprawling4 business center of Gurgaon, Rajpal Yadav owns a small oasis5 of quiet that is just meters from the concrete and cars. Here, trees and shrubs6 crowd around rays of sunlight under a train overpass7.
The nursery owner used to have eight hectares [20 acres] of land here, but in two decades, Yadav has gradually lost his land to one transportation project or another. Now he must cultivate his plants on just four-tenths of a hectare [1 acre], which he is also at risk of losing to an expanding roadway.
“This is the only greenery left and this will also be gone. None of the surrounding companies are doing anything about it. They are cutting down all the trees for the sake of roads and buildings,” he said.
Fair Compensation
Landowners like Yadav have filed lawsuits8 to try to hold on to what little they have left.
Others have seen their property seized to make room for India’s industrialization while getting little or nothing in return under the country’s Land Acquisition act of 1894.
The fight has at times turned violent. Bloody9 protests have erupted in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, where residents have refused to give up their land for a $12-billion steel mill built by South Korean giant Posco. And just last month, Posco withdrew its plans to build a $5-billion plant in the southern state of Karnataka, citing delays in land acquisition and iron ore mining rights.
A proposed bill before parliament seeks to bridge the gap between landowners and developers by providing fairer compensation for land acquired for industrial projects.
The new legislation provides compensation at up to double the market prices in urban areas, and four times the market price in rural areas. The measure also gives resettlement and rehabilitation10 help for those who are displaced or those whose livelihoods11 are affected12 by the land acquisition.
Under the proposed measure, the government will not have to seek consent for public projects, but private companies will have to obtain the consent of 80 percent of those affected.
Cost of Growth
S. Gopalakrishnan, Confederation of Indian Industry president, welcomes the government’s efforts toward reform and making land acquisition less arbitrary and more predictable.
But he said the government should be mindful of not pushing property and subsequent project costs higher.
“We also need to make sure that the costs do not escalate13 too much. Then the investment required to set up a business will become unaffordable. So, we are requesting that the government make land available to businesses at reasonable prices,” he said.
Analysts14 say the same development that has uprooted15 farmers also has connected distant communities, created jobs and allowed for India’s once near double-digit economic growth.
Sakshi Balani, with the New Delhi-based PRS Legislative16 Research, said the government must navigate17 the complex issue carefully.
“The idea essentially18 is that you have to have legislation that not only covers the spur of development and growth taking place, but also provides a check on it in some ways. It’s that very delicate balance that this law is trying to bring about,” she said.
As for Yadav, he is holding out hope that his nursery and some of the last remaining greenery along this busy road eventually will prevail.
“I have faith in the court. We will keep fighting in the court. We will see what happens, but I have faith in justice,” the nursery owner said, standing19 over rows and rows of potted plants.
Yadav and many others are watching to see how lawmakers vote on land acquisition reform as parliament debates the highly contentious20 issue in the coming months.
1 antiquated | |
adj.陈旧的,过时的 | |
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2 bustling | |
adj.喧闹的 | |
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3 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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4 sprawling | |
adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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5 oasis | |
n.(沙漠中的)绿洲,宜人的地方 | |
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6 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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7 overpass | |
n.天桥,立交桥 | |
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8 lawsuits | |
n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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9 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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10 rehabilitation | |
n.康复,悔过自新,修复,复兴,复职,复位 | |
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11 livelihoods | |
生计,谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 ) | |
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12 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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13 escalate | |
v.(使)逐步增长(或发展),(使)逐步升级 | |
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14 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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15 uprooted | |
v.把(某物)连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 );根除;赶走;把…赶出家园 | |
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16 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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17 navigate | |
v.航行,飞行;导航,领航 | |
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18 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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19 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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20 contentious | |
adj.好辩的,善争吵的 | |
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