Land Acquisition Bill 2012 - Will impact India growth story negatively .

The Land Acquisition Bill is again trying to come to Parliament but it will not be so easy. Lot of changes has been done in the new Bill. We will see big change in the way Land is acquired in India from Farmers in the name of development once the new Bill is passed. Looking into the objection raised by so many Ministers on so many points The Prime Minister will be setting up a Group of Ministers to vet the Land Acquisition Bill. Resettlement of Farmers after acquisition is the main controversial clause having lot of political impact so each political party will try to exploit this clause to its advantage. It is to be seen how easy / difficult it will be to acquire Land for Industrialization & Urbanization. If all goes as per plan the Bill is expected to be presented in the winter session of the Parliament. Once the Bill is passed the cost of Land for urban Housing project / Industry will go up substantially. Due to this reason few Ministers in the UPA Government have strong reservation on certain clause. But no one has courage to object this Bill as this Bill is the brain child of Mr Rahul Gandhi and also supported by UPA President.  Among other things, the draft Bill provision for paying two times the market rate for land near urban areas, and four times the market price for rural areas. This is over and above the costs to be incurred in rehabilitation and resettlement of the people selling or dependent on the land being acquired. If implemented in the current form, India will say goodbye to faster growth for decades. It is surprising that throughout UPA-1, spectrum and coal blocks were given out without any reference to market prices but in the case of land, the UPA is planning to adopt a “market-plus” route