Govt should stay off land for private firms: Survey

Rural India has been on warpath over the issue of land acquisition for quite some time. Farmers across the country have been crying foul over the government’s dubious intention in acquiring land for private players, even for its own projects. The courts have been admonishing the states for abandoning the interest of farmers and land owners to take up the cause of real estate developers and industrialists. Worried over the escalating tension the Union government has already got the blueprint of a new Land Acquisition Act ready.

The conflict over land acquisition has been all over the media and getting the attention it deserves. But is it really a huge worry for all farmers? It would not seem so if you take into account the number of respondents who offered no opinion on questions related to land put during a survey by CNN-IBN & CNBC-TV18.

To a question on whether the government should acquire land for private companies, nearly 35 percent of the respondents had no opinion to offer. But it could be that they were not too clear on the issue to take a position either way or had their own independent stand.

The survey was conducted in 19 states at 1,300 locations across the Indian demography.

Thirty-seven percent of all respondents said the government had to stay off land acquisition for private players. The response goes with the general sentiment but the surprise is the number of people who believe that the government should have the right to acquire land for use by private companies. Twenty-eight percent of all respondents emphasised on the government’s role.

There’s an awareness factor to the trend of responses too. Forty-one percent of urban respondents disapproved of government’s role in land acquisition. Asked whether the government should acquire land only for unavoidable public purposes, 48 percent of urban respondents said ‘yes’. However, rural farmers and rural non-farmers were not too different in their position. Only 24 percent are of the opinion that the government should be able to acquire land for any developmental activity.

Only 27 percent of the respondents felt that the government’s land compensation policy is fair. Nearly 36 percent felt that the government does not offer fair and timely compensation.

The survey indicates that there’s no clear rejection of the government role on the land acquisition issue. Though a large number of respondents want it to stay off acquiring land and not get involved with private companies, a good number wants it to be part of the process too. This could be due to distrust people have for private companies too.

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