LAND BATTLES: INSIDE THE CLASH OVER ACQUISITION AND FARMERS RIGHTS
THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL VOLUME:-17 ISSUE NO:- 17 , NOVEMBER 06, 2024 ISSN (ONLINE):- 2584-1106 Website: www.the lawway with lawyers.com Email: thelawwaywithelawyers@gmail.com Authored by:- Aysha Khatoon LAND BATTLES: INSIDE THE CLASH OVER ACQUISITION AND FARMERS RIGHTS ABSTARCT Land Battles: Inside the Clash over Acquisition and Farmers’ Rights examines on-going conflicts in India as between government authorities and farmers over land acquisition policies. Historically, the introduction spotlights policy such as the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 that aimed to offer farmers affected with compensation that was fair. However, such efforts tended to be problematic in practice. When new farm laws were introduced in 2020-2021, this prompted recent tensions to peak as fears of the lands transitioning to private hands and decreasing the rights of the farmers. Key demands include a guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) of all crops, debt waivers, compensation, and of legislation such as the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, which farmers say will privatize the sector. The paper analyses legislative history, court judgments on land acquisition and crucial pillars of the 2013 Act that include transparency, fairness of compensation and resettlement of displaced farmers. It finds that the Act ultimately represents a step towards empowering farmers to protect their rights, but crucially the enforcement is poor and that the depth of involvement of local communities particularly through decision making processes are lacking. KEYWORDS Coproprietors, Demurrers, Land Accession, Rehabilitated, Fiscal, Supreme Court. INTRODUCTION India has long been an issue where the government and growers as well as coproprietors are opposed to the terms of land accession and compensation. Generally, several of these businesses were cushioned by the 2013 Land Acquisition Act which provided for fair compensation and payment to affected families. Although, limitations of the Act and government’s inability to enforce it has been blamed. As a result, we have had millions of planter demurrers on the country, and recently and most notably when the 2020- 2021 Indian growers kick against the three ranch acts of the Parliament of India passed in September 2020. An act to repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and replace it with new laws that make it easier to acquire land and allow the privatizing of agrarian areas led to the government’s demurrers. These changes worried the growers that their land and livelihoods would be lost, as the rights and entitlements they had built up over 40 years would be corroded. Wide demonstrators, sit-sways and leaguers marked the demurrers, with growers from various colored countries, such as Punjab, Haryana and the United Pradesh, helping in the movement. Deeply rooted grievances and structural inequalities of growers in India were stressed in the demurrers, including shy compensation, lack of recuperation and resettlement measures, and perceived shafts in the land accession process. Farther escalation of the situation was blamed on the government’s shy and asleep response to the demurrers. This composition seeks to both provide an overview of the various ways in which land accession laws and planter demurrers work together in India, as well as a look into the literal environment, causes, dynamics, and counteraccusations of these demurrers. In addition, it will identify the important demands of growers and the government’s response to these demands and the implicit pathways to resolution. Dispute always exists between the government and farmers on the land acquisition laws in the country, which is also expressed in the farmers’ protest in India. Land Acquisition Act of 2013: The protesters want the national reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, repealed in 2015. They also claim compensation based on the four times the current land rate with a concurrence of the landholder on trade. Line with the prevailing original terrain, each state is entitled to decide the compensation rates and it is a state subject of land accession. The Centre can only specify land acquisition policy for public utility-based systems. Compensation and Land Acquisition: Previously, the government has met the bulk of the growers’ demands, including those concerning land accession. Politicians are not tired of keeping the issue of land accession on fire, the current demand of a public law on land accession is seen as unreasonable. It has also been blamed on the government not dealing with the question of land compensation paid (or not paid) to colorful authorities for land acquired for experimental systems, and growers are demanding compensation and reservation of 10 domestically grown plots on developed lands for their families. Farmers’ Demands: Growers’ main demands include one guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops, debt disclaimer, cancellation of transnational agreements having impact on the husbandry sector, and a minimal pension of ₹ 5,000 for growers and farm labor. Other demands are the pullout of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 that growers sweat will lead to the privatization of electric and annihilate their interests. Government Response: The Punjab growers’ addresses have been opened by government but a legal guarantee of MSP seems doubtful. However, the police have stopped the growers more than 200 km down from Delhi, indicating that government isn’t going to allow the growers to reach the public capital. The government was blamed for not compensating the families of growers who had failed during the period of demurrer, and for not offering them jobs, during the 2020-21 agitation. In India, land accession laws and indignant growers’ demurrers are serious problems with varied approaches on the side of government and growers. Some of the grower’s demand have been addressed by the government but they are also reluctant to accept other demands such as public law on land accession and the guarantee of MSP (minimum support price) for all crops. THE CURRENT FARMERS’ PROTEST IN INDIA What the growers are demanding is a statutory guarantee of copping crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP), which doesn’t exist today. The two masses of rice and wheat, that’s what they want, but not all crops, the government needs to ensure all crops are bought at MSP. Growers are looking forward to rack a ranch loan disclaimer to