TWISTING LAWS TO FAVOUR THE RICH – Land Rights, Labour Rights and India’s Environment under threat
It took the Indian state 120 years to amend the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The new bill, passed in 2013 under the UPA II at least managed to add two important clauses which seeks to protect the rights of those whose lands are taken away in the name of national interest.
i) 70% consent of local population is mandatory for public-private partnership projects. 80% consent is required for private companies.
ii) A Social Impact Assessment report has to be prepared by an independent authority and forms the crux of meetings between the ‘industries’ and the ‘people’. It is openly debated in the Public Hearings which is an important part in the process of land acquisition.
The Department for Industrial Policy and Promotion, now headed by Amitabh Kant, erstwhile CEO of DMIC has recently made a list of demands to the newly appointed BJP-government.
It demands that both the above-mentioned clauses be removed for government-backed projects like DMIC.
Their demands defy common logic. In fact, they are shameless. To deny even the basic minimum respect to the dispossessed. Nitin Gadkari, Road Minister has backed these demands.
On the other hand, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) is seeking Rs 7,500 crore to be allocated in the current national budget. Earlier, a total of 650 crores was allotted. They are seeking almost an 11-fold hike. The finance ministry has turned down the demand on the grounds that it cannot allocate so much money for a project that hasn’t even started yet.
“DMICDC had sought the Rs 7,500 crore funding when the interim Budget
was presented but the finance ministry turn ed down the plea, arguing
that it can’t be raising funds from the market when the projects are
not ready . “The government can’t be borrowing at 9% and let someone
sit idle with that cash,” said a senior finance ministry official.” – TNN, June 25, 2014
On the environment front, if our last MoEF Minister Moily was dangerous, then the current Javadekar is downright deadly. Environment has already been classified as the single-largest roadblock to India’s development. The ministry has modified its name to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change but is increasingly being known as the ‘clearance’ ministry. Environmental watch-dog Greenpeace has also been classified as a ‘threat’ in a secret document prepared by the Intelligence. The document can be found almost anywhere on the web.
Internationally, Japanese investors who are supposedly investing 4.5 billions in the 100-billion DMIC project are getting increasingly restless. They have approached Mr. Modi, who is a good friend, to resolve all issues immediately.
Already a BJP-led Rajasthan government has relaxed its labour laws unabashedly after a meeting with industrialists.
“According to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, an organisation cannot retrench
more than 100 employees without permission of the state government.
The Rajasthan cabinet has proposed to increase the floor to 300 employees,
subject to approval in the Assembly during its budget session next month
and President Pranab Mukherjee’s nod as the law falls under the
concurrent list of the Constitution. The Factories Act, 1948, and the
Contract Labour Act, 1970, too, are sought to be diluted in favour of industry.” – Business Standard, June 16, 2014
However, sidetracking all these critical issues, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Trust has been making outrageous comments in World Cities Summit in Singapore.
“We will launch two cities this year and give Rs 3,000 crore each for the
development of trunk infrastructure in two cities – Dholera, Gujarat and
Shendra-Bidkin, Maharashtra” – Talleen Kumar, CEO and Managing Director,
DMIC Development Corp Ltd – PTI, June 5, 2014
Roughly, most of DMIC money exists in ‘promises’. So does the promised ‘land’. But in the guise of this grand-spectacle, laws that protect our rights as citizens are being meddled with.