While giving state governments the flexibility to acquire land either in full or in part for private companies for public purpose, the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, plans to make “consent” of 80 per cent of the families for acquisition mandatory. Unveiled by the Rural Development Ministry today, and available for public comments until August 31, its provisions aim at giving adequate compensation to landowners and ensuring rehabilitation of those displaced. “In case of urban areas, the award amount would be not less than twice that of the market value determined whereas in rural areas it would be not less than six times the original market value”. The draft Bill proposes that the consent of 80 per cent of the project-affected families will be mandatory if the government acquires land for use by private companies for stated public purpose or PPP projects other than that for national highway. It also states that the public purpose once stated cannot be changed. The draft suggests that under no circumstances should multi-cropped, irrigated land be acquired. Also government will not be acquiring land for private companies for private purpose. This means, Mamata Banerjee, who has long stalled a land acquisition Bill, can keep her West Bengal government out of the process of acquisition of land for private companies while other states can acquire land, either in full or part, for private companies for public purpose. The draft Bill is a departure from all the previous approaches of the government to bring two separate legislations, including an amendment to the Land Acquisition Act and a separate Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act. It by and large merges the provisions of the earlier amendment to the Land Acquisition Act with the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act, both of which were passed by the Lok Sabha in 2009 but lapsed for want of the Rajya Sabha’s approval in the last Parliament. Some of the provisions: Consent of 80 per cent of families needed in case the government acquires land for private companies for public purpose for “immediate and declared use”. But this requirement is not applicable where the government acquires land for “its own use, to hold and to control”. This means, consent of families not needed in the case of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, but at least 80 per cent have to agree to land acquisition in case of Posco. A committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary of the state must ensure that no irrigated, multi-crop land is “proposed for acquisition under any circumstances”. This means, industrialisation and urbanisation may face more hurdles in states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, where sizeable land is multi-crop land. The urgency clause for acquisition must be used only in the “rarest of rare” cases, in an emergency, to “the minimum... required for the defence of India or national security or for any emergencies arising out of natural calamities”. If the government is acquiring land 100 acres or above, then a ‘social impact assessment’ is necessary. If private companies acquire the same size land on their own, they also have to abide by the rehabilitation and resettlement provisions of this Bill. However, the draft is ambiguous about what happens when lesser land is acquired.