New Delhi: The government will have to secure the nod of two-thirds of landowners to acquire a patch of land for private/PPP projects while acquisition in tribal areas would be possible only with the approval of local institutions of self-governance. The enshrining of owners’ willingness to sell land forms a crucial part of the land acquisition amendment bill that was finalized by the group of ministers headed by Sharad Pawar on Tuesday. The consent clause has been a sore point in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, with a chunk of ministers feeling the restrictive clause could hamper acquisition and impede industrialization. There was also resentment against the provision of Social Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment before acquisitions but they have been retained in the final draft. The rural development ministry under Jairam Ramesh has diluted the original provision of consent of 80% landowners and livelihood losers to two-thirds of landowners. The conditions for acquisition in ‘scheduled areas’ may help discourage takeover of land for private projects in tribal areas as has been the demand from civil society for a long time. The draft bill says acquisition in scheduled areas should be avoided but if necessary, it should follow the consent of local systems of governance like autonomous councils. The issue led to discussion during the meetings of the ministerial panel, with deputy chairperson of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia arguing that development should be taken to tribal areas. The legislation, piloted by Ramesh, will decide a cut-off date to implement the new bill. Finance minister P Chidambaram warned that cutoff date was important to avoid the anomaly of government paying compensation under two different bills (old and new) for different acquisitions at the same time. Ramesh said he would hold another meet with GoM chair Pawar to tighten loose ends and the bill would soon be sent for Cabinet clearance. Crucially, the bill will apply to SEZs that account for a big chunk of acquisitions that have triggered claims that these enclaves had become havens for real estate agents. The legislation evoked strong sentiments from key UPA ministers like Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi who differed on certain projects being kept out of the purview of public purpose. Defence minister A K Antony had said at the last meeting that government should not acquire land for private projects and step in for PPP projects only if unavoidable.