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Farmer leaders demand higher compensation for land acquired under new ordinance

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AAP members submit letter of protest at Pune collector’s office on Tuesday
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Farmer leaders have reacted sharply to the new land ordinance, demanding that farmers be paid a higher rate of compensation than what the ordinance sets down. At present, the compensation rate is fixed at four times the current market rate of the land in rural areas and two times the market rate in cities. Farmer leaders, however, demand that the compensation should amount to four times the market rate prevailing at the time of completion of the project for which the farmers' lands will have been acquired.

Farmer leader Vijay Jawandhia said that BJP hurriedly issued the ordinance which says the landowner's consent is not required for the acquisition of his land by government or public-private projects. "If they relaxed the consent clause, then they should have increased the compensation amount and criteria of compensation. For farmers, land is everything. If they lose the land, they lose everything. We demand that the compensation should be connected with the market rate of the period when the project gets complete," Jawandhia said.

He said that red tapism would inevitably result in delays in getting compensation on time. "Meanwhile, the project (for which land is acquired) also gets completed. As a result, surrounding lands become more expensive, making it hard for farmers to buy alternative land for livelihood," Jawandhia said.

Nanasaheb Patil, president of Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, said that the failed special economic zone policy set down by the previous government was a cautionary tale about land acquisition for industrial projects. Patil said that under the special economic zone policy, industrialists had acquired farmers' lands at the market rate then in force. "A few years ago, farmers sold the land at a handsome price. Due to the lack of proper financial management and planning, the once-big landholders have become landless now, and have not got enough money to live on. Most of them are in poverty. Some of them are all but begging. The ground reality is bleak. We do not want to see more farmers turning into beggars due to the government's faulty policies," Patil said.

Patil said that the ordinance was misguided because Indian farmers are already in a precarious state: that they are given an inadequate safety net by the government, unlike farmers in the western and European countries. "In foreign countries, there are huge subsidies given to the farmers. Besides, in times of natural calamities, the government takes care of the welfare of farmers and takes the responsibility to get farms up and running again. But in India, if the crop rate should fall or a natural calamity should occur, the farmers go down the drain. During the Lok Sabha elections, prime minister Narendra Modi had made several promises about laying down pro-farmer policies once he was in power. However, it seems that farmers' interests have been sidelined, and Modi is working only for industrialists and corporate houses," Patil alleged.

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