ON June
29, the
Jharkhand state secretariat of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) urges
immediate intervention of the Arjun Munda government of
the state for
rehabilitation and resettlement of about 500 poor peasant
tenants of Nagri in Ranchi district.
It also
demanded that
the state government must submit a petition before the
Ranchi High Court for
grant of stay on operationalisation of its earlier order
to begin construction
work on the acquired land at Nagri for a law university.
It may
be noted
that in 1958 the then state government of Bihar had
acquired 227.71 acres of
mostly tribal land at Nagri in Kanke block of Ranchi
district, affecting a total of 153
tenants. A majority of 128 tenants at that time actively
opposed this
acquisition and refused to take compensation.
The
state government
did not use this acquired land during the last 54 years
and about 500 peasant
descendants of the tenants continued to keep the land in
their possession and cultivate
it. They depended on it for their livelihood.
Now
after 54 years,
however, the state government suddenly woke up to
establish their right on the
land for construction of an IIM, an IIT and a law
university on this land. The
Ranchi High Court passed order for forcible removal of
these peasants treating
them as encroachers and for early construction of the law
university on this
tribal land. The Supreme Court refused to admit the SLP
filed on behalf of the
land losers.
The
state unit of
the CPI(M) has been of the opinion that this British made
antiquated Land
Acquisition Act 1894 has been anti-peasant and ensures no
legal right for the
tenants. The party has therefore demanded its amendment.
Two bills before the parliament
--- the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007 and the
associated
Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill 2007 --- were
allowed to be lapsed and
replaced by a new one --- The Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Bill 2011 --- which is now pending before the parliament.
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