Govt likely to make amendments to land acquisition act in winter session of Parliament

To kick-start the development of stalled projects, the government is expected to make amendments to land acquisition act during the winter session of Parliament, which would commence since November 24, 2014. Among many things, Centre may decide upon dilution of the consent clause, restricting social impact assessment to large projects and giving states the powers to define 'emergency' under 'urgency clause' for acquiring land, which are some of the many demands sought by states. The Act has faced criticism from various quarters including some states. Further, it is on account of contentious nature of the legislation, the government has been holding wide-ranging consultations to ensure a smooth sailing when the amendments are tabled in the Parliament. According to Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the government is looking for amendments for making the acquisition process easier without making changes on the compensation clause. The Rural Development Ministry has already suggested a number of amendments that will ease provisions such as mandatory consent of at least 70% locals for acquiring land for PPP projects and 80% for private projects.  Moreover, the bill could witness some drastic changes, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi approves Ministry's proposals which also include dilution of a key clause of Social Impact Assessment study criticised by states as time consuming for industrialization process. However, the centre will focus on the changes, which has consensus