New Delhi:
The Rajya Sabha passed the Land Acquisition Bill on Wednesday night, billed as another potential vote-catcher for the ruling Congress after the flagship Food Security Bill cleared by Parliament last week.
The House passed the bill with 131 votes in favour and 10 against the legislation, championed by Congress Number Two Rahul Gandhi.
With four amendments sought by the government approved in the Rajya Sabha, the bill will now go back to the Lok Sabha to ratify the amended version of the bill.
The proposal, which replaces a more-than-a-century-old law, establishes new rules for compensation for land acquired for infrastructure projects and industries.
While industry bodies have feared land cost may go up after the new law, the legislation may reduce widespread protests that have plagued India's industrialisation drive.
The most important feature of the bill is that it requires developers to get the consent of up to 80 per cent of people whose land is acquired for private projects. For public-private partnerships, the approval of 70 per cent of landowners is mandatory.
Land acquisition in states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for factories, roads and housing projects has sparked bitter clashes between farmers and state authorities, resulting in huge project delays.
The proposal asks for compensation of up to four times the market value of land in rural and two times the value in urban areas.
Activists, however, say the bill does not go far enough, and offers no safeguards on the protection of vast areas of common land.