By Gopal Krishna Agarwal,

Gopal Krishna Agarwal, a chartered accountant and a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive, was the chief of its erstwhile economic policy cell. Now a member of the party’s committee on the land Bill, he tells Arches Mohan how pushing amendments through an Ordinance made the people doubt the Narendra Modi government’s intentions.

What are these misconceptions?

The first is about the Narendra Modi government having removed the consent clause. Even in the Act, consent was not required for government acquisition for public purpose. Section 2 of the Act had defined 12 categories of public purpose in which consent was not required. Consent was required for government acquiring land for the private sector and for the government acquiring land for public-private partnership projects. The BJP has removed consent only for public-private partnership projects, where the land remains with the government and only for those projects that fulfill the public purpose. Schedule 4 of the Act has 13 clauses under which the government acquired almost 80-90 per cent of land that were exempt from the consent clause.

There is also confusion about whose consent. People think that the Act sought consent from the landowner. Actually, the Act sought consent from project-affected families, which was quite vague. Identifying project-affected families and whether at all they have a stake on the land being acquired was complicating the process.

Another issue is regarding the removal of the social impact assessment. It was removed because of its drawn-out consultative process, which is prone to litigation.

Why delete consent for public-private partnership projects?

We have formed the government on the promise of economic development. Development needs investment. There are only three avenues for this: foreign investment, private investment, and government spending. Our government is trying to create an enabling environment, but it is for the foreign investor to decide whether to invest in India. Private investment will not come unless there is strong demand, while the government’s coffers are empty. Public-private partnership is the route through which investments can come in for infrastructure projects.