It is quite disturbing to know
that the Central government is planning to sell surplus government land to
generate cash to ease financial pressures based on the suggestion by the Vijay
Kelekar Committee on Fiscal Consolidation. Vijay Kelekar, by all means, is an
agent of crony capitalists, who are in great hurry to loot the natural
resources of the country with the support of dishonest politicians and corrupt
bureaucrats. Already the scarce natural resources of the country have been
looted by crony capitalists with the active support of corrupt politicians and
connivance of bureaucrats. The country is reported to have lost lakhs of corers
of rupees in the allotment of mining rights ( especially iron ores, copper
deposits and bauxite and so on), assignment of coal blocks, allotment of
oil/gas blocks, permission for granite quarrying, issuing sand mining rights
allocation of spectrum, ect. The complaint is that Dr. Manmohan Singh has been
keeping silence over the organised looting. But many also believe that he is
not a silent spectator, but an active participant in the scams, particularly in
the coal-gate scam, which has caused an estimated loss of about Rs. 1.86 lakh
crore to the exchequer and huge amount as bribe to politicians and bureaucrats.
Appropriate assignment of the natural resources could have fetched hundreds of
thousands crores of rupees to the central and state exchequer, which could have
been used to promote investment for economic development of the country and to
provide welfare measures to the down-trodden people. In addition to looting
huge amount, illegal and unscientific mining of scarce minerals, it has caused
colossal damage to environment and ecology of the nation. It has already begun
to have an adverse impact and unless there is a check, the country will enter a
calamitous zone of environment degradation. Now the rich and powerful wants to
grab as much of the nation’s wealth that they can lay their hands on. They have
been lobbying and putting pressure on the government for quite some time to put
the land under the control of the government as well as public sector
enterprises for the use of private sector either by direct sale or on long lease
particularly in the metropolitan cities. The politicians and bureaucrats seem
to be too happy to allow them to grab lands. Today, in India, the major hurdle
for rapid infrastructural development and industrial progress as well as
implementation of public housing schemes is the non-availability of suitable
land. Land is a scarce resource and once it is alienated and handed to private
individuals/organisations over public interest, the government will have to
chuck out huge amount for the acquisition of land for public purposes. One
estimate reveals that more than 5 lakh acres of land will be needed for
industrial, infrastructural and housing requirements in urban areas. The land
can be used for the above public purposes rather than handing over to land tycoons.
Land is a scarce resource and
once it is alienated and handed to private individuals/organisations over
public interest, the government will have to chuck out huge amount for the
acquisition of land for public purposes. Estimates reveal that more than 5 lakh
acres of land will be needed for industrial, infrastructural and housing
requirements in urban areas. According to conservative estimates, at present,
nearly 50,000 acres of surplus land is with various government departments and
public sector undertakings such railways, shipping, defense, posts, airport
authority, etc., besides 3.0 lakh acres possessed by port trusts. These lands
could be utilised for industrial purpose, infrastructural facilities, and
social housing, besides for constructing offices for central and state
governments as well as local bodies.
Industrial
Purpose: Availability of cheap and suitable land is
the foremost factor in the establishment of industries. In the past, land was
not a limiting factor and the government was also able to allot adequate land
for industrial purposes. While cheap land is still available, suitable land at
strategic locations has become not only scarce but also exorbitantly costly,
besides there is public resistance to the establishment of factories in certain
localities. Therefore finding adequate land at affordable cost has become a
serious issue. The availability of suitable land for industries will become a
much more serious problem due to rapid population growth and urbanisation. It
is estimated that thousands of hectares of developed land will be required for
industrial purposes in India in the next two decades. Therefore, the government
can make use of the surplus land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts for building industrial estates,
industrial parks and special economic zones.
Infrastructural Development: Major
hurdle for adequate infrastructural development is lack of suitable land. When major development
works are undertaken acquisition of land becomes the greatest problem. The surplus
land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts can be exchanged to the land owners for the land acquired from them for
development projects. Moreover, cross the country, there have been reports of
grain going to waste for want of proper storage facilities while hundreds of
thousands continue to starve. Hundreds
of thousands of tonnes of grain continue to lie in the open and rot due to lack
of storage facilities. Referring to CPI(M) member Ms Brinda Karat showing
samples of rotten wheat and rice in the House, the then Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee,
said in the Rajya Sabha, “I do admit.” He also agreed that the country needs to
create a big storage capacity as the food grains production has grown fast in
the wake of remunerative prices given to the farmers. Therefore, of the surplus
land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts may be allotted to Food Corporation
of India for building godowns to store food grains. Such lands can also be used
for cold storage facilities for preserving vegetables and fruits.
Public
Housing: At
least 80 million people are homeless in India despite the country growing at a
high rate. Homelessness is
the condition and social category of people who lack housing, because they
cannot afford, or are otherwise unable to maintain, a regular, safe, and
adequate shelter. The number of people living in slums is around 93 million in
2011. Some of the problems leading to homelessness include: lack of affordable housing,
unemployment
and poverty, and high cost of land and building materials. Therefore, the surplus
land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts can be used for housing purposes for
the government servants as well as the public, which will lead to building of
adequate number of affordable houses. Moreover, recently,
the government announced its plan for making Indian cities slum-free within a
period of five years (during 2009-2014). It is a wonderful idea to have Indian
cities without slums. Of course, slums constitute the abodes of misery and
destitution in the cities. Improving the living conditions and living
environment of about 93 million slum dwellers over a short period of five years
is really a gigantic task unparalleled in history. Apart from the
difficulty in raising the enormous funds required to meet the expenditure for
executing the plan, there is serious difficulty in finding adequate land for implementing
such a massive scheme. The surplus land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts can be allotted for resettlement of
slum dwellers, instead of resettling them in ghettos in the outskirts of the
cities.
Construction
of Government Offices: Many central, state local government
offices as well as post offices are functioning in rented buildings all over
the country paying huge amount as rent. Moreover, most such buildings are old
and dilapidated due to lack of proper maintenance by the landlords. If the surplus
land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts is allotted for the purpose of building
office complexes, the governments can save huge amount paid as rent, besides
crating better working environment.
No Moral and Legal Rights: Moreover,
the UPA government has no moral rights the
policy to initiative such a
vital policy decision because it government is now reduced to a minority
status. Trinamool Congress has already announced the withdrawal of support to
UPA government. The second biggest allay, DMK, has also said categorically that
it would not back the government on any resolution brought against the
government on FDI in multi-brand retail trade. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister,
Dr. J.Jayalalithaa, has vehemently opposed the decision to allow 51 percent FDI
in multi-brand retail. Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has
expressed support to Mamata Banerjee's resolution. Likewise, almost all
opposition parties such as BJP, CPM, CPI, Janatha Dal (United), Telugudesam
Party, Bhahujan Samajwadi Party, and a host of other minor parties such as DMDK
and MDMK have expressed their strong resentment. Therefore, there is no chance
for the UPA government to survive any no confidence motion brought by Trinamool
Congress or any other party. Dr. Manmohan Singh and his associates claim that
India has achieved unprecedented economic growth since 1991. Then, what is the
rationale behind alienating the government land to real estate tycoons and
crony capitalists? Many people believe that extraneous considerations other
than raising resources seem to play a dominant role. It is also believed that a
gigantic ‘land-scam’ is in the offing.
Under
the circumstances
stated above, the idea to hand over the
surplus land available with the government departments,
public sector undertakings and port trusts is brazen and ill-conceived. Land is
a scarce resource and once it is alienated and handed to private
individuals/organisations over public interest, the government will have to
chuck out huge amount for the acquisition of land for public purposes.
Moreover, no other country in the world has resorted to sale of land to private
individuals/corporates to tide over financial crisis.
The Times of India, Oct. 3, 2012@ Oct.5, 2012
