Rent and Lease Laws of India Need Immediate Change!

I have been hearing and reading the opinions of many economists and legal experts regarding the need for having progressive property laws and rules in India that enable letting out of properties for residential and commercial activities beneficial and hassle free for both the property owners and the tenants. Unfortunately neither the union government of India nor the state governments in India seem to act in this regard.

Real estate business can flourish and would be beneficial to both the builders and the owners only when there are laws in place that facilitate all concerned in an equitable basis.

In countries like the USA, Australia, UK etc, getting a furnished accommodation on rent from property rental companies who not only build buildings but also furnish and maintain them properly for the purpose of letting them out is not difficult. They have the laws and rules that  permit such an economic activity. In India, such a thing has not yet happened.

Even after six decades of existence as a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic, the democratically elected leaders and the officials of India who have been governing India under the authority provided by the written Constitution of India, could neither bring about socialism nor secularism in the manner that the Constitution stipulated.

Having failed in these and having observed failure of administered socialism and secularism in several other nations, the Indian leadership has evolved a system which does not honor socialism or secularism in the right sense as the Constitution envisaged.

Indian laws and the Indian jurisprudence is a legacy of the colonial era. Though India got independence from its colonial rulers, it has never achieved independence from the colonial era laws and legal systems partly because the Indian leaders finding the colonial systems too enchanting and beneficial for their own self satisfaction at the expense of the people at large. The incompetence of the elected legislators and the laziness of the permanent bureaucratic members responsible for drafting the laws for the elected legislators have also contributed to make the legal system of India to degrade and become too complicated preventing justifiable justice a distant dream to all. 

The Indian law practitioners got a gold mine of opportunities to enhance their practices and incomes because of the ever increasing complexities beyond the common understanding of the people of independent India. Contradictory and opposing judgments from the various levels of judiciary became a common thing in independent India as a result of all these. Ambiguities in the statutes provide enough scope for interpretation of the laws differently by different people!

Unfortunately, every halfhearted and incomplete approach to make corrections in the system causes and enhancement of ambiguities. As a result, the existing rule of law and justice in India is perhaps worse than what existed during the colonial days! Essentially what India has achieved by independence is a transfer of power from a group of colonial foreigners to a group of Indians with colonial mindset!

What the colonialists practiced was the control of land and property that belonged to the native Indians by adopting various rules and laws many of which had been for the purpose of governance as applicable more than a century ago. 

Unfortunately the same laws governing property, its use and control exist in India more or less in the same fashion as during the colonial days. Only cosmetic changes here and there were done by the state and the central governments of India after independence in this context. The absence of cohesiveness on a pan India basis is very obvious to any one who have tried to get to the details for any reasons.

Laws and rules regarding land ownership, sale, lease, use, distribution, partition, etc are not in accordance with the current requirements of the people of India. The Indian law makers seem too lazy and unconcerned to do the necessary work in this regard. As a result land reforms is an area of great disappointment for all in India. [You may read my earlier blog on this here!]

The rules regarding leasing and renting of immovable properties like residential houses, flats, apartments and commercial properties remain an  area of extreme concern which cause immense problems to the people, both the owners and the users. The present laws are too much biased in favor of one party than having a balanced approach. When such biased laws exist, no one can expect proper justice to the people. 

Let me explain this with a few examples. Suppose that you are an owner of one house at one location and you need to move to another location or city to live there for a few years in connection with your profession or job. What you immediately need is a residential accommodation on rent for a period of say 3-4 years till such time that you are in that location. You are now an owner of a property who wants to vacate your own home some where and move to another property owned by another person in some other location. Perhaps the other person too might be in a similar situation as you. 

But you would face much difficulty in getting a rented accommodation because of the present laws which are too impractical. The present laws are biased and made some decades ago when the situations were different from now. The laws also do not permit business men to build, maintain or let out properties following fair business ethics.

Indian real estate business for the time being is only concerned with building and selling of properties. The boom has created a big surplus of flats in all major cities and towns. In Mumbai alone, it is reported that there are over 130000 flats remain unsold.  Imagine the total money invested and the numbers lying unused all over India! At the same time the builders are not facilitated to give out these properties on rent, because the laws are not conducive for that. It is indeed a great opportunity lost for a country where millions are without shelter and housing!

The overall charges incurred by the sellers of properties are extremely high on account of high stamp duties, registration fees, lawyer fees, commissions to agents, etc. Just one transaction of a property would make it dearer by nearly 15 %. A property that has changed ownership a couple of times would naturally be with a much higher cost price than similar properties that did not encounter such ownership changes. Naturally, this situation artificially jacks up property prices in India causing much imbalances and unfairness in determining the fair price valuation of properties. This in turn causes a high degree of black economy trade in India.

Any progressive government who is determined to provide good governance for the betterment of the nation could never sit as a passive spectator to such things. Unfortunately passive governance has been the situation for several years!

I hope the Narendra Modi government would do some thing positive in this regard in the days to come. What I look forward in this context are:

1. New rent control laws as applicable to the whole country which is simple and beneficial to both the owners and the tenants. The law should also allow property companies not only to build and sell, but also to own, maintain and rent properties easily to clients on rentals that are fair and justifiable. It is reported that the government is already mulling on a  New law for regulating rental housing . But this law should also address issues like long term professional upkeep of apartment and commercial buildings on chargeable basis by estate management companies including facilities for existing owners societies to outsource such services to such companies.

2. New property transfer laws that enable owners to incur less costs while selling or transferring them there by reducing the possibility of artificial jack up of property costs. Governmental agencies should provide better and reliable property registration, record keeping and documentation facilities including creation of digital property identities and data. Government may stipulate different stamp duties for properties sold at different intervals of time. The national law should be the benchmark of guidelines for all state and local authority laws for all issues concerning development of properties, sale, lease, maintenance, taxation, fire safety, lift safety, water and electricity use, responsibilities of residents, etc.

3. Government may set up national institutes which train people in various aspects of land and property surveys, evaluation, record keeping, assessment, designs, documentation, etc. Degrees and diplomas from these institutes should be made mandatory for all appointments to offices responsible for activities pertaining to land and property assessment and management.

I would like the readers to respond with their views on these.

The Campa Cola Apartment Eviction Case: Who Are Responsible? Who Are to be Punished?

The Campa Cola Apartment Case is becoming a test case in India regarding the rule of law. It is proving that justice in India goes by the written laws impartially and blindly at whatever be the outcome.

But the Campa Cola case is a test case in the administration of justice because, in this case it has become difficult to ascertain who is or who are the culprits. On the one side, there is the mighty democratic system of governance represented by the local administration of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) ably patronized by the state government of Maharashtra and on the other side there are about 250 odd owners of the apartments built on the Campa Cola premises in Worli, South Mumbai. 

The background of the case is some thing like this. Some decades ago the governments at the central, state and local levels in India were having much land in their possession. They also had enough statutory powers and the officers of the government had enough guts to acquire land using the prevailing laws.

To promote growth and development of factories, educational institutions, hospitals, roads, etc, it was an acceptable practice by the governments to lease out large peaces of land to both private and public organizations for such purposes.

Leasing out of landed property is quite different from outright sale. The custodian of the property in the former case is called a lease holder while in the latter case the custodian who has purchased the land is the owner holding the free hold title to the property. The lease holder enjoys some rights on the property for a long period as per the lease agreement which could go as long as 99 years in some cases. After the original lease period, the lease holder has to return the land back to its original owner or his legal heirs. If the lease holder had constructed buildings etc on the land, those have to be demolished if the agreement so stipulates.

Normally, as per the standard lease agreements in vogue in India, the lease holder has no right to lease out the property in full or in part to others without the concurrence of the original owner. 

Now coming back to the Campa Cola case. A private company, M/s Pure Drinks Ltd- the makers of the popular Indian soft drink, Campa Cola- got the land for constructing its soft drink bottling plant on lease from the local government, the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) who were the owners of the land. The BMC authorities naturally would not have done so, without the approval of the state government authorities of that time. Initially, the lease was for the purpose of building the factory. But later, the company approached BMC to amend the lease terms in such a way that they could build some apartments for their employees on the same land. It seems that the BMC agreed to this.

But the company with the help of some private builders thought of making a big profit from this. Instead of the initial five floored buildings to function as the official quarters of their employees, they began to construct additional floors  for the use of those not connected with the work of the company. They built about 250 additional apartments and wanted to sell them to the public there by taking full advantage of the high premium for residential apartments in the highly populated city of Mumbai. Naturally, as per the lease agreement, the company was not authorized to sell property to others or even lease it out to others. But under the guise of building apartments for their own employees, they built the additional apartments for sale or lease to the public. 

It was the duty of the BMC authorities and the government to prevent the additional construction and its sale to the public. But there was no such enthusiasm from the representatives of the governmental authorities (the owners of the land) during that time. Perhaps there was some attempts from some authorities to be watered down by some others. There was some tacit understanding between the owner representatives and the lease holder company representatives!

The public fell in to their trap and 'purchased' those apartments by paying heavy amounts. In reality many of them did not understand whether they are really purchasing those properties or not as per the law. Perhaps they knew it, but cared little because they cared less for the law and its ramifications later. But ignorance of the law is no excuse!

But the long hands of the law acts slowly in many instances. It has taken long 25 years. Those of the public who had paid huge sums to acquire these 'prime properties of Mumbai' later realized their folly, but refused to accept it. The question they have been asking is all these time has been this: Why the authorities allowed the illegal construction and its sale? Why only targeting us, the hapless buyers of the apartments? How come the other authorities provided us water and electricity and other such facilities if we were illegal occupants? 

Yes, all these are valid questions. But that does not mean that the public who had paid for these flats are totally innocent. It is the duty of the purchasers of properties to ensure the legal aspects before they shell out their monies!

Obviously, in this case there are errors and violations made by all the three parties. The BMC authorities of that time, the company authorities of that time and the public who paid to occupy these illegally made apartments. 

But it is for the court of justice to decide those things critically and give out the final verdicts. That is what the SC has done. 

This is not an isolated case in India. Due to misunderstanding of the provisions of lease agreements, laws , the over enthusiasm of officials of public authorities and the casual approach of the citizens, so many such instances had happened in India in the last few decades. 

I know a case wherein many people ignoring the warnings of a state government of central India and proceeding to acquire properties that a Public Sector Undertaking was trying to lease out to its employees! Not only they ignored the warnings but went ahead to acquire the properties and further made the things more complicated by constructing palatial buildings later by personally 'managing' and circumventing the lease stipulations!

For the time being, nothing has happened to most of them. But there is no guarantee that some thing of this sort would not happen in the future. Because, when laws and agreements are violated, things could really go bad, not necessarily immediately.

So those who think of manipulating the laws by their own influences should remember that they could not do that always. 

And that is the lesson that people should learn from the Campa Cola case!

Land Reforms: Some thing Most Important for India to Progress!

Some time ago, I wrote a blog article about the poor land owners' agitation in Odisha State of India against an ambitious private integrated steel plant (ISP) project promoted by the South Korean steel major POSCO with the active support of the state government. 

Post liberalization, the only state which might have implemented large scale private industrial projects in record time perhaps is Gujarat under the chief minister-ship of Shri Narendra Modi who is shortly to take the mantle of Indian government as the new Prime Minister. World renowned companies such as Reliance Industries or Adani Group  would not have become a reality without enough land to set up their large industrial manufacturing and service facilities.

Unfortunately, Asian countries such as India with their below average human development indices, have been markedly behind in effecting land reforms. This Wikipedia article gives an overview of land reforms in major continents in the recent past. 

In India, land reforms have not been in the agenda of the national government since its independence. Land reforms have been left voluntarily to the state governments. Only two states, West Bengal and Kerala, tried to do some thing regarding it during their initial years of existence. Later on, no political party got enough strength and wisdom to do some thing in this connection for the general good of all people. 

Just before its exit from power, the outgoing central government of India in 2013 enacted a law which is known as  The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013  [Get the pdf copy of the Act Here!] This law has now replaced the previous Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which has been a bone of contention between the land owners, the governments and the industry for many years in the recent years due to the manner in which the government authorities operated it. 

While the old law has given too much power to the government officials and had been considered as anti landowner,  the new law is believed to be anti industry. The new law perhaps burdens the private industry with too high costs towards land procurement. The new law apparently provides for high compensation for the land owners. However, it does not ensure future protection of a land owner who becomes landless when his land has been taken over for some industry or development project.

When a land owner's land is taken over for any project, he should not only get a fair compensation, but also get fair protection to live with dignity. All land owners whose houses have been taken over together with the land should be provided with decent housing before his property is physically taken possession by the project authority for whom the land is acquired. They should also be ensured of reasonable and steady future incomes as a compensation for disturbance of their traditional living.

On the other hand, it should also be necessary to protect the industry from incurring heavy initial costs on investment towards acquisition of land. With heavy land costs, many projects might become techno economically non-viable. On the other hand, large projects enhance overall economic activities in its vicinity. Many times it has been seen that when large projects come up and stabilize, the land costs in and around the project go up due to higher commercial opportunities.

This creates a peculiar situation of disadvantage for the people whose lands have been taken over at prevailing market rates. For example, in the rural areas of India where there is no activity other than rural agriculture, the land costs are low to the tune of say, Rs.10 per sq.ft. In the near vicinity of a large commercial project, the cost could be around Rs.200 per sq.ft or even as high as Rs.1000 per sq ft or more. 

Thus, the person whose land is acquired would feel as cheated even when he gets a price of 3 to 5 times more than the market rates due to the probability of the land prices shooting up many times more in the vicinity of any large project once the project becomes commercially operational. Such a situation often causes some people becoming reluctant to part with their land even when they are offered much higher price than the current market rates.

In the previous law, the government forcefully captured the land for any project declared as 'public interest' and paying the affected people prices as decided by them to be paid at the whims and fancies of the officials concerned. The new law is made to help the land owners, but its efficacy is yet to be seen. On the other hand many private entrepreneurs are not so happy about the new provisions of the land acquisition law.

Another problem that arises for any commercial or infrastructural project requiring land is the complex and vague rules that have emerged under the environmental protection acts and rules. Vague laws and rules give enough room for whims and fancies of some authorized persons to play havoc and unending litigation. No business man would like to land in to such complications under normal circumstances! A typical example of this type of a problem is the environmental definitions that are applied to the sloping lands of the western ghats of Kerala while similar situations in states like Himachal Pradesh are dealt with different yardsticks! Obviously, the definitions and yardsticks change from person to person!

The question is how India tackles such problems? As the PM designate Mr Narendra Modi keep telling: "Less government, more (better) governance" The idea is great, but the vast lot of people with high ambitions for getting a slot in some 'offices of profits' would not allow such a thing to happen. It can happen when people become honestly interested in doing good for the people and not for themselves!

So, land reforms in India is not difficult to be achieved, provided the people of India, high and low, are willing to keep the nation in front than their own individual priorities. 

Again the first principle to be remembered for all land acquisition is this: The individual land owner's willingness to part with his land possession is to be respected. The land owner should be treated with dignity. The government has to ensure that the land owner does not become landless and homeless when his or her land is taken over. Not only they are paid reasonably well for their lands, a portion of the land acquired should be utilized for creating a well planned and well designed housing colony for the displaced land owners. This should be in addition to the monetary remuneration paid.

All government officials involved with land acquisition should be sensitized by proper training so that they do their work efficiently in a time bound manner with out antagonizing the people. Concerned laws need to be amended if required. While laws are drafted, the government should also check the clauses with regard to their compatibility for good governance. The practice of passing laws for the sake of it should stop.

These are not difficult for any government if the people of the government are great visionaries and true leaders!

In any case, land reforms in the positive manner on an urgent manner is what India needs now for progress and development. The latter again should be for ensuring enhanced employment to the Indian youths and not for unjustified accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.

What do you think? 

Cartography- the Art and Science of Map Making that India Seems to Neglect!

Cartography is all about making maps. It is an advanced science as well as an art. Unfortunately, there is not any institution of higher learning where Indian students interested in learning this specialized topic can get trained. 

Any one who is interested to know about cartography should think of visiting this website. 

Accurate cartographic maps gives much information about the geography, topography and other physical features of the lands where we live. Now-a-days, advanced survey techniques and cartography techniques have combined with the help of digital computer techniques to become what is known as the Geo Information Systems (GIS). Such information is very essential for city and country planning, development of infrastructure (such as road, railways, bridges, airports, buildings, towns, cities, industrial zones, harbors, special economic zones (SEZ), factories, mines, etc) demarcation of private and pubic lands, demarcation of state and national borders, demarcation of forest lands, etc.

Yet, the common citizens and those who wish to undertake any business venture in India are both frustrated with the lack of getting some essential services from the government departments with regard to the exact survey maps of the land property they own or intend to procure. The governments charge hefty sums from people as registration fee from some one who proceed to buy a piece of land. The costs towards property registration is as high as 15% of the the market value of the property. If you buy a landed property worth Rs.50,00,000/- you have to shell out another Rs.7,50,000 towards registering that property in your name. By just one transaction the property cost has gone up by 15%!

Yet, the government departments do not do the job properly. The existing system of property transaction in India so complex and erroneous and differ from state to state. There is neither any standard procedure nor any system that ensures accuracy to the property identity. The buyer is not entitled to get an accurate and authentic survey data of the property to safe guard his titles! The democratic governments in India post independence have done pretty nothing in this regard from what existed in the erstwhile princely states or British India earlier!

The lack of such information also makes land acquisition for public projects a cumbersome thing which could later get embroiled  in various kinds of legal complications. Project delays of years take place on account of such things.

One of the reason for such a thing in India is the lack of trained man-power in the field of micro and macro survey and the lack of trained man power who could transform such survey data to accurate land records and maps. In India various government departments work in total disharmony. There is no co-ordination and most often these government departments work antagonistic to each other with their concerned systems and procedures not understandable to their own officers and staffs.

For example, the functions of the Survey of India is not synchronized with the state level land records or revenue authorities. (Read the wiki article about survey of India here!) Some states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have reportedly gone ahead with digitization of land records and adopted some superior methods in land survey and land record management. (Read about some salient information about the survey department of Kerala here!) Some countries such as the USA has national level land record information systems in place.(See the website of the US Land Records here!)  

Land sale or mortgage deeds have to have authentic and accurate survey or engineering identity information as part of the deed. This can be done only when the people who deal with these are properly trained in the technical matters concerning these.

The dilemma of the land survey and mapping system together with the land record system is the complexity that has been evolving while technology advanced. Unfortunately the law makers are not well informed as the technologists and as a result law and technology do not move cohesively!

Adding to the problem is the lack of training and placement of trained personnel in the concerned departments and organizations. Unfortunately, in India there are not many training institutions to train technical people in the fields of surveys, GIS, cartography, etc. Apart from a few institutions that offer post graduate diploma or degree courses the elite engineering institutions such as the IITs or NITs etc do not seem to think it prudent to offer such courses in India. There seems to be a discontinuity in the lower level knowledge and the higher management level knowledge and competency in this field.

In case the governments, both the central and the states, become a bit serious about this matter, there is a huge potential for job creation in this area. Not only it would generate higher employment potential, it would also enhance the quality of governance in India with regard to land resources management.

I am not an expert either in survey or in cartography. But as a technical person, I have seen the problems created by the lack of proper survey and cartographic information in India. I have also seen the continuing neglect that has been taking place in this field in this country. I have also seen the rise of the new wave GIS technologies imported from western sources and the piecemeal developments that have been taking place without much understanding even among the so called technical people.

The Indian technical planners are now depending heavily on google map service and Google Earth service. No doubt, it has given tremendous advantages to many while the centuries old Survey of India limped behind with their conservative approach. But no one in India has thought of the cartographic technologies and the great work that went behind Google maps and Google Earth that made these services work efficiently. Advanced cartography with the help of aerial and satellite imaging techniques has become highly beneficial to professionals and laymen alike. For example view this site which provides the aerial maps of all airports in the world using Google Maps and Google Earth.(You have to click on the hyper-linked airport position coordinates to open the map which you can view at different angles and elevations)

There is a need to integrate map making technologies with land record management and both need trained man power. It could perhaps make India advance and assimilate the technological developments faster. Let us only hope that the technical advisers to the political bosses of India think of it and make such things possible!

Inhuman Land Acquisition for POSCO STEEL in Odisha: Is There a Better Way ?

I felt very bad when I watched some TV news programs showing the flight and plight of the poor peasants of Odisha (formerly Orissa State) whose land the state government wants to forcefully occupy for leasing out to a Korean steel company POSCO for their proposed 12 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant (ISP).

I watched news clippings showing the brutal way the Odisha Police acted on the helpless villagers including the women and the children who have been resisting the state administration to forcefully occupy their only means of existence and survival-their small pieces of land. The policemen who were being used for this purpose looked no different from the villagers, except that they were wearing the uniforms and had the weapons of torture. In all possibility some of them might have been acting against their own mothers, brothers or relatives helplessly obeying the orders of their bosses.

Just as the villagers were helpless, the policemen (and women) too were helpless! Perhaps those bureaucrats and administrators through whom the eviction orders were passed too were helpless in their own individual capacities!

Again all these for a company who boasts of high human values boldly in their website [just open the Indian website of POSCO which displays their mission, vision and core values. Had they honestly stood for these, perhaps such things would never have happened ! ]

And what necessitated all these inhuman acts?

POSCO responded to the state government’s call, agreeing for investment in the state, rich in mineral resources, to set up a big ISP. Accordingly a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the state government and the Korean steel company some time in 2005. The deal was going to be a boon for both sides.

Seven years passed and nothing happened. No steel plant so far came up.

The actual reason for this delay is said to be the dirty politics between the Central and the state governments. India is truly a federal country with various constitutional authorities fully free to work in the way think the best which usually end up contradictory to each other! Democracy here seems to be something which is directionless !

Now finally the Supreme Court came to the support of the state government by giving a verdict in favor of it to acquire land for the project the way they had planned for handing it over to the Koreans.

For setting up their steel plant, POSCO wanted about 4000 acres of land in one stretch and based on various considerations they have finally zeroed in to the land in some villages in the Lanjigarh Tehsil of Kalahandi District of Odisha State.

Out of which some 2500 acres of land belonged to the state government and the rest with the villagers. It may also be true that many landless or poor peasants might have been using some stretches of the government land for the past many years for seasonal cultivations of various crops as they find it lying vacant without any useful activity. Over the years these people might also have become wholly dependant on this land for their survival, though legally they have no right over those lands.

For acquiring the land- the villagers land-  the government has fixed a price of Rs.100,000/- approximately per acre of land [equivalent of about US$ 2000] as compensation for those who owned the small pieces of land.

Who owned the land and who possessed it illegally are all matters to be decided by the law.

India is a very peculiar country. There could be many countries like it in this world as far as peculiarities are concerned.

It is a country where the laws are truly blind. Blind to understand the feelings of helpless individuals who get trapped pathetically when laws get applied blindly! Both the law makers and the law executors seem to be proud of this fact. They are often proud to declare the blind nature of the laws for which they are the custodians and the executors.

Once the authorities decide to acquire lands of the people for the purpose of something that they had decided for general public interest, the ordinances are promulgated blindly.

It is the duty of the affected ones to find whether such ordinances have been issued by the authorities or not. The authorities are not responsible for telling each and every one affected. Their responsibility is over by publishing the order in some newspapers or in the government gazettes.

The affected land owners and landless land users, whether they know reading or writing or not, have to approach the authorities in the towns or cities or in some unknown location or hideouts (because it is not easy for anyone to locate a government office easily !). They have to prove the ownership of their lands that they have been using for decades!  They have to accept the compensation or no compensation as decided by the authorities and quit their homes and lands on which they have been existing so far.

Most likely some of them, even those of them who are legal owners of the land, may not get the compensation so easily in the near future, unless they complete all formalities. It is a lengthy legal procedure. Again remember, the law has no eyes and ears! Those occupied the government lands, no doubt will not get anything, eventhough they are all Indian citizens having the minuscule fractional power to elect their democratic governments.

Where do the poor villagers go? Even if they get their compensation money, that will not be sufficient for them to get another house or to set up their livelihood. But that is not the problem of the government or its executors. Because they all work for and with the blind inhuman laws! Don't ask them how these laws came. Most of them are bound to put the responsibility of all the ills of the laws on those Britishers who all perished centuries ago !

If the villagers have no shelter from the next day and they are going to be starved to death, that is their problem. If they refuse to obey the laws on account of their problems, the laws will not act immediately to solve their problems. But the laws will ruthlessly and swifly act if the dictat of the laws are opposed ! Because laws are indeed without ears and eyes (to hear the cries and the tears of the helpless citizens)!

Indian laws may be slow to act to provide relief to any one, but they are indeed quick to act against those who do not obey certain kind of laws. If those fellows, who have been ordered to get out, do not obey, they will be kicked out using brutal force! If they get killed, that would not be seen by the laws!

Only those not connected with the laws could weep and sympathize for them. They can  see their plight and hear their cries. But they too can only weep with them, nothing else! Because interfering while the law is acting is a much more serious offence ! The majority Indians have learnt this by experience. It is better to be far away from the laws and the law enforcers if you want to live peacefully !

When the process of the law and justice proceed blindly, no one with some clear common sense can think otherwise !

But I was just thinking, a wishful thought, knowing well that it is not going to make any difference.

I was thinking about this land acquisition affair of Odisha for POSCO.

Can it not be done in a better way? Is it such a big problem to do it in a better way ?

After all, the POSCO people have estimated their plant to cost US$ 12 billion. That is nearly Rs.60,000 Crores.

If 10 % of that cost is towards land acquisition (which is normally the case in the case of any green field industrial project) Rs.6000 Crore should be available for land acquisition. That amounts to a neat Rs 150,00,000 per acre of land [6000,00,00,000 / 4000].

But here the compensation decided to be paid to the villagers is just Rs.100,000/-. That means the villagers are paid just not even pea nuts. I have no idea, how much was paid to the state government for its 2500 odd acres of land !

Anyway these are wild guess from  a common man ! I am not considering those deals that happen behind the curtains !

Now, let us assume that the government and M/s POSCO had thought to do it adopting a humane approach instead of going for the blind law approach.

Let us assume that the 1500 acres of land the villagers have to part with belong to about 2000 families and M/s POSCO  are willing to spend  a lump sum of about Rs 1000,000 per each of the family affected in addition to money at Rs.100,000/- per acre of land as compensation.

POSCO could have easily planned a sector in their proposed steel plant township for accommodating all these 2000 families. This rehabilitation work could have been started in the government owned land first. By earmarking about 2000 sq.ft of land per family this would have needed a maximum of about 90 acres of land or just 2.25 % of the total land requirement. It is yet another matter that they could have even reduced this further by considering multi storied dwelling units.

The maximum cost for rehabilitation of the affected villagers this way could have been just Rs 215 Crores or a mere 0.35 % of their estimated project cost which included the costs for a decent rehabilitation of the villagers by providing them decent accommodations and giving compensation to their lands as per present market rates.

The state government and the company also could have thought of providing jobs to each of the affected family members in their proposed steel plant or making some other provision for ensuring their livelihood on a long term basis.

None of these provisions would have any adverse economic impact on the techno-economics of their proposed steel plant.

After all, if the government and the company do not think about their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) why should anyone need a steel plant?

Once the steel plant is established and towns develop around it, the cost of the land around it would sky rocket. The company and the governments would be the biggest benefactors. Besides the many thousand people from other parts of the state and the country.

But that should not exclude the poor residents of the area. Their rights should be protected and honored.

For that you need to interact with the people of the area in a civilized and humanely manner. You have to convince them of the benefits and show honestly that you would not cheat them and backtrack from your promises. You should not scare the people with your beaconed lights and your offical weapons.

If the laws of the country do not allow such a thing, not even God can save this country ! The people want their elected representatives to serve them and not to exploit them !

That was why they rallied behind those leaders of yester years to oppose the British rule.

That time it was rather easy. To get rid of the foreigners.

But now what do they do ?

Gold and Land : the Two Great Detrimental Forces of Indian Economy !

Traditionally Indian women are irrationally attracted to the yellow metal. Gold is such a compulsive passion and addiction for most of them.

No logic or common sense go into their head when it comes to possessing gold. They are too happy if their near and dear ones spend all their incomes to buy gold ornaments or anything that is made of this shining metal which is other wise of little value to man kind.

They may tell hundred and one arguments in favour of their love for gold.

Any way the World Gold Council (WGC) members should be the happiest lot in this scenario and they are bound to do all they can to keep the Indian women stick to their traditional gold fancy for generations ! This group who controls the 20 odd gold mines of the world need to sell out their produce at the highest profits. A product that otherwise does not have any intrinsic value with regard to its usefulness !

So they keep doing all that is in their arsenal to keep the prices of gold keep rising over the years, though marginally with quantum jumps once every decade !

Total production of gold in the world is to the order of about 2500 metric tonnes per annum.[Source]

Out of the total world production, India imports nearly half. That means all the gold that gets mined and processed gets distributed to the millions of Indian house holds through the hundreds of jewellery shops of India, the only progressing business in India in the recent times.

India spends the major part of its foreign exchange, the hard earned money of Indian exporters and the Indian dollar workers, to import arms, petroleum and gold. Out of which the first and second get fired up and the gold becomes invisible, once it goes into the custody of the Indian women.

Indian women might tell that gold is their safest guarantee to safeguard against future financial difficulties. But in reality even when they actually try to use their gold for ensuring a financial problem, their gold would make them face more problems rather than save them from it. That is because their reluctance to sell it even when there is a crisis. They prefer to take loans pledging their gold at very high interest rates creating a situation for a bigger loss for them or their family.

Imagine the gold that has cumulatively sunk into the Indian house holds all these years !

In this context listen to what this economist warns : The collective obsession of 1.2 billion people with gold can play havoc in the economy unless govt draws up a plan !

Yes, indeed this maddening obsession is one of the reasons India remains as a poor nation. It is difficult to understand this for most people. How can you consider some one possessing half the gold of the world poor ?

But remember ! Gold is not going to get you food, water, education, health or jobs !

Gold ornaments are not going to make any women look attractive also. Those wearing those just as the brides of south India, in reality look ugly ! ( Excuse me for using that word so blatantly !)

Anything in excess is going to  burst after some time. Those who madly spend their money to buy and hoard gold should remember that.

Another facet of Indian economy is the illogical pricing of land. This tendency gained momentum in the recent past.

Land is not yet a scarce natural resource in India. Vast tracks of land are lying vacant without any useful economic activities.

Some people are using land as a unit of hoardable wealth just like gold. This tendency has made all other necessities of life such as housing, education, hospital care, roads and other infrastructure becoming unaffordable and with negative returns on investment.

When India became an independent republic, the visionary leaders had maintained some controls on gold and land. Gold controls and land ceiling acts and regulations were part of that visionary thinking.

As of now, it seems that the Indian leadership has purposefully decided to be vision less with regard to gold and land, the two detrimental forces of economic development !

Detrimental when dealt without vision !

Give a thought to this,  dear ladies and leaders !

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