Heading the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC)'s agenda on Wednesday will be land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation. On the table will be a detailed note prepared by the Working Group (WG) on land acquisition that not only goes beyond the pending government Bills on the subject, but also recommends that the two be merged into a single National Development, Acquisition, Displacement and Rehabilitation Act.
The NAC sources told The Hindu that Wednesday's discussion will first try and resolve the differences within the WG on the issue. These relate to the role of the government in land acquisition. One view is that the government must be proactive when the land to be acquired belongs to the poor and vulnerable; the other view is that it should be left to market forces, with the government playing a regulatory role. The Council, however, hopes to achieve a consensus on Wednesday, so that Ms Gandhi's promise at the United Progressive Alliance celebration dinner on May 22 to bring the Bill on land acquisition to Parliament in the next session can be kept.
The other three issues relate to reform of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a follow up on an earlier attempt to push the government to end the scourge of manual scavenging, and legal rights for street vendors.
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On manual scavenging, the NAC appears disappointed: The NAC sources said that despite a letter written by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Ms. Gandhi that manual scavenging had been tackled, the feedback the council had received was that it still existed in many places. The NAC therefore now wants joint surveys to be conducted to establish that manual scavenging has, indeed, ended, and will also press for a strong law to deal with it.
The NAC will also propose a law for the Protection of Livelihood Rights and Social Security of Street Vendors, as they number about 10 million across the country. The NAC note points out that while the National Policy on Street Vendors has provided some relief, it is rarely implemented because it lacks legal enforceability, and therefore the urgent need for a law.
The sources added that it was likely that two more Working Groups might be set up – one on gender and the sex ratio, and another on rights for Dalits, that would include a look at the Special Component Plan as well as implementation of the SC/ST Atrocity Act.
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The need for a WG on gender and the sex ratio was acute, the NAC sources said, as the 2011 Census revealed that there were 7.1 million fewer girls than boys aged 0-6 years, a substantial increase in the gap of 6 million fewer girls recorded in the 2001 census and 4.2 million fewer girls recorded in the 1991 census.
As for the disagreement on land acquisition among the among the WG members -- Harsh Mander, Aruna Roy and N.C. Saxena, it centres round one major issue. Dr. Saxena feels the government should acquire land for private companies as otherwise, they would exploit unorganised, small and particularly tribal cultivators and pay them a pittance, depriving them of R&R benefits. The alternate view is for-profit private companies must work within the market, and pay enough to land-holders for them to voluntarily sell their land, thus preventing unnecessary displacement. As for exploitation, it should be addressed by strict State regulation of this interface.