UPSC Mains 2014 GS Paper 3 Q5: model answer
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 has come into effect from 1st January 2014. What are the key issues which would get addressed with the Act in place? What implications would it have on industrialization and agriculture in India?
What the question wants
Explain which problems the LARR Act, 2013 was meant to solve and what it would mean for industry and agriculture.
How to structure it
Old law, new law, two implications.
- Problems with the 1894 Act
- Issues the 2013 Act addresses
- Implications for industry
- Implications for agriculture
- Balance
How to think it through
1894 Act: 'public purpose' vague, low compensation at circle rates, no R&R, urgency clause misused (Singur, Nandigram, Bhatta-Parsaul). 2013 Act: compensation up to 4x rural and 2x urban market value, consent of 80% (private) and 70% (PPP), Social Impact Assessment, R&R for livelihood losers, limits on multi-crop land, return of unused land after 5 years, retrospective clause. Industry: costlier, slower land; states framed own laws (Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra). Agriculture: protects food security and farmers' income.
Model answer
Singur in 2006, Nandigram in 2007 and Bhatta-Parsaul in 2011 had one thing in common: land taken under a colonial law of 1894, paid for at old circle rates, from farmers who were never asked. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013 was Parliament's answer.
Issues the Act addresses
- Fair price: compensation up to four times the market value in rural areas and twice in urban areas.
- Consent: 80% of affected families for private projects and 70% for PPPs.
- Social Impact Assessment before acquisition, with public hearings.
- Rehabilitation and resettlement for those who lose livelihoods, not just owners, including tenants and labourers.
- Food security: limits on acquiring irrigated multi-crop land.
- Return of unused land if it is not used within five years.
- Urgency clause restricted to defence and disasters.
Implications for industry
- Land becomes costlier and slower to acquire; project timelines stretch.
- Industry moves towards land pooling, leasing and land banks.
- States such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana passed their own amendments to exempt some projects from consent and SIA.
Implications for agriculture
- Farmers get bargaining power and a share of urban gains.
- Fertile land is protected for food production.
- Landless workers receive R&R for the first time.
The Act shifted the balance from the state to the farmer. The task now is to keep that fairness without freezing industry.
Draw: A before–after table: 1894 Act vs 2013 Act on price, consent, R&R, purpose.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
LARR 2013, Land Acquisition Act 1894, 4x/2x compensation, consent 80%/70%, SIA, R&R, multi-crop land, Singur, land pooling, state amendments.
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing only about farmers' gains. The question asks for implications on industrialisation too.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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