Two Bills to aid in the rehabilitation of all those who have lost their land to factories, SEZs and the like are reportedly scheduled to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament: they are an amendment to Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007.

The Resettlement Bill is supposed to ensure transparency in the process of deciding the quantum of compensation for land and also to ensure that the compensation is on time.

The amendment in the Land Acquisition Act is supposed to ensure that companies do not use government machinery to acquire land. The bill will proposes an increase in both the price of land acquired for industrial purposes to bring it closer to the market value of the land and in the amount of solatium to be paid in addition to compensation.

It remains to be seen if this will help rural landowners whose land has been forcibly acquired.