Land on one's sq feet

A day before the end of the monsoon session of Parliament, the government tabled its long awaited Land Acquisition Bill to replace the archaic Land Acquisition Act of 1894. But it struggles to define public purpose, shield multi-cropped and irrigated land and impose rehabilitation and resettlement obligations on both governments and private companies. It leaves the kind of loopholes through which a law's intent often escapes into a world ruled by money and power. On the central question - If the State must seize private property for social need, at what price should such transfer take place? - the bill displays little evidence of economic logic or fresh thinking.

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