Infrastructure across the country must expand rapidly. Industrialization, especially based on manufacturing has also to accelerate. Urbanization is inevitable. Land is essential requirement for all these processes. Government also needs to acquire land for a variety of public purposes. In every case, Land acquisition must take place in a manner that fully protects the interests of land owners and also of those whose livelihoods depend on the land being acquired. Under our Constitution, land is a State subject but land acquisition is a Concurrent subject. So far, the basic law governing the land acquisition process has been the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Although it has been amended from time to time, it is painfully evident that the basic law has become archaic. The land acquisition process in India has now assumed a controversial and debatable dimension as there are serious objections to the acquisition of land by the government for various projects. The recent uproar against the land acquisition in Greater Noida where farmers from at least 20 villages (Saini, Itwari, Bisrakh, Haibatur and Patwari, among others) agitating over land takeover by the Uttar Pradesh Government.
