Jobs in lieu of land..Pain of parting does need healing touch

AT a time when farmers are up in arms all over the country against forcible acquisition of their land, Haryana has taken the lead in providing a healing touch. The state government on Tuesday gave appointment letters to 129 eligible family members of those affected farmers whose land was acquired for Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Plant at Khedar in Hisar district. This is perhaps a first in the country. Even age and education qualifications were relaxed in some cases to appoint them as clerks, technicians and foremen in the power utilities. There is more to come. A commitment has been given to 10 candidates who are below the age of 18 that they will be given jobs when they come of age. Power companies have been directed to set up a training camp for the students of Khedar, Barwala and adjoining areas so that they could get job-oriented training. The companies will have to ensure 24-hour power supply within a 10-km radius of the power plant.

As the Supreme Court has said, land is like mother to a farmer. He is devastated when it is forcibly acquired. He requires liberal assistance, sympathy and understanding to tide over the crisis. Even otherwise, an alien project should not be thrust on the people who have been living there for ages. They must be made a partner in the progress that a project promises to usher in for the larger good of the state and the country. Since a government job is highly coveted, giving them such employment is the least the administration can do for those deprived of their land.
These liberal terms should be a lesson to other governments like that of Uttar Pradesh where farmers are up in arms because of the feeling that they have been short-changed. Their sense of injustice is all the more acute because of the fact that the land was acquired ostensibly for industrial purposes but was fraudulently passed on to realtors who made a killing. Industrialisation is the need of the hour but it must not be at the cost of agriculture. The policy that fertile land should not be acquired needs to be followed strictly.