India's defence ministry is the country's largest landowner, with over 17 lakh acres under its control. Surprisingly, while having such vast landholdings under its control, the state's defence land policy has remained virtually constant for over 250 years. The policy that governs the acquisition, sale, development and maintenance of the land owned by the military first came into existence when the first cantonment was established by the Britishers in 1765 in Barrackpore and it has remained virtually unchanged ever since.
However, in response to the current needs, the central government is planning to bring some significant reforms to the current defence land policy, including allowing Equal Value Infrastructure (EVI) development for the armed forces as an accepted method of compensation in exchange for land acquired from the defence ministry for public welfare projects.
Till now, military-controlled land could only be used for a public-benefit project if the acquiring party paid market rates for it or offered land of equivalent value elsewhere. However, in a recent order from the Ministry of Defence, EVI has also been listed as an accepted form of remuneration for the land under the defence ministry’s ownership.
Equal Value Infrastructure refers to a form of compensation where the acquiring party develops infrastructure, like roads or building structures, equal to the value of the land, for the military and defence ministry. The value of land within the cantonment area will be determined by a committee chaired by the local military authority, while in instances of land outside the cantonment the value will be determined by the district magistrate.
Defence ministry secretary Ajay Kumar mentioned in one of his tweets that: "NHAI, metros, state governments etc can offer Equal Value Infrastructure(EVI) in lieu of defence land required by them." He also claimed that this method will allow the armed forces to meet their immense infrastructural requirements.
To understand why such reforms are required now, we must look back to the days when cantonments were built on the fringes of major cities such as New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and others. However, as the population grew at an unprecedented rate, urbanisation occurred, and people began to migrate away from city centres and towards the outskirts of the city. It has already reached the point where the cantonments are encircled by civilian property and appear to be in the heart of civilian activity. Due to security and strategic issues, this is a highly inappropriate scenario for the military forces, and it is impacting the cantonments' day-to-day operations.
Due to the policy staying stagnant for a particularly critical time, individuals had started finding and exploiting loopholes in the framework. Problems of erroneous land records, improper utilisation of acquired land, delays in the acquisition of property and illicit commercialisation of defence land had all grown into major threats. Almost 50,000 acres of acquired land remains unutilized, while over 80,000 acres of unaccounted land was found across 39 stations. Apart from this around 25,000 acres of abandoned land was lying without any plans of development or sale. The extensive changes in the defence land policy are aimed at curbing these menaces and further assist in fostering a more effective and infallible system for the future.
The government has reassured that only the land that is not of strategic importance and can be spared by the armed forces without any problem will be used under the new system.
As the nation ventures into a new decade of growth and development, the value of land as a resource will undoubtedly ascend to new highs. This implies that an effective and efficient administration strategy to deal with the property of the state’s biggest landowner becomes of utmost importance. The introduction of EVI development as a form of compensation is a step in the right direction but still, a lot needs to be done for a better future.
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