ANDHRA PRADESH- A Bonus Misspent

rashtra was unable to acquire any land at all in Bombay until the wisdom of this sank in. Former chief minister Sharad Pawar and his PDF cabinet at their last meeting in 1980 arrived at a new formula. According to this liberal exemptions were to be given u/s 20 and 21 to the full extent of holdings upto 5 acres, 10 per cent of holdings between 5 and 10 acres were to be acquired, 70 per cent of holdings above 10 acres to be acquired. The Kerkar Committee proposed a different formula but in essence one that sought a similar trade-off and one incidentally that would leave 69 of the largest landowners (with upwards of 50,000 sq metres) in possession of more than half their holdings. Others have recommended exempting holdings under 10,000 sq metres from acquisition proceedings altogether as the administrative problems are insurmountable. The surplus land in these holdings must be utilised for 'EWS' housing within a specified period. Such a plan if accepted would release another 1,000 hectares for middle class housing.