The Assam government has made it mandatory for those planning to set up micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) units in the state to secure all “permission, clearance and approval” related to land use before starting any project.

The move was triggered by apprehension and protests over the draft Assam MSME (Facilitation of Establishment and Operation) Ordinance, 2020, which suspended the licence-permit regime for three years, easing land conversion, contrary to the BJP government’s election promise to protect the land and rights of indigenous people.

The ordinance was passed by the cabinet on June 29, 2020 to speed up industrialisation and help the 3.5 lakh people who have returned home from other states because of the pandemic.

“Keeping in mind the apprehension of the people over land use, the government has decided to make stringent arrangements so that there should not be any ambiguity. There should be complete clarity that the rights of the local people are protected, that jati (identity), mati (land) and bheti (home) of the indigenous population are protected,” industry ministry Chandramohan Patowary said on Thursday night.

He said chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had convened a meeting on July 7 to discuss the provisions of the draft ordinance, where it was unanimously decided that stringent measures and provisions should be made so that the rights of the indigenous people over their land are protected.

Accordingly, it was proposed that provisions of the Assam Agricultural Land (Regulation of Reclassification and Transfer for Non-Agricultural Purpose) Act, 2015, and other land laws will have to be followed and adhered to for setting up of any enterprise under the ordinance. No exemption will be given under the Act or any land-related Act for any business initiative or business enterprise.

The 2015 Act states that no agricultural land shall be transferred for intended non-agricultural purposes “without the prior permission of the deputy commissioner who is the competent authority to accord permission after proper inquiry”. Moreover, only agricultural land not used for 10 years prior to application for reclassification will qualify for consideration. The owner of the land will also have to submit the full particulars of the land with justification for reclassification and also submit an affidavit saying the land will be put to permitted non-agriculture use within the stipulated time frame.

Before these proposed changes, agricultural land was deemed converted for non-agriculture purpose to set up an industry after getting an acknowledgment certificate from the industry commissioner.

But now no such exemption will be given. The business enterprises will have to take permission, clearance and approval related to land before starting any industry. All land-related laws and provisions of the 2015 Act regulating agricultural land have to be followed.

In addition to the 2015 land Act, no enterprise will be permitted to use land falling in restricted categories, such as public grazing reserve (PGR), village grazing reserve (VGR), wetland, heritage historical, archaeological sites and land settled, allotted or reserved for religious institutions such as xatras, temples, wakf, land under tribal belts and blocks and in deviation of land use specified in the master plan wherever such plan is in existence, Patowary said.

Industries account for 39 per cent of Assam’s GDP, providing direct employment to about four lakh people and indirectly to nearly 20 lakh. Of the state’s more than 66,000 industries, 99.9 per cent are MSMEs.

Although industry welcomed the government move, the apparently blanket permission for converting any plot of land to set up industries triggered apprehension and criticism with the opponents of the move seeking clarity about the land-use policy. They feared that a blanket nod would lead to the indigenous people losing their land and, consequently, their identity in the long run.