SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (SIA) UNDER RFCTLARR, 2013

DATE: JUNE 4, 2025

SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (SIA) (RFCTLARR, 2013)

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is predicting in advance, the social impact (Social/Cultural/Economic/Infrastructure and Public Services/Physical Cultural Resources and Intangible Cultural Resources) likely to follow from a project proposal

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Outcome: Proposing suitable steps necessary to prevent/contain harmful potential impacts of proposed project.

THE RFCTLARR ACT- PRE NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR SIA

Mandatory SIA, Sections 4 to 9.

• LA serves the public purpose
• Estimation of Land/Assets/Affected families
• Minimise land/displacement
• Other alternatives are considered
• Social Benefits>Social Costs

Appraisal of 7 member Expert

CONSENT OF LAND OWNERS (RFCTLARR, 2013)

General Consent Requirements:

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects: The LARR Act 2013 requires the prior consent of at least 70% of the affected families (landowners and those whose livelihood is primarily dependent on the acquired land) for land acquisition for PPP projects.

Private Companies: For projects initiated by private companies, the Act mandates the prior consent of at least 80% of the affected families.

Special Provisions for Scheduled Areas:

Mandatory Gram Sabha Consent: In Scheduled Areas, the prior consent of the concerned Gram Sabha or the Panchayats or the autonomous District Councils (at the appropriate level) is mandatory in all cases of land acquisition or alienation. This is a crucial safeguard for tribal communities.

Consent to be obtained along with the process of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study

CONSENT OF LAND OWNERS (RFCTLARR, 2013)

• It's important to note that while the original LARR Act 2013 had these consent requirements, there were attempts through amendments (like the 2014 and 2015 Ordinances/Bills) to exempt certain categories of projects (e.g., defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors, and infrastructure projects including PPP where the government retains ownership) from the consent clause.

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• However, these amendments faced significant opposition and ultimately did not become law in their original form. The core consent provisions of the LARR Act 2013 generally remain applicable.

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The LARR Act 2013 aimed to make the land acquisition process more humane, participative, informed, and transparent, giving a greater say to the landowners and affected families in decisions that directly impact their lives and livelihoods.

Specials powers in case of Urgency (Sec-40) :(RFCTLARR, 2013)

In cases of urgency, whenever the Govt. so directs, the Collector though no such awards have been made, may, on the expiration of 30 days from the publication of the notice U/S 21, take possession of any land needed for a public purpose (minimum area for defence of India or national security or any emergencies arising out of natural calamities or any other emergency with the approval of Parliament) free from all encumbrances.

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Before taking possession of any land the Collector shall tender payment of 80 percent of the compensation for such land to the person interested entitled to.

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In case of urgency Govt. may direct that any or all of the provisions of Chapter-II to Chapter-VI shall not apply.

Specials powers in case of Urgency (Sec-40) :(RFCTLARR, 2013)

Bypassing SIA and Objections: When the urgency clause is invoked, certain provisions, including the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study (Chapter II) and the hearing of objections (Section 15), may not apply. This is the most impactful aspect, as it removes key participatory and transparent elements of the normal acquisition process

Accelerated Possession: The Collector, after giving a minimum of thirty days notice from the publication of the preliminary notification, can take possession of the land even before the final award (compensation) is made.

Advance Compensation: To mitigate hardship, Section 40(3) mandates that before taking possession, the Collector must tender payment of 80% of the estimated compensation to the affected persons.

Additional Compensation: Land acquired under the urgency clause also attracts an additional compensation of 75% of the total compensation determined under Section 27.

SIA - RFCTLARR ACT, 2013 – Key Impacts

• Impacts on land, livelihood and income

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• Impacts on physical resources –natural resources.

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• Impacts on private assets, public services and utilities –health, education , housing, electricity, water supply, roads, sanitation, waste management.

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• Impacts on health-migration, vulnerable sections

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• Impacts on culture and social cohesion .

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• Cumulative Impacts

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SIA - RFCTLARR ACT, 2013 – Exemptions

Exemptions

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• Urgency clause (S.9)
• Irrigation projects where EIA is required (S.6 (2)
• Discretion of the appropriate government to exempt in public interest (RFCTLARR Amendment Bill, 2015):

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• national security/defence projects
• rural infrastructure including electrification
• affordable housing and housing for rural poor
• industrial corridors and
• infrastructure projects including PPP projects where land continues to vest with the government.

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IMPORTANCE OF SIA STUDY

Evaluation of Public Purpose:

SIA ensures that any proposed land acquisition genuinely serves a public purpose. This prevents misuse of land acquisition laws and ensures that the project aligns with societal needs.

Identification of Affected Families:

It estimates the number of families that will be affected and potentially displaced by the project. This information is vital for planning resettlement and compensation measures.

Minimization of Adverse Impacts:

SIA assesses the extent of land and property that will be affected, ensuring that only the minimum necessary land is acquired. This reduces the negative impacts on individuals and communities.

Consideration of Alternatives:

The study explores whether alternate locations have been considered, encouraging decision-makers to evaluate less disruptive options before proceeding with land acquisition.

Balancing Development with Social Equity:

SIA helps to strike a balance between economic development and social equity. While development projects may bring economic benefits, they often come at a social cost. SIA ensures that these social costs are carefully evaluated and managed, promoting more inclusive and equitable development outcomes.

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – WHY?

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1. To Ensure Social Benefits > Social Costs

Magnitude of Development Issues faced by the country

Poverty

Skewed distribution of national cake

Skewed access to basic services etc.

2. To Minimise Land Requirement

Examples of excess land available with the projects.

• 22.6% of land acquired for NALCO
• 75 % of land in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (Koraput).
• 44% of lands acquired for developing industrial estates in Orissa.
• Large areas of land acquired for coal mining

3. Projects Need Service Level Objectives - SIA is the Entry Point

• Information Revolution
• Civil society
• Political parties

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – WHY?

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4. To Avoid Productive Irrigated Lands – Last Resort

Cost factor

• Project: Costly option for project
• Macro: Less than 45% of land under assured irrigation.

People Factor

• 80 percent of agricultural population owns only 17 percent of total agricultural land. Far more people depend on a piece of land than those who simply own it

Growth Factor/Food Security

• Poverty rates in irrigated districts are 1/3rd of what they are in non-irrigated districts as per World Bank report.
• GDP growth originating in agriculture is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth originating outside agriculture (World Development Report).
• Food Security

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – MYTHS

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I. SIA adds on to cost without commensurate benefits

• More than one third of the 897 infrastructure projects, implemented between 1994 and 2007 had cost overruns. Land acquisition and environmental issues are the two largest sources of delay.

• World Bank noted that the cost caused by delays in the construction of India’s Sardar Sarovar Project as a result of strong local, national and international opposition exceeded $200 million a year

The many failed projects in the country and the forgone costs are living examples

Are the Above Costs Due to SIA?

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – MYTHS

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Benefits:

• Information asymmetry induced land selling will decrease.

• The transparent mechanisms likely to aid the process and make affected people a part of the process.

• Positive impact likely on minimizing land requirement, minimizing displacement, utilization of existing unutilized land apart from designing mitigation mechanisms.

• Huge potential to rescue important and useful development projects from being nullified by the local protests of people from the affected zone by effectively addressing the adverse effects in the affected zone.

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – MYTHS

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Benefits:

 Social impacts are common sense and everyone knows what they are.

Social impacts cannot be measured;

All impacts can be measured through indicators- either quantitative or qualitative

Quantitative:–population change, relocation, occupational pattern, community infrastructure, industrial diversification, standard of living

Qualitative – perception of public health and safety, culture, disruption in community networks, family structure and familial roles, gender issues.

The SIA Process and its importance:

This is the most important benefit. Helping affected population understand, participate in and cope with a proposed action may be the most important benefit.

SIA results in empowerment of local people; enhancement of position of marginalized sections, greater focus on poverty reduction, increase in equity

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT – PRIMARY ACTIVITIES

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Consultation with the local bodies and affected community prior to the initiation of the land acquisition process.

• Public meetings neither ensures PARTICIPATION nor REPRESENTATION, rather -
• Understanding of impacts
• Increased acceptance of project
• Addressing Perception Issues

Survey to accurately estimate the impacts of the proposed project on all affected families as defined in the Act of 2013.

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Public hearing(s) – Sharing findings; seeking feedback; action and views for incorporating the same in the final Report documents.

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Developing a Socially Acceptable Impact Mitigation Plan to address the adverse social impacts.

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SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013 – SPECIFIC DELIVERABLES

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• Assessment as to whether the proposed acquisition serves the public purpose or not !

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• Estimation of affected families and families likely to be displaced
• Land Losers and residents- head count and enumeration which are simpler tasks
• Livelihood Losers who are non-residents – adequate mechanisms for creating awareness.

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• Extent of lands, public and private, houses, settlements and other CPRs likely to be affected
• Give indications for re-creation of the same in the new re-settlement colonies

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SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013 – SPECIFIC DELIVERABLES

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SIA – Absolute Bare Minimum Land

What is considered as “bare minimum” or “absolute minimum” is a matter of judgment which varies according to the prevailing ethos of the time.

Requirement of land depends on the nature of the project, its size, its basic components and where it is proposed to be located- some technical expertise is required to know the standards of different industries – utilization of standards as it exists/setting up minimum benchmarks by various sectors

Other considerations, such as;

• whether lands for future expansion should be acquired in the beginning and held for future use.
• whether phasing is envisaged and approved in multi-staged projects.
• whether certain superfluous components needing extra lands such as golf course, riding grounds, polo clubs in tourism projects should be rejected or approved

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SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013 – SPECIFIC DELIVERABLES

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Assessment as to whether other alternative sites were considered and found not feasible ;

•  If an effort has been made to avoid irrigated lands/cultivated lands.
• If an effort has been made to avoid inhabited lands.
• If a justification exists regarding the location of the proposed industry in the area and non-viability beyond the growth centres.
• The existing rules relating to environmental safeguards –prohibit industries near the wild life sanctuaries/thickly populated areas/near the major sources of perennial water bodies etc.

Locations of mines, hydro-power stations, dams, ports etc would be site specific and not many options would be available and such project, location would be easier to concur in the SIA.

SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013

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Study of Social Costs vis-s-vis the Benefits of the Project - most difficult and serious task;

Critical Evaluation of Social Costs and Benefits to the land affected households– this may include an analysis of the project impacts in terms of impact on employment, income, health, nutrition, education, quality of life etc.

Requires - Expertise and Experience in social sciences, research methods to assiduously collect data, critically analyzing their import and interpreting them

SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013, THE EXPERTE COMMITTEE EVALUATION CRITERIA

• The appropriateness of the tools, techniques, and the methods used for data collection;

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• Relevance of the data and source of the data;

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• Whether the findings are based on the facts collected (not on bias, prejudice or individual convictions);

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• Whether the conclusions are logically correct, consistent and sound (‘internal consistency check’);

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• Whether data are sufficient to base certain conclusions

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SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013, MINIMIZING ADVERSE IMPACT THROUGH COMMITTEE CONSULTATION

• The appropriateness of the tools, techniques, and the methods used for data collection;
• Relevance of the data and source of the data;
• Whether the findings are based on the facts collected (not on bias, prejudice or individual convictions);
• Whether the conclusions are logically correct, consistent and sound (‘internal consistency check’);
• Whether data are sufficient to base certain conclusions

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The State Highways Project, Gujarat (GSHP), India

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�Participatory designs were drafted through marking of options on village maps and

the final designs were again discussed with the community to demonstrate how community concerns were integrated with the design as also why certain suggestions could not be incorporated and the alternatives suggested

SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013, RULES THERE UNDER

SIA NOTIFICATION & STUDY

• SIA Notification – 30 days of deposit of processing fee by the Requiring Body
• Public Hearing - Draft SIA report and SIMP to be published in local language 3 weeks prior
• Every objection raised in the public hearing to be recorded
• SIA and SIMP within 6 months
• Requiring Body not to be involved in any way in the appointment of the SIA team to carry out the SIA.

Institutional Mechanism – State SIA Unit

• State Database of Qualified SIA Resource Partners and Practitioners

Preparing a project-specific Terms of Reference with profile of SIA team/timelines deliverables

• Conduct training and capacity building programmes for the SIA team

Estimated SIA fee based on the ToR with clear break-up of costs for each item

SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013, RULES THERE UNDER

Consent of Affected land Owners

• Updating of land records.
• Display of list of affected landowners – 10 days before obtaining consent.
• Printed copies in local language of compensation/R & R - 3 weeks before.

Consent is signed declaration.

Absentee landowners - 15 days from the date of land owners meeting.

Gram Sabha Consent

Printed copies in local language of compensation/R & R to be made available in the local language at least 3 weeks prior

Gram Sabha Quorum – 50% of the total members

Resolution by Majority - Consent to the project & Negotiated terms of compensation/R & R

Video recording of the proceedings and Documentation in writing - Panchayat/Municipality/MC offices and uploaded on the Website of the

Appropriate Government.

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SIA – RFCTLARR ACT, 2013, RULES THERE UNDER

The Consent Provisions - Role of Appropriate Government

• Notify and publish the date, time and venue of Gram Sabhas, Panchayats or Autonomous District Council meetings.
• Organize public awareness campaigns to encourage participation

Provide the following 3 weeks before seeking consent:

• a copy of the draft SIA report in the local language;
• initial package being offered for compensation/ R & R.
• a list of the rights currently enjoyed by the village and its residents under revenue laws, Forest Rights Act and other legislations;
• a written statement signed by the District Collector, certifying no consequences, if consent is denied & attempt to intimidate in order to obtain consent will be illegal;
• contact details of the officer or authority along with official telephone number to be contacted in case of attempt to coerce

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SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; ROLE OF REQUIRING DEPARTMENT.

The Initial Steps: Make technically sound proposals in line with the requirements

Make available the required project details, information and data of the project to the appropriate government.

Consent Stage – Active role in clarifying queries and addressing concerns/meeting additional requirements of the affected people

Implementation Stage

• Provide required funds for LA and R & R. Declaration only after the funds are deposited.
• Coordinate with field level functionaries in planning and implementing R&R Scheme.
• Work with District Collector in finalizing the R & R scheme.
• Work closely with the state level (i) LA and R&R Authority and (ii) Monitoring Committee in dispute resolutions

Completion Stage

Evaluation through a Third Party

SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; ROLE OF REQUIRING DEPARTMENT.

During Preparation of R & R Scheme, Section 16 (5)

At the time of conduct of the census, each affected family may be made to exercise the choice with regard to R & R package options and a brief period for enabling changes in the ‘R & R Package Options after which it should be freezed so that R & R does not become an ongoing process.

Early decision on the resettlement area planning for and expediting the work so that delay on account of infrastructure entitlements are reduced.

Close coordination with State Departments for implementation of R & R/as member of R & R Committee

SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; ROLE OF REQUIRING DEPARTMENT.

R & R Entitlements

• R & R provisions has to be aligned with the new Act.
• Act is only the minimum bench mark. There should be flexibility for genuine concerns beyond the Act.
• Act does not have any benefit sharing mechanism.
• Issues for income restoration and assistance for livelihood activities still assumes importance

Consultations

• The project need to support the department in this regard.
• R&R Unit will need to have a network of field offices.
• Constitute a functioning Gravance Redressal Mechanism at project level to ensure that less issues are taken to the LARR Authority

APPRISAL OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT BY AN EXPERT GROUP.

The Govt. shall ensure that the SIA report is evaluated by an independent multi-disciplinary expert group as follows-

• Two non-official Social Scientists;
• Two representatives of Panchyat/Municipal board as the case may be;
• Two expert on rehabilitation;
• A technical expert in the subject relating to the project.

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The Expert Group shall recommend whether the project will serve the public purpose or not.

APPRISAL OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT BY AN EXPERT GROUP.

Critical Assessment of Magnitude of Physical and Economic Displacement. This may include the number of affected households to be physically relocated as well as those rendered landless/with marginal unviable land holdings (marginal with 1 hectare of land holding).

Critical Evaluation of Social Impact Management Plan: whether the ameliorative measures suggested will be adequate to effectively mitigate the adverse impact on individual and community assets, infrastructure and restoration of livelihood of affected families.

Critical Assessment of Attitude of the community towards the project: The reasons for opposition, if any - nature of the project/timing/other specific characteristics etc - perceptions of the community about social well-being, neighbourhood cohesion or cultural differences among members of the community etc.

Physical cost and benefits easy: To arrive at the social costs but intangible emotional costs would vary depending on the value judgments/background of the evaluating team

Application of A.I. in Land Acquisition; Current Status and Future Potential in Assam:

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• While the adoption of AI in land acquisition in Assam might be in its nascent stages, there is significant potential for its application.
• Initiatives like digital land records modernization provide a foundation for leveraging AI for tasks such as land valuation, dispute prediction, and efficient record management.
• Collaboration between government agencies, technology providers, and academic institutions will be crucial for developing and implementing AI solutions tailored to the specific needs and challenges of land acquisition in Assam.

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Application of A.I. in Land Acquisition; Current Status and Future Potential in Assam:

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) :

AI can assist in analyzing demographic data, socio-economic indicators, and community networks to predict potential social impacts of land acquisition.

Geospatial Analysis: AI integrated with GIS can analyze spatial data to understand how projects might affect communities in specific geographic areas, considering factors like proximity to resources, infrastructure, and social networks.

Vulnerability Assessment: AI can help identify vulnerable populations within affected communities by analyzing socio-economic data and predicting who might be disproportionately affected by project impacts.

Optimization of Mitigation Measures: AI can analyze data on the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies from past projects to suggest the most suitable and cost-effective measures for the current project.

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Compensation to be awarded (Sec-26, 30 & First Schedule) as per RFCTLARR Act, 2013

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(i) Market value of the land

(ii) Multiplication by a factor in the case of rural area :: Ranging from

1.00 to 2.00 based on the distance of the project site from urban area. The multiplication factor in the case of urban area : 1.00

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(iv) Value of assets attached to land or building

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(v) Solatium : 100% of the market value of land, multiplied by the factor specified for rural areas or urban areas above plus Value of assets attached to land or building

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(vi) The Collector shall, in every case, award an amount calculated @ 12 % per annum on the market value of the land, for the commencing on and from the date of publication of the Notification of the SIA study in respect of the land, till the date of the Award or the date of taking possession of the land, whichever is earlier.

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Thank you all