Seeking to strike a balance between farmers’ welfare and the strategic and developmental needs of the country, the Union Cabinet on Monday urgently cleared an ordinance to unshackle defence, infrastructure and rural power projects caught in land acquisition procedures...Through this executive order, the Cabinet has amended the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013...[which]...was the UPA 2 government's answer to forced acquisitions, the previous law’s silence on rehabilitation and re-settlement of displaced persons, low rates of compensation and the ‘urgency clause’ — which allowed complete dispossession without prior notice to affected families — under the Colonial 1894 land acquisition law...amendments have now relaxed the requirements of consent and Social Impact Assessment survey for projects.