India's improved real estate transparency? Top Chicago firm's ranking based on land law Modi wants to scuttle

By Our Representative
A top Chicago-based real top consultancy firm has praised the Narendra Modi government for improving India’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) ranking to the 36th position this year from the 40th in 2014 on the basis of the “proactive measures” to increase transparency in the real estate sector through an Act, which it wants to scuttle.
The 36th position is for Tier 1 cities, with a population of 100,000 or more. It is 39th position for Tier 2 cities (with a population between 50,000 and 99,000), and 52nd for Tier 3 cities (with a population between 20,000 and 49,999. While for Tier 2 cities there is an improvement by three ranks, for Tier 3 cities, the ranking has gone down by two points (see chart).
In India, the Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) report says, “Land records have started to be digitised and made available via an online database, while the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act has simplified procedures for acquiring land and determining fair compensation to sellers.”
Though passed by the last UPA government in 2013, ironically, the firm says, the law was enacted in 2014, but refuses to recall Modi efforts to scuttle it through repeated ordinances in 2014-15. The Act, as passed in 2013, has been under unprecedented criticism from the corporate sector and its supporters, who believe call it the main hurdle in “developing” industrial projects because of its clauses of consent and social impact assessment.

Worse, refusing to recall the year when the Act was passed, Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, JLL India, says, India “moved up by four ranks thanks, in large part, to the Modi government’s aim to stimulate growth and reduce red tape”, adding, this was aided by “improved market fundamentals” and “policy reforms like Land Acquisition Act.”
Titled “Global Real Estate Transparency Index, 2016: Taking Real Estate Transparency to the Next Level”, the report says, India remains in the “semi-transparent category”, adding, “The Anglosphere continues to dominate the ‘Highly Transparent’ group – the United Kingdom (1st), Australia (2nd), Canada (3rd) and the United States (4th) hold the top positions.”
Pointing out that top 10 ‘Highly Transparent’ countries account for 75% of global real estate investment, the report basis its analysis on factors such as high-quality accessible market data, fair transaction processes, strong corporate governance, stringent regulatory enforcement, clarity of property ownership, high ethical standards, green building regulations, and so on.
In all covering 109 countries worldwide, while the survey does mention the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 as a measure to help improve real estate transparency, it insists, India “should provide more buyer protection and an equitable platform to resolve disputes.”
The Real Estate Act 2016, it is well known, makes it mandatory for project developers to register with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). Based on Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Bill 2013, it obliges the builder to quote prices based on carpet and not super built-up area.
The report wants India to further improve its “regulatory reforms” essential for further progress, saying “Our survey reveals that among the ‘semi-transparent’ group (in which India is among the very top) there is a notable disconnect between the existence of regulations and actual enforcement – particularly in land use planning, contracts and building codes.”

Comments

Amit Shah 'wrong': Lack of transparency characterized bank frauds, NPAs, jobs data

Counterview Desk
India's senior RTI activists Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bhardwaj, Venktesh Nayak, Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, Dr. Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, Pankti Jog and Pradip Pradhan, who are attached with the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI), have said that Union home minister Amit Shah's claim that the Government of India is committed to transparency stands in sharp contrast to its actual actions.

Untold story of Jammu: Business 'down', students fear lynching, teachers can't speak

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released report, seeking to debunk the view that people in Jammu, the second biggest city of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after Srinagar, people had gone “out celebrating” abrogation of Article 370 which took away the state’s special status, has reported what it calls “abominably high levels of fear” across all sections in the town.

Kashmiris in a civil disobedience mode, are going against 'diktat' to open shops

Counterview Desk
A team of concerned citizens, including Ludhiana-based psychiatrist and writer Anirudh Kala, Mumbai-based activist and public health professional Brinelle Dsouza, Delhi-based journalist and writer Revati Laul, and social activist Shabnam Hashmi, travelled to Kashmir and Jammu to understand the impact of the abrogation of Article 370 and the subsequent security clampdown and communication blockade on the lives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Gujarat's incomplete canals: Narmada dam filled up, yet benefits 'won't reach' farmers

By Our Representative
Even as the Gujarat government is making all out efforts to fill up the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river up to the full reservoir level (FRL), a senior farmer rights leader has said the huge reservoir, as of today, remains a “mirage for the farmers of Gujarat”.
In a statement, Sagar Rabari of the Khedut Ekta Manch (KEM), has said that though the dam’s reservoir is being filled up, the canal network remains complete. Quoting latest government figures, he says, meanwhile, the command area of the dam has been reduced from 18,45,000 hectares (ha) to 17,92,000 ha.
“According to the website of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, which was last updated on Friday, while the main canal, of 458 km long, has been completed, 144 km of ranch canals out of the proposed length of 2731 km remain incomplete.
Then, as against the targeted 4,569 km distributaries, 4,347 km have been constructed, suggesting work for 222 km is still pending. And of the 15,670 km of minor canal…

Ceramic worker dies: 20,000 workers in Thangadh, Gujarat, 'risk' deadly silicosis

By Our Representative
Even as the country was busy preparing for the Janmashtami festival on Saturday, Hareshbhai, a 46-year-old ceramic worker from suffering from the fatal lung disease silicosis, passed away. He worked in a ceramic unit in Thangadh in Surendranagar district of Gujarat from 2000 to 2016.
Hareshbhai was diagnosed with the disease by the GCS Medical College, Naroda Road, Ahmedabad in 2014. He was found to be suffering from progressive massive fibrosis. He is left behind by his wife Rekha sister and two sons Deepak (18) and Umesh (12),
The death of Hareshbhai, says Jagdish Patel of the health rights group Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), suggests that silicosis, an occupational disease, can be prevented but not cured, and the Factory Act has sufficient provisions to prevent this.
According to Patel, the pottery industry in the industrial town of Thangadh has evolved for a long time and locals as well as migrant workers are employed here. There are abou…

Cess for Gujarat construction workers: Spending less than 10%; no 'direct help' to beneficiaries

By Our Representative
While the Gujarat government’s Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, set up in 2004, as of March 31, 2019, has collected a total cess of Rs 2,097.62 crore from the the builders, it has spent less than 10% -- Rs 197.17 crore. And, as on May 31, 2019, the total cess collection has reached Rs 2,583.16 crore, said a statement issued by Bandhkam Majur Sagathan general secretary Vipul Pandya.
Pointing out that just about 6.5 lakh out of 20 lakh workers have been registered under the board, Pandya said, vis-à-vis other states, Gujarat ranks No 13th in the amount spent on the welfare of the construction workers, while 11th in the amount collected.
And while the builders are obliged to pay just about 1% of the total cost of their project, the calculation of the cess is flawed: It is Rs 3,000 per square yard; accordingly, Rs 30 per square yard is collected. “Had the cess been collected on the real construction cost, it would have been at least Rs 7,000 cr…

Success of 'political' Hinduism: Kashmiris being depicted as antagonists of rest of India

By Anand K Sahay*
There are times in history when facts call attention to themselves; they assert their independence in all its amplitude and are in no need of the crutch of interpretation. Such a moment is visible in Kashmir now. Merely by being on the table, the facts there taunt the regime’s proclamations.

Counterview

Search This Blog