Modi govt to table land acquisition bill in Lok Sabha today
The Narendra Modi government will introduce the land acquisition amendment bill 2015 to replace the contentious ordinance in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, in a move that is expected to trigger protests among the Opposition once again.
The Opposition has remained firm that the ordinance, along with five more, would not be allowed to go through Parliament. These ordinances would expire on March 20, if not passed during this budget session.
President Pranab Mukherjee had set the tone for the government to push for the tweaked land law on Monday amid resistance from the Opposition and rights groups, prompting the BJP to discuss ways to get the controversial legislation passed in Parliament.
The law has been suitably refined to protect farmers’ interests during land acquisition for crucial public projects, Mukherjee told a joint sitting of Parliament that launched the budget session.
The ruling coalition would introduce the bill to replace the land ordinance in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, where it enjoys a brute majority but the problem lie in Rajya Sabha.
Rural development minister Chaudhary Birender Singh will introduce the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
It will replace the ordinance promulgated by the government in December last year, which had brought changes in the earlier bill passed in 2013 by the UPA government.
The government had promulgated the ordinance making significant changes in the land act including removal of consent clause for acquiring land for five areas — industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence.
The Congress has already given a notice for suspension of question hour in the Upper House to discuss the ordinance. Party chief Sonia Gandhi said the President’s speech had nothing new but was a rehash of UPA policies.
The ruling BJP also has its hands full after rights activist Anna Hazare on Monday started a protest against the “anti-farmer” land law.
He got support from old associates Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, the chief minister of Delhi and his deputy whose Aam Aadmi Party had routed the BJP in the national capital’s assembly polls. They will join Hazare in his protest on Tuesday.
Given the heat generated by the land law before the NDA government’s presents its first full-year budget on February 28, fear mounted within the BJP of a possible Parliament washout in the face of the Opposition’s belligerent stand.
There were hints that the government might consider the demands when Parliament debates the bill.
The prime objection to the land acquisition ordinance has been that it removed the need for written consent from 70% of landowners for joint public-private projects.
To make matters worse, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has also raised objection to the ordinance, seeing in it a reason for the BJP’s drubbing in Delhi.
Meanwhile, setting in motion the process of replacing ordinances relating coal mines, e-rickshaws and FDI in insurance with fresh bills, the government has listed for the withdrawal of old bills in Rajya Sabha.
The government is racing against time to convert the six ordinances into bills in the first part of the Budget session, which comes to an end on March 20.
The government will also introduce a bill in Lok Sabha to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, which will replace the ordinance promulgated on the issue recently.
Kindly send reply or comments on this topic to [email protected].
Source:Hindustantimes
