Modi Government Faces Pressure on Land Ordinance Bill as Budget Session Begins

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Feb 23, 2015:  Top BJP leaders will meet at 6 this evening to discuss the government’s strategy on its land acquisition ordinance, with a united opposition determined to stonewall it in Parliament, and activist Anna Hazare launching a farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar.

  
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"This is land grab by the government...This is what the Britishers used to do. To cater to industrialists, how can you betray farmers?" said Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar, at the start of what he promised will be a massive protest by farmers’ against the ordinance.

Opposition parties say the ordinance is "anti-farmer" because its seeks to scrap a social impact assessment and the need for the consent of 70 per cent land owners before agricultural land is acquired.
   
The government has promised that it will heed all "meaningful suggestions".Parliamentary Affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu told NDTV, " If there is broad consensus we can make amendments...The purpose of the ordinance is speedy development and getting investments."
   
"In a democracy, there should be dialogue, discussion and positive outcome," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this morning, seeking the cooperation of all parties in ensuring that important legislative work gets done in the Budget session of Parliament which began today.
   
Minutes later in his address to both Houses of Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee said the, "Government attaches paramount importance to safeguard the interest of farmers and families affected by land acquisition."
   
With crucial state elections due in the next one year, the BJP can ill-afford being branded anti-farmer and, sources said, could rethink some of the controversial clauses in the ordinance.
  
It is counting, said sources, on minor pro-farmer modifications making it more acceptable to detractors and is averse to withdrawing the ordinance as it would send out a negative signal to Industry and investors, now getting impatient to see big ticket reforms.
  
The ordinance or emergency executive order has to be cleared by both Houses of Parliament within six weeks from today. The ruling BJP and its allies are in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and need the support of opposition parties to pass laws.
   
The Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, "We won’t be supporting an anti-people ordinance." The Congress argues that there was no need to make amendments in the law its government enacted and which the BJP supported. Parties like the Janata Dal United and the Left too have promised to fight the government on the ordinance. Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party or NCP said today, "We cannot support the land ordinance in the present form."
   
The ordinance makes significant changes in the Land Acquisition Act. Restrictions on buying land, under the law championed by the Congress government, are among barriers holding up projects worth almost $300 billion or nearly Rs. 20 lakh crore in sectors such as rail, steel, mining and roads.

 

Courtesy: NDTV