The strong line-up against the NDA bill with Congress, Trinamool, NCP and even Shiv Sena joining hands also prompted a rethink in government despite the view that the 2013 Act’s complex provisions slowed land acquisition to a crawl, ensuring very few farmers actually benefitted from the enhanced compensation norms.
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Out of 672 representations that were made before the panel, 670 opposed the amendments being brought by the government in the land bill particularly changes in consent clause and social impact survey.
The rural development minister, whose opposition to the bill in the past was a matter of speculation and denied by him later, parried a question as what was his personal opinion on the consent clause and SIA, whose removal in the NDA bill has been opposed by most stakeholders and political parties including NDA allies.
In clear indications that the government may make a U-turn on the contentious land acquisition law, a Parliamentary committee on Monday approved changes in the Modi government’s bill including on the consent clause, that will restore the UPA law.
The AIADMK, otherwise supportive of the NDA Government, has refused to back it on the Land Bill. They want the panel to complete its report by August 9 and table it in Parliament on August 10.
Soon after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs’ for causing grave disorder in Parliament, the NDA government upped its game by accepting all recommendations by the Congress on the land bill.
The Indian Express was the first to report last week that the government, in a Cabinet note, had proposed to drop most amendments, including consent and SIA, which had emerged as sticky points.
But after a prolonged legislative deadlock, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said earlier this month, “Either the Centre must build a coalition and pass the land bill quickly, or give the flexibility to the states to pass their own laws”. Six were withdrawn on Monday – three more will be discussed on Tuesday. “Lets us wait for their report”, he said.
Of the l 15 amendments in the NDA Bill, only nine were substantial in nature and these were opposed by the Congress and other Opposition parties.
Tomorrow, the panel will discuss the bill’s provision to extend the deadline for return of unutilised land to any length of time specified in the project proposal. The ordinance and the subsequent bill had said they can be prosecuted only after taking sanction from the government in line with Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as against the original Act which provided for provisions to penalize them in case of violations.
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The new law received flak from the agrarian society since two crucial provisions – the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and the consent clause were removed from the act, which left farmers vulnerable to Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model of business operations, through which his land could be acquired without prior approval.
