Mining and the coal bill passed in RS after two weeks of hiccups; fate of land bill hangs in balance
Hours before Parliament was adjourned for a month-long recess, the government in a master stroke broke opposition unity and succeeded in the passage of two key reform bills the Mines and Minerals Bill and the Coal Mines Bill in Rajya Sabha. Only Congress and the Left parties opposed, the Janata Dal (U) walked out, while the rest of opposition supported these legislations. But the success has not yet brought full smiles to the faces of government strategists, as the fate of another key legislation land acquisition bill hangs in balance. Not only the opposition so far has stood united against amendments in this legislation, some BJP member of parliaments are also developing cold feet, asking the government to go slow in the wake of farmers up against the law. Parliament on Friday went into a month-long recess up to April 20.
Parliamentary affairs minister Venkiah Naidu refused to confirm if it will get Parliament prorogued to re-promulgate the ordinance. The government did not try to push for the land bill in the Rajya Sabha, sensing it will bring back unity in the Opposition ranks. The Minister, however, exuded joy over securing Parliament's nod on the Bills to replace five other Ordinances, the mining and the coal bill being the last to be passed by the Rajya Sabha on Friday after two weeks of hiccups. Some 117 members of the Upper House voted for the Bill , with just 69 voted against.
The Coal Bill, opens the sector for commercial mining and seeks to facilitate the auction of over 200 cancelled coal blocks. The break in Opposition unity appears to be a result of the increased revenue that state governments will mop up.
Prime minister Narendra Modi has asked the party MPs to utilise the one-month recess of Parliament to hold public meetings all over the country to demolish the misconceptions spread about the land acquisition law. Modi's prime concern is to demolish the perception created in particular by Congress president Sonia Gandhi who hit the streets by leading a march of the MPs to the President of India and starting the public campaign by going to Rajasthan on Friday and Haryana on Saturday to take advantage of reaching out the farmers hit by the unseasonal rains to tell them how the government was determined to take away their land in the name of progress.
A BJP MP said the anti-black money bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday was part of the strategy of the government to fight back the negative vibes on the land bill. The government sources have hinted that the controversial removal of the consent clause for acquisitions in certain cases may be reversed in an official amendment in the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
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