Opposition gearing up to stall Land Bill in Rajya Sabha

The Opposition is in no mood to let the government seek parliamentary approval to the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, as it was put for discussion in Lok Sabha, on Monday. Knowing they will not be able to stall the legislation in Lok Sabha, the parties are gearing up to demand the Bill be sent to a select committee for scrutiny, an attempt to delay its operation. Top government sources, however, were confident to get support of some Opposition parties, notably the Samajwadi Party. "We are in talks with them (the SP) and hope they may abstain during voting, when the Bill comes up before Rajya Sabha. They are also bearing the repercussions of the loopholes of the UPA's 2013 law in Noida and other places in UP," a top government source said.

The Bill, will replace an ordinance approved by president Pranab Mukherjee in December, last year. In Lok Sabha, which will put the legislation to vote on Tuesday after two-day debate, Opposition parties went hammer and tongs against the government, calling the legislation "draconian" and "anti-poor" with a deleterious effect on India's food security. The Bill was moved for consideration and passing by rural development minister Birender Singh.

Several opposition members particularly opposed the NDA government's move to do away with Section 2 and 3A of the existing land acquisition law, which provided for social impact assessment before land transfer and safeguarding the interest of farmers.

Biju Janata Dal MP Tathagat Satpathy also targeted the previous Congress government, saying over past five years of their rule, some 7,19,000 hectares of cultivable lands have been diverted for other purposes. He said, the state of Haryana alone has lost 65,000 hectares in five years of UPA rule.

Participating in the discussion, Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress) said the law in its present form would allow private entities to take away multi-crop land, which will put at stake food security of the people of the country. "Is the government trying to reduce this country to an importer of food grains? If this bill gets passed, farmers will give up all expectations from this country," Scindia said. Kalyan Banerjee accused the government of taking away farmers' rights and said his government will oppose the Bill "tooth and nail" to safeguard their interests.

As the minister moved the Bill for consideration, leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that he should explain some provisions of the Bill before a discussion could be initiated. Singh, however, said he would speak only when he replies to the debate. The Opposition MPs also expressed strong reservations against exempting land acquisition by private hospitals and private educational institutions.

The amendments introduced in the Bill seek to exempt social impact surveys for land acquisition for five purposes – industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. The amendments also bring 13 legislations, including those relating to defence and national security, to provide higher compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to farmers whose land is being acquired, under the Centre's purview.

Also, it is proposed to make alterations to make it difficult to acquire irrigation multi-crop land for sectors outside the ambit of social-impact assessment (SIA) and consent clause. The Akali Dal, a key NDA ally, had also demanded that the Centre to ensure that irrigated multi-crop land is not acquired under any circumstances.