While the Modi Government may go for a joint session of Parliament to pass the land Acquisition Bill, it is still willing to have “more changes” in the Bill “at any stage” to bring the Opposition on board on the issue.
According to sources, the Bill may be first brought in the lok Sabha after the Government is finished with financial business in Parliament by April end. Senior Ministers in the Government have maintained that “right suggestions” for further changes in the Bill could always be taken into consideration by the Government.
The Government on April 3 re-promulgated the land ordinance which was tabled in the lok Sabha on Monday by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, popularly known as the land Bill, was adopted by the lok Sabha on March 10. The Congress and Biju Janata Dal had then walked out ahead of the voting to protest against “the removal” of a clause that makes it mandatory to get farmers’ consent prior to the acquisition of land by the Government.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday maintained that the land Bill would be giving four-time more compensation to farmers and “greatly benefit” them. “Discussion on the consent clause is going on presently on the land Acquisition Bill in the entire country. There may be various opinions on the consent clause.... The compensation which is presently there in the law is adequate compensation. The farmer will get four times more than what is the price of the land or the price at which it is being brought,” Javadekar said.
Speaking at an event here, he said that in addition, the farmer will also get back 20 per cent developed land. Javadekar said that in the 1960s after a farmers’ agitation in Maharashtra, the formula of giving back 12.5 per cent developed land to the farmers was introduced.
“So whatever compensation was given on the basic land, 100 times more than that was given by that 12.5 per cent to the farmers. Here (in the new Bill) 20 per cent of developed land is being given back,” Javadekar said. The Minister said farmers will be greatly benefited by it as each acre will be given Rs2,000 per month as annuity for 30 years. “Besides, he said, one person in the family will get a job. “So the farmer will get these huge four to five benefits and it is an adequate compensation,” Javadekar said. He said that there will always be two opinions on the issue of consent.