After being at the receiving end of Opposition ire for a series of fiascos like plummeting rupee and missing coal block files, the UPA government on Thursday navigated its way to get the second key legislation after the Food Security Bill — the Land Acquisition Bill — passed in the Lok Sabha with support from across the political spectrum.
After a marathon eight-hour sitting, voting revealed consensus in favour of the Bill, with 216 votes in favour, and just 19 votes against it. Left parties, the AIADMK and BJD members staged a walkout. Trinamool Congress voted against the Bill, while parties like BJP, SP, BSP and JD(U) voted in favour of the Bill. It will now go to the Rajya Sabha.
The new Bill seeks to replace the 119-year-old law, enacted by the British in 1894, to acquire land for building infrastructure. But with the urbanisation boom, land acquisition by State governments for public and private projects has faced huge protests by farmers against poor compensation as envisaged in the old law.
The electorally important Bill not only aims to provide up to four times the market value in rural areas and two times the value in urban parts for land to be acquired, it also includes provisions for getting permission from 80 per cent of the affected population in case the land is being acquired for private parties and 70 per cent in case of public-private projects.
If the “game-changer” Food Security Bill was anchored by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Land Acquisition Bill was often touted as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s promise after his participation in a farmer agitation in Bhatta Parsaul, Uttar Pradesh, in 2011. However, the Gandhi family scion, who had rolled up his sleeves to campaign for farmers agitating against the Mayawati government two years ago and promised the Bill, was missing in action for most part of the debate in the House on Thursday. Instead, he let his protégé Meenakshi Natarajan speak in favour of the Bill. Ironically, when Natarajan spoke most of the Treasury Benches were vacant.
Sonia despite her recent illness made a brief appearance in the Lower House. It was left to Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to garner support for the Bill as he reached out across the political spectrum.
Read more: Jairam's hard work on land bill pays off
