Anna Hazare to join farmers' protest against Land Acquisition Bill on 24 Feb in Delhi

Veteran social activist Anna Hazare today said that he would back in the National Capital on 24 February to protest against the Land Acquisition Bill and would urge the government to withdraw it.[caption id=“attachment_2061845” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anna Hazare. AFP [/caption] “This Land Acquisition Bill was passed in 2013, both the BJP and Congress together passed the bill. If 70 percent of the villagers did not want to give land to the industry then that land couldn’t be taken. These people removed this provision, and now they say they can take any land. If you take land from the farmers and give to institutions close to you then it is injustice to the farmers,” Hazare was quoted as saying by DNA. The protest, which would be organised by farmer unions, would mobilise the strength from Haryana and neighbouring areas. Activist Medha Patkar would be part of the protest, the DNA report said. On 30 December last year , the Centre had recommended promulgation of an ordinance making significant changes in the Land Acquisition Act including removal of consent clause for acquiring land for five areas of industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. The Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had decided to amend the Act to bring under its purview 13 Central 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. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government decided to relax certain provisions of the Act and add Section 10 A to the legislation keeping in the mind development needs of the society. He said the mandatory “consent” clause and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) will not be applicable if the land is acquired for five purposes including national security, defence, rural infrastructure including electrification, industrial corridors and building social infrastructure including PPP where ownership of land continues to be vested with the government. However, the compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement packages will be applicable as per the new Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land for these purposes. With inputs from PTI